Her negative father’s views influence Addie to develop an immoral value system. Addie grows up as a child under a cynical father: “My father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time” (169). In creating a cause-effect relationship between living and dying, her father touts a pessimistic world view that argues that death frees one from the struggles of living; he equates death as a reward following life. Her father ultimately influences Addie’s world view after she admits that “[she] knew at last what [her father] meant [about dying]” (175). In admitting that her father spoke the truth, Addie becomes obsessed with the ideas of death and murder. After she has Darl, she says, “I believed that I would kill Anse” (172), and she seeks revenge for having Darl by pressing “Anse to promise to take [her] back to Jefferson when [she] died” (173). The fact that Addie sets her revenge to occur after she dies demonstrates her anticipation of death, allowing her to speak freely of it, and her saying that she “would …show more content…
Addie condemns Anse for his over dependence on words: “[Anse] had a word, too. Love, he called it. But I had been used to words for a long time. Let Anse use it, if he wants to. So that it was Anse or love; love or Anse; it didn’t matter” (172). Addie’s favoring of action over words causes her to disconnect from Anse, distancing herself from “[his] love.” In saying “let Anse use it, if he wants to,” Addie suggests that Anse will never be able to receive nor express love because he can only “use” love as a word. By saying “Anse or love; love or Anse,” she creates a comparison, separating the two and exemplifying the lack of similarities between them. Furthermore, the fact that she says “it didn’t matter” demonstrates that Addie cares for neither Anse nor his supposed love, which develops a barrier between her and