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Although Lafe never appears in the novel and mentions of him are relatively scarce, he nevertheless has a significant impact on Dewey Dell and her motivations as the Bundren family travels to Jefferson. The earliest reference to Lafe occurs during Dewey Dell’s first section of narration, and she reveals that they once picked crops together. Relying on an old superstition to decide her fate, Dewey Dell eventually engages in a brief and meaningless sexual relationship with Lafe that leaves her pregnant. This outcome preoccupies her mind throughout the rest of the narrative, reflecting her naivety and subconscious obsession with her sexuality. Through Dewey Dell’s accounts of Lafe, the reader learns that he is similarly irresponsible. He intentionally manipulates Dewey Dell in order to ensure that she has sex with him, putting extra crops in her bag so that it is full by the end of the row, and he essentially abandons her when she becomes pregnant. Lafe’s refusal to remain in Dewey Dell’s life despite being the father of her child emphasizes his impulse to put his own interests before those of others, another trait that he has in common with many of the novel’s characters. Although he does seem to display some compassion toward Dewey Dell by giving her ten dollars to pay for an abortion, the fact that he does not support her in any emotional way reiterates the meaninglessness of their relationship, at least from his perspective. Dewey Dell’s ongoing thoughts about Lafe hint at the idea that she may want a deeper connection with him, but his physical absence from the novel makes his perspective clear. By referencing Lafe in the novel, Faulkner is able to emphasize just how little power Dewey Dell has to control her fate. Between the ease with which Lafe manipulates her and his choice to leave, she remains undeniably helpless.
