Anse Bundren

Anse Bundren is the patriarch of the Bundren family in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, a poor Mississippi hill farmer defined by a profound selfishness masked by a facade of long-suffering piety. He is described physically as stooped and toothless, embodying notable decrepitude, and he claims that sweating would kill him—a belief that conveniently justifies his refusal to engage in any useful labour while his children toil around him. He is not a traditional villain; rather, he is unsettlingly small, presenting his smallness as dignity. Faulkner portrays Anse as a darkly comic figure, yet the comedy never fully mitigates the harm he causes. He remains the still, rotting center of a family in constant, agonized motion.

Anse shows no significant internal change throughout the novel, and this stasis serves a purpose. The plot ostensibly centers on the journey to bury Addie in Jefferson among her people, which Anse presents as an act of sacred duty, a promise to his deceased wife. However, the novel systematically dismantles this narrative. Anse's true motivations are material and immediate: he desires new teeth, which he can only obtain in a town with a dentist. The burial provides moral cover, lending gravitas to his personal errand. His motivation revolves around managing appearances—extracting what he needs from neighbors, children, and strangers while maintaining the guise of a burdened but righteous man. Since he never truly grieves, confronts his failures, or reassesses his self-image, his arc reflects perfect, terrible circularity. He starts as a man who takes from others and concludes, in the novel's devastating final lines, having acquired teeth, a new wife, and what seems to be a gramophone, introducing her to his astonished children with breezy satisfaction.

The concrete leg episode is particularly damning. After Cash breaks his leg during the river crossing, Anse's solution is to encase it in cement instead of seeking medical care—a choice that permanently harms Cash and keeps the journey focused on Anse's goal. The callousness is staggering, especially since Anse frames it as resourcefulness.

Equally telling is the confiscation of Jewel's horse. Anse trades his son's most cherished possession for a replacement mule team, treating Jewel's deep attachment as a mere bargaining chip. He exhibits no guilt and provides no true compensation.

The commitment of Darl stands as the novel's most stark moment of parental betrayal. When Darl burns Gillespie's barn to halt the grisly journey, Anse consents to having him institutionalized—presenting it as a legal necessity while protecting himself from financial liability. He sacrifices his son to safeguard his interests.

The final scene—Anse presenting "Mrs Bundren" to his children—lands with the impact of both a punchline and an indictment. He replaces Addie almost before her grave has settled.

Anse's relationship with Addie forms the novel's dark foundation. Addie's monologue reveals she perceived Anse as a hollow man, someone who replaced reality with words. He used the term love without grasping that love is action. In death, she is further diminished: her corpse becomes the justification for his trip to Jefferson.

With his children, Anse acts as a drain rather than a source. He takes Dewey Dell's abortion money—the only resource she has scraped together for a private need—to pay for his teeth, compounding her crisis with unknowing, casual cruelty. He provides Vardaman with no emotional support during the child's dissociative grief. His treatment of Darl, Cash, and Jewel exemplifies a systematic conversion of his children's well-being into fuel for his own comfort.

Neighbours Vernon Tull and Cora Tull illustrate his social cunning. Tull is repeatedly drawn upon for material assistance, while Cora's pious misreading of Anse as a dutiful widower highlights Faulkner's irony: Anse's display of grief is convincing enough to deceive even the community's self-appointed moral authority.