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Imbedded in Whitfield's insistence on keeping up Christian appearances lies Faulkner's portrayal of simplistic Christianity as a humorous, fairy-tale version of reality. Consider the scene in which Whitfield crosses Tull's bridge. He deems traversing the dilapidated bridge a test from God: "by those dangers and difficulties which I should have to surmount I saw that He had not abandoned me" (178). Furthermore, Whitfield narrates the event in grandiose religious vernacular, and he seems to consider it akin to a second christening: "I lifted my voice above the noise of the flood: "Praise be to Thee, O Mighty Lord and King. By this token shall I cleanse my own soul and gain again into the fold of Thy undying love"" (178). Chronologically, Whitfield's crossing occurs earlier than the Bundens", and we hear it briefly mentioned much earlier. But Faulkner chooses to position it almost immediately afterwards. In the light of the capsized wagon, Cash's broken leg, the drowned mule team, and no bridge at all, we cannot perceive the scene the same way as Whitfield. His journey becomes one of a child's fairy tale when juxtapositioned with the epic Bundren journey.
Faulkner uses Reverend Whitfield to demonstrate simplistic Christianity's inadequacy to cope with both physical death and spiritual sin. The above two river crossing scenes function to contrast two different methods of dealing with death. Whitfield is crossing the river because, yes, he does not want Addie to tell of their fornication, but he also desires to make things right with her family before she dies: "I would say to her husband: "Anse, I have sinned. Do with me as you will"" (178). The Bundren family is crossing the river because they want to bury Addie. In each case, the crossing presents a difficulty that the party must overcome in order to deal with death. Immediately after Whitfield crosses the river, Tull's youngest daughter informs him that Addie is already dead.
