Tag: selfish

“‘Then she’s be upset, and I wouldn’t upset her for the living world. With that family burying-ground in Jefferson and them of her blood waiting for her there, she’ll be impatient. I promised my word me and the boys would get her there quick as mules could walk it, so she could rest quiet.”‘

Faulkner, William, As I Lay Dying, First Vintage International Edition 1990, pp. 19

Quotation of Anse within Darl’s excerpt. Another commonplace writer described Anse as “selfish” and it is interesting to inquire why. Is Anse’s promise to his dying wife a result of his dignity( how he wants other people to perceive him as worthy of respect) or selflessness to his wife’s final wish?

 

 

Anse only cares about himself

“How many times I told him it’s doing such things as that that makes folks talk about him, I don’t know” ( Faulkner 105).

Faulkner, W., & Faulkner, W. (1990). As I lay dying: The corrected text: Three novels: A summer of Faulkner. Vintage.

Anse answers his own rhetorical question, making himself the most important part of the sentence which highlights his narcissistic and selfish nature. In regards to dignity, he only seems concerned about societies opinion of his children rather than them genuinely respecting his deceased wife.