As I Lay Dying Summary
As I Lay Dying
"As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner consists of strange happenings throughout the story. One of the most awkward settings in the book is the relationship between husband and wife that occurred between Anse and Addie Bundren. What is seen in the beginning is that of a wife on her deathbed and a caring husband who wants to make everything better for his wife by making her wishes come true. I soon realized that this was just a masking technique Faulkner used to give us the wrong impression on how things were run.
The novel opens with Addie Bundren who is dying. She tells her husband she wants to be buried in Jefferson, and as a normal loyal husband would do, Anse felt it was his duty to fulfill his wife's request. In reality, Anse is a poor farmer with five children to take care of and a wife who is in charge of the house. Anse is begrudging of everything. Even the cost of a doctor for his dying wife seems like his money would be put to a better use if spent on false teeth. "I never sent for you," Anse says, "I take you to witness I never sent for you," he repeats trying to avoid a doctor's fee. 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.
There is a need to tend to feel sorry for him because of his laziness and his urge to talk about two measly topics, a farmer's life and complete nonsense. His character seems weak, yet he makes the major decisions around the house. Addie worked as a schoolteacher before getting married to Anse. She hated her pupils and during her teaching career she would sit and contemplate the hate she felt for the children she taught. She simply did not like them and she had wished they would just disappear.
The whole marriage with Anse was not a serious situation. An odd courtship happened to occur, as Anse saw her, asked her to marry him, she accepted and they were wed. That just proves why their relationship ended up being the way it was. Anse did not...