Addie Bundren The dying mother, who has ordered her coffin to be built under her window and who has extracted a promise from her family that they will take her to Jefferson to bury her.. Anse Bundren Her bumbling and ineffectual husband, who is anxious to take Addie to Jefferson so he can get some false teeth.. Cash Their oldest son, who is the carpenter and who builds the coffin for Addie.
Analysis. When Whitfield hears Addie is dying, he "wrestled with Satan" and decides to go to the Bundrens' home, so that he can absolve himself of sin through confession, hoping that he can confess before Addie does so. After his decision is made, Whitfield claims to feel freer and to have a quieter soul.
Summary Full Book Summary Addie Bundren, the wife of Anse Bundren and the matriarch of a poor Southern family, is very ill, and is expected to die soon. Her oldest son, Cash, puts all of his carpentry skills into preparing her coffin, which he builds right in front of Addie's bedroom window.
The Bundrens drive along all day until dusk, when they reach the house of Samson, a farmer who lives on the way to Jefferson. The Bundrens learn the unfortunate fact that another local bridge has been submerged from recent rains, but reminds himself that he is a chosen man of God. Despite the unfortunate situation, Anse takes solace in the fact
Summary and Analysis Sections 48-51. In Section 39, we heard Addie say that Jewel will be her salvation, that is, he will save her "from the water and from the fire." Prior to her narration, we had the water episode in which Addie's coffin and body were rescued by Jewel. During these sections we have the fire episode, in which Jewel will risk
Chapter Summaries Sections 1-8 Sections 9-16 Point of ViewAs I Lay Dying consists of fifty-nine chapters narrated by fifteen different characters. Darl is the most frequent voice, narrating
Section Thirty-Two, narrated by Darl. Darl reminisces about the time when Jewel was fifteen and he kept falling asleep throughout the day. Secretly, Addie would ask Dewey Dell and the others to help her make up Jewel's share of farm work, in order to keep the problem from Anse. Darl hated this sort of hypocrisy, given that his mother always
Analysis. Down the river from where Tull, Anse, Dewey Dell and Vardaman crossed, Darl and Cash proceed with the wagon to the ford. Jewel remains on his horse, following Darl and Cash at the wagon's rear wheel. The brothers spot the rest of the Bundren clan on the other side of the river, and begin arguing about how they will successfully cross
He notices the idiosyncrasies about each family member—Dewey Dell's anxiety, Darl's coldness, Cash's obsessive eye, and Jewel's fierce hostility. Tull's opinions and observations help to destabilize the romantic idea of family as a united front. Active Themes. Tull stands around as the family members argue, trying to figure out the least
Section Thirteen, narrated by Vardaman. Vardaman goes out to the porch, crying. He goes over to the ground where he dropped the fish he caught and thinks about how, now, the fish is in pieces of "not-fish." He's basically trying to understand his mother's death through the fish as example. (Remember, he's just a little kid.)
In its broadest terms, the structure of As I Lay Dying revolves around the preparations for and the actual journey from the Bundren farm to a town forty miles away in order to bury Addie Bundren. During the journey, several difficulties are encountered. So, in one sense, the novel has a linear structure based upon the movement of the funeral procession traversing the forty miles from the
Summary and Analysis Sections 52-54. In Section 52, Darl notices the effect of the arduous journey on all of the family. But even though he is exhausted, he is still in control of the situation, as is illustrated in the central episode in this section — that is, the attempted fight between Jewel and the white man.
As I Lay Dying Summary and Analysis of Section 2. Second Section (Tull, Anse, Darl, Peabody, Darl, Vardaman, Dewey Dell; pages 24-58): Vernon Tull narrates. He and Anse talk about sending the boys off with the lumber; Anse continues to say he doesn't like doing it, but he has to. Addie wants to be buried in Jefferson, with her own people, and
Title: As I Lay Dying Date of first publication: 1935 Author: William Faulkner (1897-1962) Date first posted: Oct. 19, 2017 Date last updated: Oct. 19, 2017 Faded Page eBook #20171024 This ebook was produced by: Delphine Lettau, Cindy Beyer & the online
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