Anse Like a Vulture in As I Lay Dying Human beings are commonly accepted as social creatures. They are considered advanced because they were the first animals to develop a written language to facilitate communication. In the book As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner compares the characters to less evolved species. The similarity between the characters and their inanimate counterparts in nature is used in the book to show how inhuman they are in personality. Many birds are carnivores, meaning they prey on other animals for food. In this book, Faulkner uses the character of Anse Bundren to personify a vulture. Anse is compared to predatory birds to expose the similarities in the nature and behavior of human and animal species. Anse resembles a vulture when Addie first sees him. He describes it as a tall, hunched bird in cold weather (170). Anse is often depicted with a hunchbacked, immobile and cold silhouette (51-52). As he watches Addie lying on the bed, he shares an “owl-like quality of disgruntled indignation and with wobbly feathers inside (49).” Anse is often unshaven, dirty, looks dark and sad. It is selfish and continually chasing, like a culture, more money and extravagance. The Latin meaning of the word "vulture" is the basic nature of these birds: scavengers of the breeze. Rarely flapping their large wings, vultures fly on air currents, searching for dead animals to eat. Anse gets Addie's attention by walking past the school looking at Addie. He passes by her, trying to catch a glimpse of her, almost chasing her, like a vulture would chase its prey before attacking. Anse is not kind and loving. He stands, stiff as a scarecrow, silent and grotesque. His position evokes fear in others and makes them do what he wishes. When Addie accepts Anse's marriage proposal, he takes her away from her home and birthplace and takes her to his farm. Addie's life, from that moment on, will be hard and ungratifying. It's when Addie is with Anse that she realizes her father's beliefs are true: the purpose of life is to prepare to die. Anse, like a vulture, is cold and calculating. While Addie is in bed, Anse sits on the doorstep waiting for her to die.