Anse


 * Anse Bundren** (Dan Wang, Michelle Cho, Kim Chan)




 * Physical Description**
 * Humpback, tall, toothless, bad feet
 * "Pa's feet are badly splayed, his toes cramped and bent and warped, with no toenail at all on his little toes, from working so hard in the wet in homemade shoes when he was a boy. Beside his chair his brogans sit" (Faulkner 11).
 * "Since he lost his teeth his mouth collapses in slow repetition when he dips. The stubble gives his lower face that appearance that old dogs have" (17).
 * "Anse keeps on rubbing his knees. His overalls are faded; on one knee a serge patch cut out of a pair of Sunday pants, wore iron-slick" (29).
 * "His eyes look like pieces of burnt-out cinder fixed on his face, looking out over the land" ( 32).


 * Anse's Involvement in the Journey**


 * Anse is first introduced significantly with Vernon Tull on the front porch through the discussion of whether Jewel and Darl should make the trip. Eventually he agrees with their trip, if only they return by sundown the net day.
 * Tull tries to relieve Anse of his reservations while Vardaman shows Anse the fish he caught, which he tells him to clean immediately.
 * Anse then begins to complain about the weather, his children, and the road that he believes was built near the house to bring him bad luck especially Addie’s health.
 * As the family surrounds Addie’s bedside after her death, Anse tells Cash to finish up the coffin quickly and for Dewey Dell to prepare supper. Again, Anse views his wife’s death as an example of his rotten luck.
 * Jewel, Cash, Darl and Anse lift and carry the coffin out of the house but Jewel stays behind. Anse remarks that Jewel is being disrespectful for not coming along but Darl reassures him that will probably he will catch up with them.
 * Anse reflects on how unfair the farmer’s life is and what he believes he should earn in heaven. His desire for a new set of teeth is evident.
 * Tull, Anse, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman are the first to successfully cross the sunken bridge. While seeing Darl, Cash and Jewel collapse in the river, it seems as if Anse is irresponsive and is watching this all happen without helping them.
 * In Addie’s monologue, she narrates the transient spark in their marriage between herself and Anse. She declares Anse dead to her.
 * Anse declines the Armstid’s offer to stay inside the house, and opts to stay in the barn instead.
 * Armstid and Anse discuss the idea of buying a new team of mules. Anse comes back the next day with a team that he had purchased with his farm equipment, the money Cash was saving to buy a gramophone, money from his teeth fund, and the trade of Jewel’s horse.
 * After the barn fire was extinguished, Anse makes an effort to break off the Cash’s cast but then decides, that they need a doctor.
 * Anse asks Dewey Dell about the ten dollars she saved for her abortion. She explains its not hers, but Anse decides to take the money anyway.
 * That night, Anse leaves for town. The next morning, Anse approaches his children with a new set of teeth and a new wife.


 * Ulterior Motives**



It is extremely obvious to most that Anse Bundren had ulterior motives for embarking on the journey to Jefferson, besides fulfilling the promise to bury Addie Bundren. Although Anse repeatedly stated throughout __As I Lay Dying__ that his reason for going to Jefferson is to keep his promise to Addie, this is not the entire purpose behind the trip. In fact, Anse Bundren shows himself to be extremely selfish and only thinks about himself rather than his own children. He had the nerve to take money from his own daughter in order to purcahse a new set of teeth, and he had also found a new wife at the end of the novel who will probably end up doing housework for the Bundrens.

Below are Anse's two main ulterior motives: >> took the money and went out" (257).
 * Purchase new teeth
 * In order to purchase new teeth, because he has none, Anse stole Dewey Dell's money which was secretly supposed to be used in order to get an abortion (she received the money from Lafe).
 * " 'It's just a loan. God knows, I hate for my blooden children to reproach me. But 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, Addie' ...He
 * Find a new wife- Need a new wife to help cook, clean, and take care of other household chores.
 * " '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).


 * Internal and External Conflicts**
 * Often argues with his children
 * Upset at the lack of respect the children show Addie
 * Jewel rides on the horse instead of in the wagon with the family
 * Jewel's horse kicks mud on the coffin
 * Darl's laughing
 * " 'I dont expect you to have no respect for me,' I says. 'But with your own ma not cold in her coffin yet' " (106).
 * Must continue the journey to bury Addie
 * It is a long and difficult to journey for Anse to keep his promise to actually bury Addie in Jefferson.
 * He loses his original team of mules after attempting to cross the river.
 * Economic Issues
 * Was forced to sell his own farming tools (used to earn money for the family) in order to buy a new team of mules
 * Needed to take money from Dewey Dell in order to purchase new teeth


 * Relationship with the Bundren Family**
 * Patriarch of the Bundren family
 * Detached from the rest of the family
 * The ending of the book perfectly shows the isolation of each character: the corpse is buried, the daughter fails in her effort to get an abortion, one son is badly injured, another has gone crazy, and in addition, in a stroke of harsh comedy, the father remarries with a new set of teeth.
 * Shows very little concern for the well-being of everyone else, very cynical
 * Even the cost of a doctor for Addie seems to Anse as a waste of money; believes it could be used for other purposes.
 * Peabody quotes to Anse, "'Damn the money,' I say. 'Did you ever heard of me worrying a fellow before he was ready to pay'" (44).
 * Steals numerous significant objects of his children: Dewey Dell's saved abortion money, Jewel's horse, Cash's money
 * Tull criticizes Anse for doing nothing while the family struggles when fording the river.
 * His marriage with Addie is a burden for the both of them:
 * After having Cash and Darl, Addie feels the need to have Jewel to owe Anse another child, due to her affair with Whitifield.
 * "I gave Anse Dewey Dell to negative Jewel. Then I gave Vardaman to replace the child I had robbed him of. And now he has three children that are his and not mine" (176).
 * Throughout the entire novel, Anse is determined to bury Addie in Jefferson which he feels the need to accomplish.
 * The marital relationship between Addie and Anse Bundren can be best described as a synthetic one


 * Quotations that add insight into the character and/or theme(s) of the novel:**
 * " 'I thank you,' Bundren says. 'We wouldn't discommode you. We got a little something in the basket. We can make out' " (11). Anse


 * "...let her put up with Anse Bundren when Mr Tull said she ought to poisoned him**—**for three dollars, denying his dying mother the goodbye kiss" (23). - Cora


 * “ ‘I’d believe him about something he couldn’t expect to make anything off of me by not telling’ ” (23). - Mr. Tull


 * "He put his shoes on stomping into them, like he does everything, like he is hoping all the time he really cant do it an can quit trying to" - Mr. Tull


 * “ Nowhere in this sinful world can a honest, hardworking man profit ” (110). - Anse


 * “ ‘Cant no man say I dont aim to keep my word’ ” (115). - Anse

> Then you all could have stuck his head into the saw and cured a whole family...' " (240). -Peabody
 * " 'God Almighty, why didn't Anse carry you to the nearest sawmill and stick your leg in the saw? That would have cured it.

> yet my own daughter, the daughter of my dead wife, calls me a thief over her mother's grave' " (256). - Anse to Dewey Dell
 * " 'My own daughter accuses me of being a thief. My own daughter...I have fed you and sheltered you. I give you love and care,