Vardaman+Bundren

** Vardaman Bundren **
==== The youngest of Anse and Addie’s children, Vardaman Bundren indiscriminately rambles his narrative. In short quick sentences, Vardaman tells his story. His narratives are the most useful in understanding the other characters, the lack of pretention is his story allows the reader to piece the novel together. "Darl is my brother" (101) Unlike the narrative of his siblings, Vardaman is a character of absolutes. He perceives what he perceives, and what he perceives becomes fact with little room for outside interruption. It is imperative to remember, however, how very young Vardaman is. A clear age is never given, but it would be safe to assume that he is younger than ten years old. Once he learns of his mother’s death, he finds comfort in hiding behind the frail body of his father. The death of Addie traumatizes the young Vardaman and he removes himself from the scene to cry on the porch and vomit in the barn. Disjointed and manic, it would seem that the young Bundren had great difficulty in deciphering reality from fiction and spends almost the entire novel struggling with the death of his mother. ====
 * Vardaman and the Fish **

"But my Mother is a Fish. Vernon see it. He was there." (101)
"Where is my Ma, Darl?" I said. "You never got her. You knew she was a fish but you let her get away. You never got her." (151)

With the help of Darl, Vardaman compares his mother to a fish, insistent that his mother and the fish are one. Vardaman uses the image of a fish as a coping mechanism, a fish is tangible. Death is not comprehensible in his young mind. Therefore he creates a persona that he can understand. As a country boy coming of age, he interrupts reality into elements that he can recognize.

** Vardaman and Childish Perception **
==== Throughout the novel, Vardaman continues to create strange conclusions as he struggles to cope with the death of his mother. Initially, Vardaman accuses Doctor Peabody's horses of killing his mother. "You kilt my maw!" (54) Stricking at the horses, and finding pleasure in the pain and the sound of the stick hitting their flesh. Vardaman understands the world around him in terms of ‘was and is’. "Detached and secret and familiar, an //is// different from my //is//." (56) Vardaman's perception of events dictates his actions, regardless of whether his perception of the events are true or false, his opinion remains relative to himself. Addie was alive before the horses came. Peabody was in the room with Addie, and now Addie is dead. According to Vardaman’s logic, Peabody and his horses are responsible for the death of his mother because a new presence has indicated change. His mother was alive and now she is dead. The fish was alive and now it is dead. Therefore, the transformation from life to death binds fish and mother. Change becomes the greatest of offenses because it goes beyond Vardaman’s perception and his sense of control. His discernment of events derives in the present, and an altercation of his reality upsets and confuses his young mind. ==== ==== Vardaman struggles with change, and his reactions can range from strange to the downright comical. In a moment of panic, Vardaman drills holes into his mother’s coffin so that she could breath. She is, of course, dead and no longer has a need for air. He accidently misses, and bores a hole into her face. Vardaman, in his innocence, violated the body of his dead mother yet he continues to have reverence for the corpse. He fervently yells at his brothers to take care of the coffin as they cross the river in their wagon during high tide. Holding onto Vernon Tull’s hand, Vardaman pursues control in a stressful situation by demanding the attention of Darl and Jewel. "I hollering catch her Darl catch her and he didn't come back because she was too heavy." (150) The dead catfish that Vardaman totes around never had a need for air, but Vardaman insists on gutting it. When Mrs. Tull cooks fish that night, Vardaman is beside himself with grief. He may gut the fish, but no other person is allowed to commit violence against it. The family does little to help Vardaman cope with death, so he does his best to try to understand the world on his own childish level. He does not understand what other people need and don’t need, because his own family cannot discern what Vardaman needs. Children need help in understanding that life and events are beyond their control, and that change is a necessary function. His wants are overlooked; the baby of the family is abandoned because an old coffin needs to be hauled to Jefferson. Like a fish, his youth and naïve demeanor are sacrificed for the decaying dead, and Vardaman is expected to obey and silently follow his family into misery. ====
 * The Struggle of Vardaman **

Faulkner, William. __As I Lay Dying__. New York: Vintage International. 1930.