The Death and Rebirth of the Bundrens The term “death and rebirth” as used in this text refer to what Joseph Campbell discusses in The Power of Myth. It doesn’t mean literal death and rebirth, but rather metaphorical death and rebirth, meaning “[casting] off the psychological posture that you happen to be in at the time so that you may come into a better one” (Campbell 141). This is a prevalent motif in myths; for example, it is seen in the well-known story of Jesus’s death and resurrection. His current state of consciousness gets thrown out and he gains a new, deeper, and more personal understanding of his life. There is usually an event that triggers this shift of consciousness, like a midlife crisis, or a crucifixion, and you come out of it transformed. This death and rebirth can also be caused by or provoked by following your bliss, or doing what you are passionate about, just like how Jesus followed his beliefs and taught them to his disciples. Each of the Bundrens’ undergo this psychological transformation at some point in As I Lay Dying. Darl Bundren is the most prominent and proficient narrator throughout the beginning of the novel. He is a very poetic in his way of expressing himself, and after Addie dies, he…show more content… Her metaphorical death and rebirth transformation begins when she gets pregnant. She begins to worry, because she doesn’t want to have a child and Addie’s death just adds on to her suffering and misery. Later on in the novel, when Dewey Dell goes into the drug store in Jefferson, she is looked down upon as a country girl (she is from a lower social class) and is taken advantage of by the shopkeeper and after failing to get an abortion twice, she gets her money taken away from her by her own father. These events symbolize her metaphorical death and rebirth, showing her realization of the harsh, cruel reality of what life
