Anse as the Villain

Addie Bundren in the novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner has a dying wish to be buried in her hometown of Jefferson, Mississippi. When Addie dies her husband Anse Bundren is left to fulfill this wish along with his five children. Anse takes his children on a journey to Jefferson and during this journey he subjects his children to many catastrophes due to his carelessness and desire to get to town to carry out his own personal goals aside from burying Addie. Over the course of the novel Anse becomes the villain because of how he harms his children to carry out his own motives. Anse does not really respect Addie’s dying wish to be buried with her family in Jefferson. He travels to Jefferson to accomplish his own …show more content…
Anse steals the money Dewey Dell is planning to use for an abortion and he makes her seem like the villain. Anse uses his children’s means to further himself without taking his children's concerns into consideration at all. In chapter fifty two when Dewey Dell changes into her sunday clothes Anse realizes she did not have the cakes she said she had gotten from Cora to sell.After he witnesses this,his plan to exploit her begins to formulate. In chapter fifty eight Anse uses his own low self-esteem to bully Dewey Dell into giving him the money by guilting her. He makes it seem that Addie would be disappointed by her not giving him the money. Anse says that the only reason he is taking the money is for Addie’s sake. He tarnishes Dewey Dell’s memory of Addie for his own purpose. Anse blames Dewey Dell by exclaiming “I give them what was mine without stint. Cheerful I give them, without stint. And now they deny me. Addie, it was lucky for you you died” (Faulkner 256). Anse makes it seem like he does everything for his children and gives them everything. He says he does not understand why, if he does all of this for them, why he is not getting anything in return. In reality Anse does not deserve anything from his children, as all he has done is hurt