Fishy Tales
To be honest, I really don't want to write this blog. I rarely pay attention in this class, and usually I would rely on SparkNotes because I can't read the text right? The problem is that even the SparkNotes text is too complicated for my massive peanutbrain that I had to rely on Alexa's Bedtime Stories, which doesn't give that much information. But anyways here it goes.
Addie Bundren is actually a fish
So on page 84 of As I Lay Dying, Vardaman says: "My mother (Addie Bundren) is a fish." And during class discussions people are justifying the quote and taking it figuratively, but finally Simpleton Mind over here realizes something no one else brought up. What if Addie is really a fish? There are some evidence that supports this. First off, the coffin smells, and you know what else smells? Fish, like have you ever went to a fish market and something smells fishy in there? So Addie smells, and the fish smells and all bad smells smell the same, so if Addie smells like a fish then she is probably a fish. Secondly, Addie's husband, Anse, grieves over her death, but you know what they say? "There are more fish in the sea ", and so Anse gets himself another fish at the end of the book.
So what do you guys think? What are some more evidence that Addie is really a fish? What kind of fish is Addie?
Addie Bundren is actually a fish
So on page 84 of As I Lay Dying, Vardaman says: "My mother (Addie Bundren) is a fish." And during class discussions people are justifying the quote and taking it figuratively, but finally Simpleton Mind over here realizes something no one else brought up. What if Addie is really a fish? There are some evidence that supports this. First off, the coffin smells, and you know what else smells? Fish, like have you ever went to a fish market and something smells fishy in there? So Addie smells, and the fish smells and all bad smells smell the same, so if Addie smells like a fish then she is probably a fish. Secondly, Addie's husband, Anse, grieves over her death, but you know what they say? "There are more fish in the sea ", and so Anse gets himself another fish at the end of the book.
So what do you guys think? What are some more evidence that Addie is really a fish? What kind of fish is Addie?
I'm going to be honest with you, I don't think that Addie is literally a fish. I do think that it's interesting that the comparison of her with a fish goes beyond just Vardaman. Vardaman calls his mom a fish and seems to use that analogy as a way to understand her death, but I never thought about how Anse goes out to find more "fish in the sea". Obviously it isn't great to compare women to fish and catching them and owning them like objects, but that seems to be exactly what Anse does so maybe both him and Vardaman view Addie as a "fish".
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Gloria, that Addie is not actually a fish. I think that Vardaman's repeated referring to his mother as a fish is a coping mechanism to believing that his mother is actually alive. Sort of like you said, Tri, the smell of the fish/corpse and the way the coffin keeps trying to swim away in the river, seem to be possible explanations for Addie being a fish, and, while the older characters have the sense to know that Addie is not a fish, Vardaman is too young to know better, particularly combined with his having caught a fish right before Addie's death.
DeleteHuh. This was a hot take. I don't think she was a literal fish. Here's my opinion.
ReplyDeleteIf she was a fish, and Anse, presumably, was a human, then their children, of which they have four, all also have to be mermaids. You know, half-fish, half-human. Or, at the very least, Vardaman has to be because we KNOW his mother is a fish. (In this case, it is understood that Jewel would be a centaur because his mother is a horse.) But, Vardaman cannot be a mermaid because multiple times throughout the story he, as do the rest of the children, gets wet. Everyone knows that human-presenting mermaids, when wetted, become fish-presenting humans. However, no one does. Even if you argue that the narrator's just didn't mention it because everyone knew, that's false because a) Darl most CERTAINLY would've slipped it in there and b) Vardaman runs through a storm. MERMAIDS CAN'T RUN THEY HAVE TAILS. Thus, I conclude that Vardaman's mother, Addie, cannot be a fish.
What she can be, however, is a child's first experience with death, which when dealt with in the way she was, can be traumatic. Great post, though!
Pretty sure she's not a fish. I feel like someone might have noticed it and mentioned it when they were putting her in the coffin. Plus, if we're interpreting everything literally, then we should consider that Addie is also called a horse.
ReplyDeleteIn greek mythology there were creatures that were part fish and part human and part horse. They were called ichthyocentaurs. Or something. They were in a Rick Riordan book. She's probably one of those.