As I Lay Dying is a dramatic novel. As I Lay Dying is a 1930 novel by American author William Faulkner. This novel follows the Bundren family as they attempt to fulfill matriarch Addie's dying wish of being buried with her family of origin in Jefferson, Mississippi. It is a story of the death of Addie Bundren and her poor, rural family's quest and motivations noble or selfish to honor her wish to be buried in her hometown of Jefferson, Mississippi.
Addie is still on the verge of passing away. Cash, her eldest son, is constructing her coffin, while Dewey Dell, her daughter, is fanning her at her bedside. Anse, Addie's husband, sends Darl and Jewel, two of his other kids, on a money-making errand in family wagon. As a result, sons miss the actual passing of Addie.
Anse chooses to sell Jewel's beloved horse to purchase a new set of mules when Cash further injures his already fragile leg in the ordeal. Dewey Dell accepts this odd prescription but doubts that it will be effective. In the meantime, Anse spends the ten dollars Dewey Dell received from Lafe, the man who impregnated her, on a new set of teeth. He also finds a new wife, Mrs. Bundren, who joins them on their wagon ride home.
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As I Lay Dying
Overview
In the fictional northern Mississippi county Yoknapatawpha, Addie Bundren is dying, and her son Cash is building her coffin. Her husband, Anse, wants to bury her in Jefferson, 40 miles away. The story of the family's journey to bury Addie is alternately a comedy of errors and a dark portrait of a group plagued by poverty and ill will.
Main Characters
Addie Anse's
unhappy wife; dying and then dead matriarch
Vardaman
Imaginative youngest son; decides his mother is a fish
Cash
Patient oldest son; carpenter who builds Addie's coffin
Intelligent second son; tries to burn mother's coffin
Anse
Family patriarch; poor farmer who wants false teeth
Jewel
Passionate, independent third son; child of Addie and the minister
Themes
Poverty
Every action is dictated by the desperate need for money or the need to purchase something.
Cruelty
The Bundren family members lie and steal money and possessions from one another.
Grieving
Addie grieves for the life she lost in marriage; most family members grieve for Addie.
Symbols
Money
Represents what the family lacks
Coffin
Symbolizes death and the suffering of the poor
Animals
Serve as symbols of Addie or of challenges for each of the children
Numbering
19
Novels Faulkner published over more than 35 years of writing
1
Days of hard riding it should have taken the Bundrens to get to Jefferson
6
Weeks Faulkner claimed it took to write As I Lay Dying
2
Books inspired by As I Lay Dying—Last Orders by Graham Smith and Getting Mother's Body by Suzan-Lori Parks
Main Topic
WILLIAM FAULKNER 1897-1962
Faulkner grew up in Mississippi, where he based his fictional Yoknapatawpha County. Despite heavy drinking, Faulkner wrote brilliantly and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949. The experimental As I Lay Dying, which features multiple narrators, is one of his finest novels.
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As I Lay Dying
Overview