So, after finishing the last page of As I Lay Dying, I realized just how despicable I found Anse, the father of the Bundren family. Oh, I didn't like multiple characters in this book--Addie and Cora weren't wonderful in my opinion--but Anse Bundren...he tops the list.
I think my dislike of Anse began right after Peabody's chapter. We had gotten Cora's opinion but she wasn't a trustworthy narrator to me so I gave Anse the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it was just Cora. Then, we get Peabody's chapter where we see Anse acting like a child--Peabody describes him as "small, motionless in faded overalls". Yes, we can make the argument that he is swamped with grief and so can't move. However, the fact that his children, people who were also experiencing this tragedy, were still trying to do things--Cash is meticulously making his mother's coffin--Anse seemed kind of useless and I didn't like that. From that point on, my dislike for Anse only grew.
Anse's inability to make decisions and tendency to latch onto a goal that makes trouble for everything really made me mad. Because he was set on taking the Bundrens' wagon, he delayed the trip by a few days. Because of this, the river flooded before they could cross it, causing the Bundren family to have to make the perilous trip across it when it was high water. Anse could have easily saved his family the trouble (and Cash his leg) by agreeing to take Tull's team. Due to his own stubbornness, Anse endangers his family. The fact that he also constantly inconveniences people even while saying that he "won't be beholden to no man" is something that made me hate Anse even more. He doesn't stick to his words and forces friends and neighbors to do favors for him. This is probably why everybody kind of hates him.
In the beginning and the middle of the novel, Anse seemed kind of annoying, dull, and nonsensical. However, it wasn't until we reached the chapter where he took Cash's money and Jewel's horse to trade for two mules from Snopes that he became even more horrible (if that is possible). Yes, to be fair, he does take some money from his own fake teeth fund but he doesn't even tell his children that he's going to take belongings that are rightfully theirs!! Dewey Dell's chapter near the end of the book further shows Anse taking advantage of his children for his own gain.
We talked in class about how this novel can flip both ways: comedic/slapstick or epic. Similarly, Anse's character can be viewed in both ways. Some may argue that Anse is a heroic character like Odysseus who guides his family to Jefferson against tremendous odds but is he truly heroic if he's done all these things? The fact remains that Anse is the one who benefits at all by the end of the book. Much like the crew, the Bundren children's situation is worsened at the end of the journey.
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ReplyDeleteALL OF THIS IS SO RELATABLE. I know we talked about how Anse's actions could be seen as somewhat comical in class, but really they just made me stew with anger. Like you, I can't stand Anse at this point, especially after the very last thing he does in the book: marrying another woman, right after he just went through all this trouble and inconvenienced all these people in order to bury his first wife ! I thought that his dedication to his promise to bury Addie in Jefferson showed his deep love for her, which probably would have been the only good thing I see in Anse, but no. As soon as he dropped her in a grave at Jefferson, he picked up some other random woman to replace her. What a dingus
ReplyDeleteI highly agree with everything you said, especially how Anse was "past the point of no return", so to speak, when he sells his children's belongings. I personally pitied him immensely at the beginning of the book, but as it went on found that his actions (or lack thereof) demonstrated the type of person he is. Especially towards the very end of the book where he blatantly manipulates Dewey Dell into giving him her money, he starts to show how despicable he really is. I would lock him in a freezer for 2000 years and truly not feel bad about it.
ReplyDeleteThe sheer distinction between how Anse ends up at the conclusion of the novel and how the rest of the Bundrens end up is completely unjust considering Anse's actions throughout the novel. As you said, he is simply incompetent and unable to make simple decisions, blaming the course of events on his back luck rather than his own stupidity. In addition, the stealing of money and selling Jewel's horse is outrageous, as Anse has no right to exercise that kind of authority over his family without consulting them and discussing what the best course of action is. The journey itself was spurred on by Anse all the way to Jackson, when in reality Addie could have been buried in New Hope when they passed the sign for the third time. Instead, Anse's stubbornness costs the family so much, Cash's leg and Darl's arrest the most prominent, while he ends up favorably himself at the end of the novel.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like Anse. He takes advantage of his children because they're nicer than he is. He doesn't even really care whether they are okay with it or not, because he basically steals Dewey Dell's money. The kids end up in such bad condition after the end of the book that this whole journey doesn't even seem worth it, especially because Addie was trying to punish Anse.
ReplyDeleteI also didn't really like Anse. To me he seemed way more foolish and stubborn than heroic. This idea of him being a hypocrite because he says that no man should be beholden but then throughout the novel he is in fact beholden to many people also made me like him less. I found it interesting that Faulkner ended up having Anse as the only character who got something out of the journey, even though he was the least useful and caused problems.
ReplyDeleteTowards the beginning of the novel, as you said, Anse was put into an unfavorable light by Cora, but as a seemingly unreliable narrator, I was also willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I think I had more patience with Anse than you; sure he seemed pathetic, but I was able to excuse it with grief over the death of his wife. However, right at the end, where he steals money from his daughter that she makes quite clear to him he cannot have, in order to buy new teeth and find a new wife, I was pushed over the edge completely. I had been teetering from Anse's pathetic indecision for a while at that point, as well as his theft of his childrens' property to keep the journey going, but when he has that stupid smile on his face (very well depicted in the movie) at the end, I really just wanted to punch those new teeth right back out. Everyone ended up ruined except for him, and all he does is smile with that hangdog look.
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