“’It’s Cash and Jewel and Vardaman and Dewey Dell,’ pa says,
kind of hangdog and proud too, with his teeth and all, even if he wouldn’t look
at us. ‘Meet Mrs. Bundren,’ he says.” (261)
As I got further and further into ‘As I lay Dying’, my
perception of Anse’s character took so many different twists and turns, that I just
had to laugh when I realized that throughout this story it was not only Anse
that was a fool, but myself as well. In the beginning, I pictured an old and
tired man not knowing how to cope with the loss of his diseased wife, blaming
the weather and an ill-placed road for Addie’s death. As the story progressed, I saw his intentions
for his wife’s body as being honorable and brave for going on this dangerous
journey to fulfill her final wish. Faulkner tricked me into thinking
Anse’s self centered ways were merely a form of his foolish, manly, southern
pride for himself. However, throughout
this final portion, I began to see Anse for the selfish man he truly was.
The final gotcha moment that Faulkner hits us with allows us
to see Anse’s intentions come full circle. We knew that Anse wanted new teeth
when he arrived in Jefferson, but we (or at least I didn't) didn't know that
that wasn’t the only new thing he was looking for. As I began to piece the puzzle together, I
thought back to his “prideful” nature, and realized that every second of the
Bundren family journey dishonored Addie more and more. As he continues to
insist on dragging her decomposing corpse into one foreign town after another,
he keeps bringing indignity upon everyone associated. At each stop on their
journey, the Bundren’s hosts always comment to him that he is not doing the
right thing by taking her to Jefferson, but we soon see why Anse had no intentions of stopping short. Once in Jefferson, he helps himself bury any
memory of his previous wife by using the spades of the new Mrs. Bundren he has found. Although I didn’t see it coming, I didn’t astonish me that Anse would do
something like this. His disrespectful and closed nature would allow him to
pick up another woman in what seemed like seconds after he dug a hole to throw
his previous wife into. He has that same hangdog look he has had throughout,
knowing he has done wrong, but ultimately finding joy for himself. I believe
Faulkner used this form of writing, in which we see everybody’s point of view,
to help us see that not everyone draws the same conclusion about what is
happening. And Anse’s persona helps us see that; his family has suffered the
entire journey, yet he finds a way to take full advantage and add a new wife.
Discussion Questions: Did anybody else see Anse as merely a
prideful man until the last few sections? Can we view this as a happy, yet
sinister, ending since most of the Bundren family got what seemed to be a
better and more desired situation in the end?
No comments:
Post a Comment