Popular Culture Review Vol. 8, No. 2, August 1997 | Page 144

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the Bundrens makes the trip. Is Anse respecting the wishes of his
wife, or does he merely want a chance to buy a set of false teeth?
Other members may go to Jefferson out of respect for their mother or
for such diverse reasons as wanting to see an electric train in a store
window (Vardaman), wanting to procure an abortion (Dewey Dell) or
wanting to buy a new phonograph (Cash).
Light in August uses some of the same comic techniques that
As I Lay Dying uses. The general critical opinion of the work,
however, does not take full account of these similarities. Edmond L.
Volpe, for example, w rites that the Lena-Byron idyll is
thematically important because it "illumines by contrast the
significance of the Hightower, Christmas and Burden stories, the key
contrast is in the differing responses to life. Lena accepts life; the
others resist it."® Here, Volpe expresses a variant of the usual
opinion that the opening and closing episodes, both of which deal
with Lena Grove, provide a positive frame for a negative novel, that
Light in August is a negative enclosed by two positives.
The validity of such a view is at least obscured by the humor
of the two idyllic sections, a humor that is similar to the humor of As
I Lay Dying. If, in As I Lay Dying„(he outside observers provide
humor by interpreting and coming to their own conclusions about the
Bundrens' journey, so in Light in August, similar observers (one of
whom might be the same character) interpret and come to conclusions
about Lena's journey; the conclusions and interpretations vary
incongruously and humorously from those of Lena. The observers feel
that Lena's actions are foolish and irrational, not simply idyllic, and
the opinions of the observers fail to emphasize Lena's acceptance of
life .
Armstid is the first of Lena's observers. He says, "She'll
have company before she goes much further."^ His statement typifies
the attitude of Lena's observers. They accept only the physical fact
of her pregnancy and the consequent irrationality of he "