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As I Lay Dying - Term Papers

As I Lay Dying

William Faulkner's is a novel about how the conflicting agendas
within a family tear it apart. Every member of the family is to a degree
responsible for what goes wrong, but none more than Anse. Anse's laziness and
selfishness are the underlying factors to every disaster in the book.
As the critic Andre Bleikasten agrees, "there is scarcely a character in
Faulkner so loaded with faults and vices" (84).

At twenty-two Anse becomes sick from working in the sun after which he refuses
to work claiming he will die if he ever breaks a sweat again. Anse becomes lazy,
and turns Addie into a baby factory in order to have children to do all the work.
Addie is inbittered by this, and is never the ...

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to Jefferson.

Is Anse sincere in wanting to fulfill his promise to Addie, or is he driven by
another motive? Anse plays "to perfection the role of the grief-stricken
widower" (Bleikasten 84) while secretly thinking only of getting another wife
and false teeth in Jefferson. When it becomes necessary to drive the wagon
across the river, he proves himself to be undeniably lazy as he makes Cash,
Jewel, and Darl drive the wagon across while he walks over the bridge, a
spectator.

Anse is also stubborn; he could have borrowed a team of mules from Mr. Armstid,
but he insists that Addie would not have wanted it that way. In truth though
Anse uses this to justify trading Jewel's horse for the mules to spare himself
the expense. Numerous times in the book he justifies his actions by an
interpretation of Addie's will.

Anse not only trades Jewel's horse without asking, but he also steals Cash's
money. Later on he lies to his family saying that he spent his savings and
Cash's money in the ...

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As I Lay Dying. (2005, September 13). Retrieved January 1, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/As-I-Lay-Dying/33189

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"As I Lay Dying." Essayworld.com. September 13, 2005. Accessed January 1, 2026. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/As-I-Lay-Dying/33189.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 9/13/2005 01:24:48 AM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 660
Pages: 3

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