Is As I Lay Dying A Hero's Journey?

        Even though William Falkner’s As I Lay Dying is a little difficult to read/understand, a hero's journey can somewhat be depicted in the book. To some extent at least. Through the confusing switch between character’s perspectives a story is being told. It might not be all that clear at first, but after looking at it a bit more closely you can see it as a hero’s journey. 

        Of course a hero’s journey wouldn’t be complete without the call to adventure. The overall call for the Bundren family would be Addie’s death then dying wish, but each member is somewhat drawn to leave for their own reasons. Take Cora for example. While she joins the family for the overarching call of fulfilling Addie’s wish, she also wants to go into town to sell her cakes. She probably wouldn’t have joined them if not for this call of her own. The family is brought together to complete this task, and hence it being a hero’s journey, they have a long and challenging road ahead of them.

        Now, this is probably one of the more recognizable of the steps in the hero’s journey. This book takes on the long, slow build-up method, which makes it a little more difficult to pick out where the steps are in my opinion. However, the next most recognizable step to me would most likely be the road of trials. When this step takes place, the Bundren family has made decent progress on their journey to bury Addie. To make it more difficult though, they come across a pretty big problem. Or, a trial if you will. It’s storming somewhat hard and they have to cross a high, fast-moving river. Now, storms are often seen as being a part of the road of trials in the general hero’s journey, which no doubt helps prove this moment to be where this step is. This one big trial also sort of splits into groups of smaller trials, each one difficult to come across. From crossing the bridge, to saving the children when they fall in, these moments certainly act as trials that the Bundren family must face in order to continue onwards. 

        Ok, so there are a few parts that seem like they connect well to the hero's journey. Does this mean that it actually is? To me As I Lay Dying is somewhat a hero's journey, but also isn't at the same time. I mean, it's kind of hard to like/root for the Bundren family, they make a lot of questionable and honestly stupid decisions throughout the book. However, each of them is a hero in their own way, they just have a different view on the whole scenario. In general, I'd say that this book is a hero's journey, but it honestly isn't the best example of one.