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A neighbor of the Bundrens’, Cora Tull is deeply involved in Addie’s final days. She frequently goes over to their house to sit by her dying friend’s bedside, and through her sections of narration, she offers her opinion on everything from the Bundren children to Addie’s spirituality. Cora considers herself a devout Christian and views all of her actions as faith-driven, a quality which inspires her role around the Bundren house. She believes that Addie should not have to face “the Great Unknown” alone, so she nominates herself to act as a spiritual guide of sorts. In addition to shaping the way in which she supports Addie, Cora uses religion to justify everything that happens to her. When a customer rejects the cakes she bakes, for example, she does not lament the loss of money or the fact that a promise was broken. Instead, she explains to her daughter that God cares about the goodness of a person’s heart rather than their wealth. This perspective allows her to feel more at peace with herself and her situation.
While Cora’s religious beliefs make her seem like a morally upstanding individual, her regimented worldview inevitably leads her to be judgmental of others. She criticizes Addie and the rest of the Bundren family at almost every chance she gets, but she does so under the guise of helping others see God’s influence. Especially when it comes to the misfortunes that befall the Bundren family, Cora is quick to emphasize that their sins, such as Addie’s preference for Jewel over her other children, are to blame. Her habit of viewing everything as a divine judgment not only makes her own perspective more critical, but it also emboldens her to feel a sense of superiority over others. The comments that Cora makes about being surrounded by family when death eventually comes for her, for example, reflect her belief that she is more virtuous than Addie. Similar to Whitfield’s approach to religion, Cora’s faith ultimately has a self-aggrandizing element to it. Her judgments, however, do serve an important role in Faulkner’s storytelling. While most of the characters emphasize that the Bundrens are traveling to Jefferson to fulfill Addie’s final wish, Cora suspects that this is not truly the case. Her critique of this justification foreshadows the absurdity of the journey, allowing Faulkner to hint at the family’s ulterior motives.
