One discussion topic that I've found we keep returning to is the debate of whether or not Anse can be considered a heroic figure. Can his journey be described as an act of heroism? I feel like for the most part the book has done a good job of keeping it very much in the gray area for me, that is, right up until the very last chapter. It was those final few paragraphs that put a whole lot into perspective for me and made me see that no, this really wasn't a particularly heroic journey for Anse Bundren.
Initially, I had found myself defending Anse, explaining how this was a journey for his deceased wife and it was heroic simply because these kind of journeys were such a massively huge deal for him. The thing is, he began to lose perspective of that, Samson even going so far as to remark that he enjoyed the challenges he faced out there because they made him seem braver than he really was. His stubbornness would never allow him to return back (Gotta get those teeth, ya know?). The trip was no longer a challenge for him because he had his whole team slaving away mercilessly, doing their best to get him to Jefferson.
The whole idea behind a heroic journey is that a protagonist faces adversity that causes them to undergo a transformation, and unfortunately, Anse is easily one of the most static characters in the entire book. It's so bad that I could easily see his actions in the final chapter as exactly something he would have done all those years ago when he met Addie as well. He let others deal with his problems the whole way and completely lost sight of his original mission, spending more time picking out teeth and getting a new wife than putting his last one in the ground.
Anse is the winner of the Bundrens, no doubt about it. He is the only one where everything goes according to plan. Meanwhile all of his children have been completely and utterly screwed over in one way or another. They all have undergone transformations and sacrifice, so where's his? I feel like Anse certainly had the potential to be a heroic figure, but being Anse, it slid right past him.
I agree with you completely. Anse managed to get the most out of the trip by doing pretty much nothing other than making the other children's lives miserable, and bringing a large amount of inconvenience onto the farmers who try to help him on his journey. I think if Anse helped on the journey, or at least had a legitimate excuse to not work it would paint him in a much better light. I also agree that Anse is one of the more unchanging characters in the book. It seems so strange that the book is sort of focused around his journey, but he barely even participates in it.
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