Cash as a hero

In As I Lay Dying, Cash is arguably the most rational of the Bundren's and experiences a large amount of development over the course of the novel. He is one of the most Heroic characters in the novel throughout, in both his work and how he deals with the troubles that arise over the trip to town.

In the beginning of the book our impression of Cash is one of a very hardworking individual, the one with the best chance of being successful in life. We first get glimpses of his heroism when he builds Addie's coffin without stopping. Although it may seem like he is being insensitive, I believe that he is actually just trying to distract himself from the grief by working very hard, and that kind of release is pretty admirable.

Later in the book, Cash is heroic in his unwavering lack of notice that he puts towards his injury. Cash seems to know that complaining about his leg would make things worse for the whole family, so he endures that pain, saying that it doesn't hurt much, and makes them continue on the journey.

Cash also develops a lot during the journey. During the beginning he is wholly focused on building the coffin, but by the end of the book he turns into one of the most reliable narrators in the book. Cash manages to survive the whole journey, never complaining, and even questions some of the decisions of the other family members. One example of this is how he wonders if sending Darl away was really the correct choice to make.

Cash also is one of the members of the family who actually comes away with something, the "graphaphone". I think this suggests that he is more heroic because he did come out with something through a large amount of struggle and hard work, and because he lost a large amount of ability in one of his legs.

Overall, Cash is one of the most heroic characters in the novel and deserve the recognition that he gets by the end of the book as the main narrator. 

Addie and religion

In a society where religion is a very important part if everyday life, Addie seems to have some out of the ordinary viewpoints. What struck me most was when Addie said something along the lines of, to those whom sin was just a matter of words, salvation was just a matter of words too.

We get a picture of Addie that is very interesting, expressing ideas that she really had no other options in her life, but to go with this we find that she is a pretty smart woman and this is complimented by her views on religion. Addie doesn't seem religious, but she understands religion on a more  fundamental level than the other women in the society.

Instead of blindly following prayers, and praying for others as Cora does when she thinks people are blind to sin, Addie knows that religion isn't much more than fancy words just being thrown around. She understand that sin isn't something that can be described in words. There is something more fundamental there that can't be expressed if you are so focused on prayer, and to compliment this she thinks that salvation can't be that simple either.

I believe much of this is coming from her disillusionment with religion as she had an affair with the local religious authority, and this provides us with this woman who can be seen as even more distinct from the other farmer's wives. Not only because she has interesting views on child rearing, but because she doesn't blindly follow religion when many were illiterate and thought that  religion could make their lives much better. Addie doesn't turn to religion to make her life better. She puts it off as mostly words spoken by people with no real meaning.

I think that Addie has an interesting view on religion, but it would be cool to see the other character's views on it. We  know Anse can philosophize so his religious experience would be nice to look at. I think Cash would also be interesting to find more out about as we already know he is very rational. Overall, it would be interesting to find out this particular family's view on religion.

Anse as a Hero

In As I Lay Dying, the picture we get of Anse is not very heroic. I don't think Anse really represents a hero even though he is going through a journey. So far it hasn't really changed him or helped anyone other than him.

First off, Anse doesn't even take the lead in this journey that he proposed. He seems to be the only one who pushes for the journey, but during the travel he is often letting Jewel lead the wagon and the mules. If Anse took lead of the journey, I think that would make him more admirable, as it would lead you to believe that he could actually do something if he tried and would show that he has some sort of determination to do something even if he refuses to work.

To further push Anse into the role of not being a hero, his motives for making the journey to town are questionable. Throughout the book he keeps mentioning the teeth that he hasn't had for year and that if he goes to town he will be able to get them. Although all the other characters have their own reasons for going to town, Anse seems the most deliberate in stating the he is just fulfilling Addie's wishes when in fact the is also fulfilling his wishes. None of the kids say that they are helping Addie, they are just following what their father is telling them and they can get to town as a by-product of that.

Anse is also very stubborn about this trip when it is evidently a very bad idea. Both bridges are flooded, people get injured, everyone else is telling them not to go and they don't really have enough money to support the trip. In general, I think that the children are more heroic than Anse in this story, as they have to struggle through the same hardships as Anse, but they try to solve their own problems. This can especially be seen in how Vardaman is figuring out what death is when he just lost a mother and almost everything that can be going wrong is.