Unnamed Father of Addie Bundren

The man who was Addie Bundren's father is mentioned in only two paragraphs in As I Lay Dying. We learn from several sources that Addie's "people" lived in Jefferson (171), though we are not given any idea where or what their family name was. We are also told that by the time she meets Anse Bundren, all Addie's family are now buried "in the cemetery" in town (171). Her father is the one member of this family who is individuated, though he exists in the novel only as a voice that she remembers saying "that the reason for living is getting ready to stay dead" a long time (175). Unlike the loquacious Mr. Compson in Quentin's section of The Sound and the Fury, this is all that Addie's "father said" (175) - but as in that earlier novel, as a voice that echoes in the consciousness of his child, this father plays a huge role in the story.