Addie is a creep

    I forgot the book today, so I'm writing this post from my impression of the reading that was assigned two nights ago. Contrary to my other post, apparently Addie actually does narrate a section of the novel. This section proves to be very interesting, but makes me totally rethink Addie's character. My first impression of Addie was that of a hardworking mother who had to put up with a lazy husband (emphasized by Peabody's narration). I associated the cause of her dying with the amount of work that she did: raising and dealing with five children, doing the work that Anse never did, dealing with Anse, etc. Her dying seemed like an unavoidable, unfortunate event. Her narration, however, completely changed my view of her.
   She's a creep. Now I'm not sure how much of this comes from her father's odd beliefs, but her actions seem to isolate her from the family, more than Jewel's distancing of himself from Anse. First of all, she has no interest, what so ever, in Anse. Now, I'm not going to hold this against her--I don't much care for Anse, myself--but it is kinda odd that she says he is "dead (to her?)," although Anse seems perfectly alive and well. The next creepy thing about her is her love of beating children. What the hell? I'm not sure if this is exactly what the text says, but when she switches them, she feels like her blood runs with theirs; she is comforted by their pain. Her view of her own children is also disturbing. She says that one of the children is like a negative (I'm not sure which one), and that birthing another child for Anse cancels out the first.
    It's obvious that I don't like either of Addie or Anse, but I still expected Addie to be extremely different than the way she was portrayed in her narration. I almost feel partial to Anse now. He can finally get away from this crazy lady who has no interest in him or living.