Family in the Poisonwood Bible and As I Lay Dying

Barbara Kingsolver’s the Poisonwood Bible and William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying discuss families in showing that the heads of a families can set a negative, dysfunctional dynamic, and commenting that they need to focus more on the other members of the family than on themselves.

In the Poisonwood Bible, the head of the family is an extremely intense and self assured preacher, Father Price. He believes himself to be righteous and eagerly awaits the eternal reward for his service. However, he does not realize that he is to blame for much of what goes wrong in the story. His pride and arrogance place the family in dangerous situations, and his ongoing abuse of his wife and children negatively impact the confidence and mental health of the characters. This is an extreme, because Father Price forced his family into a situation where they could have been killed, and one was, in the dangerous jungles of the Congo. But he was too concerned with his own mission to see that his family was struggling to survive. Had he only listened, or noticed, his wife and daughters could have told him how miserable they were and how dangerous it really was for them all.

Faulkner’s equivalent is Anse Bundren, physically toothless and hunched over, but also mentally twisted; Anse is quick to blame everything that goes wrong in his life on anything and anyone but himself-he just chalks it all up to his bad luck, and everything being out to get him. He does not take well to suggestions either, and must do everything his own way, often with the help of sympathizing neighbors. His own self absorption impacts his family negatively as well, creating bad situations or members of his family. Anse is too prideful to ask for help. He refused to call a doctor though his wife’s health was quickly deteriorating. He also had his family refuse the hospitality of neighbors who invited them to stay in their house, and opted that they sleep in the barn, next to the mother’s casket, instead. His arrogance placed the family in these situations that would have been easily avoided if he did not let his pride get in the way.

Both authors use arrogant, self absorbed father figures to show how negatively impacted a family can be when it’s head is more focused on itself than the other members of the family.