Is it really a Hero's Journey?

I don't think As I Lay Dying is much of a hero's journey. There are elements and a few identifiable steps, but there's too much deviation from Campbell's formula that just makes the story feel like something else entirely. The way Faulkner has decided to frame the plot under a shade of human witness accounts and rambling shows that the priority wasn't to show a hero's journey but rather a character study of a dysfunctional family.

The story spends a significant portion of its budget in the first half establishing the Bundrens and how they "fit" in the Bundren family. Darl is quickly implied to be our main narrator, with the most logical and visually descriptive way of speaking to us. Jewel has one chapter of his own where it's made very clear how hostile and angry he feels to everyone, but also how he kind of has a soft spot for his mother. Cash is the silent hard-working type. Dewey Dell is the only woman in the family after Addie dies, and she is forced to fill the caretaker role, as well as having to deal with her pregnancy. Vardaman is the innocent and naive child. Anse is the lazy deadbeat. We learn all of their motivations and values in their internal monologues, and as they begin their mission to bring Addie to Jefferson. Faulkner takes all these archetypes, forces them to participate in Addie Bundren's sick teambuilding exercise, and we get to see how all of them react when the only support system they had is rotting in a coffin next to them.

Aspects of the hero's journey don't really kick in until when the family tries to cross the river. It takes until the middle of the book for the Bundrens to actually start making progress in their journey. I will concede that this part of the plot is very much the crossing of the first threshold, but that's all I'm gonna give. The rest of the book is focused on the Bundrens' interactions with the world around them and each other as they go from place to place. One could say that As I Lay Dying is a kind of hero's journey where there aren't any heroes and they undergo a change and accomplish a goal and stuff, but I find "oh it's a hero's journey but twisted in a way where the only hero's journey part of it is that there is a character with a goal" a pretty uncompelling argument. There is a very barebones "hero's journey" underneath the text we read, but it doesn't really feel significant. 

I find that the greatest example of Faulker deliberately avoiding the hero's journey formula is at the end of the novel. Our heroes' ultimate boon, burying Addie Bundren in Jefferson, isn't even given a sentence of narration. Instead, we focus on our characters all doing their own thing and we see that none of them have really changed, save for two. Burying their mother was an afterthought for basically everyone but Jewel, who seems to actually care about Addie and does plenty to get her to Jefferson. Anse is as selfish as ever, Vardaman represses his thoughts about Addie and Darl with bananas and trains, and Dewey Dell keeps worrying about her pregnancy. The ride hasn't really done anything to change them.

However, Cash and Darl are an exception. Darl starts out as our lead narrator, giving us rational descriptions at the beginning where all the jumbled rambling of the other characters confuse us. He is our anchor to the plot. He even has moments of strange omniscience where we experience another character's viewpoint through his narration. He's said to be able to see through people, to see who they really are. Cash, on the other hand, begins with an extremely concise list of things that only relate to building the coffin. All he says, what little he does, is about the construction of the coffin.

Things start to change when the family leaves on their quest. Darl begins to act more and more off-kilter, showing how detached he is emotionally from their situation. He laughs out of the blue, and constantly antagonizes Jewel for how he reacts very emotionally about Addie or his horse. Then, at the end, we see a chapter from Darl as he is taken to Jackson. Darl narrates in the third person, from the point of view of one of the men transporting him, to Vardaman back in Jefferson. Darl has disassociated so much that he can only think of the world through other people's eyes now. In a way, he's just like us fr: reading As I Lay Dying from the limited perspectives of other characters, only now he can't go back to just being Darl. 

Meanwhile, we learn how even though initially Cash may seem uninvested just like Darl, he's actually very thoughtful and caring towards his family. Cash stays with the wagon while telling Darl to jump during the river crossing, and he never complains of the excruciating pain from his leg over the entire trip, not wanting to delay their arrival to Jefferson. After Darl's mental state begins to deteriorate enough that he tries to burn down the barn, Cash has a chapter where he narrates in a rational and level-headed way. The family chooses to give up Darl to the authorities, but Cash is able to empathize with Darl's actions. He begins to see the world outside of the terms of carpentry and brings along his rational mind and his thoughtfulness. Faulkner has Cash narrate the final chapter, mirroring the first chapter narrated by Darl. Out of the entire Bundren family, Cash came out of their trip a better person than before, even after losing his leg.

P.S. 

In the middle of writing this blog, I realized there probably is the Hero's Journey in As I Lay Dying. Oops. Every character has their own ultimate boon they want to get, and the only person whose ultimate boon is actually burying Addie is Jewel. Darl's ultimate boon is trying to end the trip, and he fails. Dewey Dell's ultimate boon is getting an abortion, and she fails. Vardaman wants a new train toy, and he fails. Anse, however, succeeds in achieving the ultimate boon. The most selfish character "wins" the hero's journey by taking everything (Jewel's horse, Dewey Dell's money) without having undergone any change or apotheosis.