After reading As I Lay Dying, I was disturbed by something. It wasn't the plot, although As I Lay Dying had a singularly bizarre storyline. During the action of the novel, a mother dies and her family embarks on a disastrous journey to fulfill her final wishes. The eldest son breaks his leg, the family must sell or mortgage virtually all of its material possessions, and Jewel risks her life twice to bring her mother's body to Jefferson. Why hasn't Disney regained the rights to produce this unique testimony to the love and devotion of the Bundren family? The answer, and the source of my discomfort, is that the Bundren family is horrible. They are almost completely and totally gone. The fact that there is virtually no mourning after Addie's death, the most fundamental tribute a family can pay, is just the tip of the iceberg of the selfishness that seems to characterize the Bundren family. The trip to Jefferson, a trip that under other circumstances might be considered a noble family tribute to a fallen matriarch, was ruined by the selfish motivations of most of the family members who undertook the expedition. Dewey Dell wanted to have an abortion. Vardaman wanted to go get bananas. Anse wanted to go get new teeth. Cash wanted to buy a record player. Not only were the motivations selfish, they were completely transparent. The Bundrens' neighbor, Tull, expressed the absurdity of the situation best when he said: "They would risk fire and earth and water and all that just to eat a bag of bananas." (p. 140) Indeed, the last images of the Bundren family as a family (without Darl) show them eating bananas from a bag and sitting around a record player at home. There were, however, two family members with no ulterior motives for going into town. Jewel and Darl appear to have no purpose for going to town other than Addie Bundren's funeral. Both Darl and Jewel have a special bond with their mothers. It is tempting to conclude that Darl loved his mother the most. He narrated the majority of the novel's chapters, and as readers we become more accustomed to his voice. Cora Tull certainly feels like Darl loves her mother the most when she says, "It was between her and Darl that true understanding and love was established..