Addie Boundren Character Analysis

Even though she died very early in the novel, Addie Bundren is a very interesting character that set the stage for numerous events that occur later in the novel. Addie is a woman living in the 1920s with her poor family in rural Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. Addie is the wife of Anse Bundren, and mother to her five children Darl, Jewel, Cash, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman. As somewhat of an resentful character toward much of her family, Addie creates many problems both before and after her death, and she is truly a fascinating character. Before she marries Anse, Addie was a schoolteacher. Though being a teacher may make it seem as though she loves children, this is not the case. When she taught she was a strong believer in corporal punishment,

The reason that Jewel is the favorite child of Addie, is most likely because he is the son of a man she had an affair with. In a desperate attempt to express her individuality, Addie had relations with a man name Whitfield, and conceived Jewel who reminds her that she is an independent woman and helps her keep herself convinced that she has control of her own life. Even though she once had a job and her own life, she still married Anse because she was afraid of being alone and wanted children to keep her

Addie had the best relationship with jewel, and Jewel loved her back. This is shown when he said “It would just be me and her on a high hill and me rolling the rocks down the hill at their faces, picking them up and throwing them down the hill, faces and teeth and all by God until she was quiet and not that goddamn adze going One lick less. One lick less and we could be quiet.” This shows that even he believed that they were different from the rest of the family and they work together very