I was initially very confused by Addie's chapter because she is dead and that would make it hard for her to narrate the present. As her chapter continued, it became apparent that it was not the present, but a flashback of her married life. I am still confused about why Addie married Anse if not for love because she never really seems to love him during their marriage. They are a partnership, they are each other's family, he provides for her, she cares for his household and gives him children. Addie doesn't seem to truly love her children either, which in broken marriages is often the only thing that the wife/mother does love. Cora calls her sinful in her previous chapter because Addie likes to wish all of them -- Anse and her five children away into nothingness when she goes to sleep. Addie agrees with Cora in her sin, and considers Jewel her punnishment, even though Darl remarks earlier in the novel that Jewel never loved her either. It is confusing trying to figure out what is wrong with Jewel that makes everyone think of him as a "punnishment" (other than he is abusive towards his beloved horse and doesn't like his family).
I think that Faulkner writes Addie's chapter because it helps explain Anse's devotion because it was only a matter of duty for them, a simple sense of honor and responsibility that held their relationship togehter. This chapter also puts everyone's varied feelings and opinions of Addie into perspective because Addie seems to have been very different to certain people or groups of people than she was to others. Addie cares for her children, perhaps a little more to Jewel than the others, as she is supposed to, respects Anse as she is supposed to, acts pious around Cora most of the time, and all the while she follows her father's advice, "the reson for living is getting ready to stay dead." (169) Addie never enjoyed her life because she thought she would be happy in death, making sure her family would be able to function without her when she does die, and making sure that she would get what she wanted when she died (to go home to her family who are all buried in Jefferson). She spent her entire married life satisfying the needs and desires of others, or repaying debts she thought she owed (like having Dewey Dell and Vardaman to "negative Jewel... to replace the child I had robbed him of.) (176) I think that the last line shows the division of family loyalties: Dewey Dell, Vardaman, and Jewel seem to "side" with his wishes/mentality, as much as they "side" with anyone other than themselves, and seem to think of their mother as a stranger that they love. Cash and Darl, the oldest and the seemingly most loved by Annie as infants, seem to truly love Annie and "side" with her wishes. Anse feels the responsibility to return Addie to the family that raised her and, hopefully, loved her more than this family did. Anse is repaying his debt to Addie because she gave him happiness at the expense of her own. I think Addie's chapter is used to give context to the living characters and their motives and explain the true nature of this family.
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