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Katrina Kauffman

Dr. J. Cline-Bailey

ENGL 205 Familial Obligations

30 September 2022

The Solemn Weight of Motherhood

“A mother,” writes Amy Tan in her novel The Bonesetter’s Daughter, “is always the

beginning.” This quote is not only a good representation of a truth brought to light in that novel,

but of a greater truth that perpetrates both literature and life: motherhood is a concept fraught

with pressures, stigmas, and societal expectations. As such, the decision to become a mother is

not as simple as it may appear, whether a person has the desire for it or not. In his novel As I Lay

Dying, William Faulkner examines the complexity of motherhood by way of two characters,

Addie and Dewey Dell, through whose situations he demonstrates that many factors contribute to

one’s readiness and suitability for motherhood and that, consequently, it is a responsibility that

not everyone should take on.

In Addie Bundren, Faulkner presents to the reader a character who, on the basis of both

her actions and her psychological state, should never have been a mother. While glimpses of

Addie are given through the eyes of other characters, it is not until Addie’s point of view appears

that a full picture is painted of this woman, her instability, and her faults. Her narration has

barely begun when she relates how when she taught school children, she “would look forward to

the times when they faulted, so [she] could whip them” (Faulkner 98). The casual tone with

which Addie states this indicates a serious lack of compassion towards others and perhaps even a

tendency towards sadism. Both of these things could be perceived as signs of some irregularity

or fault in her psychology, and this alone would be enough to make her a questionable candidate
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for motherhood. Mothers undoubtedly have a psychological influence on their children from the

moment of their birth, and a woman with Addie’s demonstrated level of instability would have

clear potential to be both mentally damaging and physically dangerous to her offspring,

especially considering she herself admits that she “did not ask for” children and sees them as

more of a necessary evil than a responsibility she chose to take on or cares about in the least

(Faulkner 100). Beyond these concerning factors, one only needs to look at Addie’s behavior as

a mother to observe that she would have been better off never becoming one. When discussing

her family, she says that Anse “has three children that are his and not [hers],” and the reader can

conclude that those three children whom she considers his – Darl, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman –

received very little motherly care or affection from her (Faulkner 102). Meanwhile, Cash and

Jewel, whom she considered hers, probably received whatever small amount of nurturing she

had inside her. Her questionable choices as a mother can be further observed through her affair

with Whitfield and the way she thinks about it. She admits freely that she “tried to deceive no

one… [and] would not have cared” if the truth of her infidelity came out (Faulkner 101). This

attitude towards the affair and its repercussions shows an extreme lack of care for her family –

the revelation of something so scandalous could take an extreme toll on her husband and

children, both in terms of their standing in society at large and in terms of their emotional well-

being. Even Jewel, her supposed favorite, is not always taken into consideration, as is proven by

the fact that Addie never thinks it necessary to tell him that Whitfield is his biological father. A

parent, no matter what they are personally going through, has an obligation to support their

children in every aspect of their lives. Addie Bundren is inherently unable to fulfill that

obligation, as evidenced by the examples given above, and therefore should not have taken on

the responsibility of motherhood in the first place.

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Another somewhat unstable potential mother is presented to us in Dewey Dell, who,

while not exhibiting much in the way of concerning behavior herself, could have her life

upturned and possibly threatened as a result of motherhood. After losing her virginity to a field

worker, Dewey Dell finds herself pregnant in the wake of the death of Addie, her only female

family member and possible advisor. She despairs in the loneliness that comes with keeping her

secret but admits that “if [she] were not alone, everybody would know,” and that would probably

be worse than the isolation she is experiencing (Faulkner 35). In a world where the solution to

teenage pregnancy is, as the pharmacist Moseley suggests to her, telling your father to “make

somebody buy you a wedding license” to prevent the shame of bearing a child out of wedlock,

Dewey Dell is utterly lost (Faulkner 116). She shows signs of mental and emotional distress as

the novel goes on, even fantasizing about killing Darl, the one member of her family who knows

her secret (Faulkner 69). But as a young girl still grieving her mother and being thrown headfirst

into a weighty situation, can one really blame her for this struggle? The fact is, she is not ready

to have a child, and she says as much herself. “It’s not that I wouldn’t and will not,” she

confesses, “it’s that it is too soon” (Faulkner 69). She knows how difficult her life will be if she

carries the pregnancy to term, and there is no guarantee that she will have any way to support the

child if she does. Lafe wants her to abort it and has shown no signs of commitment, and the

family dynamics of the Bundrens are so volatile in the aftermath of Addie’s passing that their

reliability is unpredictable at best. Anse is a father in name but not in action, having done very

little to prove his care for his offspring throughout the book. He acts selfishly in direct opposition

to the children multiple times, even taking money from both Cash and Dewey Dell (Faulkner

110, 147). If Dewey Dell brings a baby into this family, what will the result be? The Bundrens

seem likely to exist in a permanent state of tense misery for the rest of their days, and on top of
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that, the child would have to bear the stigma of illegitimacy for his or her entire life. Considering

these circumstances, it is clear that the responsibility of motherhood is not one Dewey Dell

should be required to shoulder at the time of the novel.

Motherhood is a complex thing, and Faulkner uses the lives of Addie and Dewey Dell to

demonstrate multiple reasons why women might not be prepared for it. Many factors contribute

to a person’s readiness and suitability for this commitment – a commitment that can be both a

blessing and a curse. The fact of the matter is, a mother or father has a responsibility to nurture

and support their children both physically and emotionally, and if they doubt their ability to do

either of those things or lack a willingness to try their hardest, they should not become parents.

Faulkner understood the solemn weight of parenthood and communicates through his novel a

lesson that every reader ought to take note of about the obligations that come along with a

person’s choice to bring a child into the world.

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Works Cited

Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2010.