In As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, all of the Bundren family members are quite eccentric and would be difficult to travel with; but the worst member would have to be Addie because she smells and slows us down.
While traveling with the Bundrens, one of the reasons I most despise Addie the fact that her grotesque smell makes me sick and the trip very unpleasant. The first smell I have to endure and hate the most is the smell of her rotting body alone. After her body has been decomposing for 9 days, people can smell her miles away! Imagine the smell I have to experience just a few feet away from her. The next smell is the disgusting fish water that her body is saturated in. That smell just adds to the horrid stench to create a smorgasbord of disgusting odors. The rotting body and dirty river water would be enough, but the she has to go and burn herself too! That fool Darl lit her on fire; and Jewel, the idiot he is, went and saved her. Now I have to travel with the stench of a burnt carcass. The combination of all three smells is so unbearable that I can not stand Addie one second longer.
Furthermore, instead of enjoying my well-earned vacation to Jefferson, not only do I have to worry about the safety of Addie’s body, but she is also a nuisance to every family in one way or another. If it were not for Addie, we would get to Jefferson much faster and enjoy our vacation. Without her, there would have been no trouble crossing the river. She is an inconvenience to every single member of the family starting with Jewel whom goes through the trouble of saving her from the river and the fire. Next, Cash breaks his leg and has to have a concrete cast because of his attempt to get her body safely across the river. Anse is obviously frustrated with Addie for many reasons.
He wants to get to Jefferson as soon as possible to get his teeth, and he also needs to get a new wife to do his work for him. In addition to Anse, Dewey Dell also wants to get to Jefferson as soon as possible to have her abortion. Finally, Darl pays the biggest price for his mother and is sent to an insane asylum because of his selfless act to try giving her a respectful burial. Every single member of the family makes sacrifices for Addie and is inconvenienced in some way by her existence. This is why Addie Bundren is the most difficult member of the family to travel with.
