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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, ...

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out, he is still
determined to get 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 ...

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As I Lay Dying. (2008, February 12). Retrieved January 13, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/As-I-Lay-Dying/78942

"As I Lay Dying." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 12 Feb. 2008. Web. 13 Jan. 2026. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/As-I-Lay-Dying/78942>

"As I Lay Dying." Essayworld.com. February 12, 2008. Accessed January 13, 2026. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/As-I-Lay-Dying/78942.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 2/12/2008 08:50:54 PM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 660
Pages: 3

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