As I Lay Dying: Misery or Resilience?

As I Lay Dyingfollows the Bundrens, a poor southern family during the Great Depression. Addie Bundren, the family matriarch, has fallen gravely ill and is facing death. She decides that she wants to be buried in Jefferson which is a nearby town that the family will need to bring her body to once she dies. When she dies, the family honors her wish and takes her body to Jefferson, but along the way they encounter a plethora of difficulties that seem to take the few resources and resolve they have left. They even lose another family member along the way as Darl Bundren is put in a mental institution for burning down a barn to try to incinerate Addie’s body. His attempt to burn her body fails however and the family buries Addie in Jefferson. Right after burying Addie, Anse, her husband, finds a new wife. The constant misery suffered by the family seems to beg the question of whether the purpose of this book is to show resilience through adversity or to simply paint a picture of misery. In my opinion, this book was written to show just how miserable life can be sometimes. The context in which it was written was the Great Depression so this seems reasonable to me.