As I Lay Dying
A poor Mississippi family hauls their mother’s coffin forty miles through flood and fire to bury her in town, and every one of them has a private reason for going.
Addie Bundren is dying, and her son Cash is building her coffin right outside her window. She has asked to be buried with her own people in the town of Jefferson, and her husband Anse means to keep his promise, whatever it costs. The journey takes days, the river is flooded, the body begins to smell, and the family’s secrets surface one by one. Faulkner tells the story through fifteen narrators in fifty-nine short sections, and the result is by turns grotesque, heartbreaking, and darkly funny.
What happens in As I Lay Dying
Addie Bundren, the mother of a poor farming family in rural Mississippi, is dying. Her eldest son Cash, a careful carpenter, builds her coffin outside her window. Her husband Anse, lazy and self-pitying, has promised to bury her in Jefferson, the town where her family is buried. Darl, the perceptive second son, and Jewel, the fiercely proud third son, leave to haul a load of lumber for three dollars, and Addie dies while they are gone. Her daughter Dewey Dell, seventeen, is secretly pregnant by a farmhand named Lafe. The youngest son, Vardaman, confused by grief, connects his mother’s death with a fish he caught and bores holes in her coffin so she can breathe. When the family sets out, they find the bridges washed out by floods. Attempting to ford the river, the wagon overturns; the mules drown, Cash’s leg is broken, and Jewel saves the coffin. Anse trades Jewel’s beloved horse, along with money Cash had saved, for a new team of mules. Cash’s broken leg is set in cement, which damages it further. As the days pass, the corpse decays, buzzards follow the wagon, and townspeople recoil. In the town of Mottson, Dewey Dell tries to buy medicine to end her pregnancy, but the druggist refuses. At a farm where the family stops for the night, Darl sets fire to the barn to destroy the coffin, and Jewel rescues it from the flames. The family finally reaches Jefferson and buries Addie. Because the barn’s owner could sue, the family has Darl seized and sent to the state asylum in Jackson. A drugstore clerk tricks Dewey Dell into sex with a false promise of a cure. Anse takes her last ten dollars, buys himself a set of false teeth, and returns with a new wife, introducing her to his children as Mrs. Bundren.
Where and when As I Lay Dying happens
The Bundren farm
A poor farm in rural Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, where Addie dies.
The flooded river
The swollen river the family must cross after the bridges wash out.
Jefferson
The county seat where Addie’s family is buried and the journey ends.
The late 1920s
A time of rural poverty in the American South.
Chapter by chapter summary + why it matters
- 1
Addie Is Dying
Darl and Jewel return from the field while Cash saws the coffin boards under Addie’s window. Neighbors Cora and Vernon Tull visit. Anse insists he must keep his promise to bury Addie in Jefferson. Darl and Jewel leave to earn three dollars hauling lumber, and Addie dies soon after, watching Cash work.
Why it mattersMultiple narrators reveal the family from inside and out, and Darl’s uncanny knowledge of events he does not witness hints at his strange perceptiveness.
- 2
My Mother Is a Fish
Vardaman, overwhelmed by grief, blames Doctor Peabody and links his mother with the fish he caught. At night he bores holes through the coffin lid, piercing Addie’s face. Cash finishes the coffin with meticulous care. Rain falls as the neighbors gather for the funeral.
Why it mattersVardaman’s single-sentence chapter captures a child’s attempt to understand death through the only terms he has.
- 3
Dewey Dell and Darl
Dewey Dell’s secret pregnancy consumes her thoughts, and she knows that Darl has guessed it. Darl reflects on Jewel’s fierce love for his horse and on Jewel’s mysterious origins. The family sets out for Jefferson.
Why it mattersEach family member carries a private burden, and the journey will serve those private aims more than it serves Addie.
- 4
The River
The bridges are washed out. At the flooded river, the family tries to ford with the wagon. A log strikes it, the mules drown, and Cash’s leg is broken. Jewel and Vernon Tull save the coffin and recover Cash’s tools.
Why it mattersThe river crossing is the novel’s great set piece, an almost biblical ordeal that the family survives at great cost.
- 5
Addie Speaks
In her only chapter, Addie, already dead, looks back on her life as a lonely schoolteacher, her marriage to Anse, and her discovery that words are empty. She reveals that she took a lover, the minister Whitfield, and that Jewel is his son, and that her burial in Jefferson is her revenge on Anse.
Why it mattersAddie’s voice, placed in the middle of the journey, reframes everything: the promise the family is keeping was her way of having the last word.
- 6
Trades and Sacrifices
Whitfield arrives, intending to confess, but decides God has forgiven him without it. Anse secretly trades Jewel’s horse and Cash’s savings for new mules. Jewel rides away in anger but returns. The family pours cement on Cash’s broken leg.
Why it mattersAnse’s willingness to sacrifice his children’s treasures for his own purposes exposes his selfishness beneath his complaints.
- 7
Mottson and the Barn
In Mottson, townspeople are horrified by the smell, and the druggist Moseley refuses to sell Dewey Dell anything to end her pregnancy. The family stays at Gillespie’s farm, where Darl sets the barn on fire to burn the coffin. Jewel carries the coffin out of the flames and is burned.
Why it mattersDarl’s act is both mad and sane: he alone sees how grotesque the journey has become, yet he is punished for it.
- 8
Jefferson
The family buries Addie. Darl is seized and sent to the asylum in Jackson to avoid a lawsuit over the barn, and he laughs as he goes. A drugstore clerk named Macgowan exploits Dewey Dell. Anse takes her money, gets new teeth, and introduces a new wife to his children.
Why it mattersThe ending exposes the journey’s true beneficiary: Anse, who comes home with everything he wanted.
Characters and how they connect
Addie Bundren
Dying mother
A bitter, passionate woman whose last wish drives the plot and whose one chapter reveals her secrets.
Anse Bundren
Father
A lazy, self-pitying man who uses Addie’s burial to get what he wants, including new teeth and a new wife.
Cash Bundren
Eldest son
A careful carpenter who builds the coffin and endures terrible pain without complaint.
Darl Bundren
Second son
The most perceptive narrator, who seems to know things he could not have seen, and who is finally declared insane.
Jewel Bundren
Third son
Addie’s favorite, a proud and violent young man devoted to his horse, and the son of her affair with Whitfield.
Dewey Dell Bundren
Daughter
A pregnant seventeen-year-old desperate to reach town for her own secret purpose.
Vardaman Bundren
Youngest son
A small boy trying to make sense of his mother’s death.
Vernon Tull
Neighbor
A farmer who helps the Bundrens and comments on their strange journey.
Cora Tull
Neighbor
Vernon’s pious, judgmental wife.
Whitfield
Minister
The preacher who was Addie’s lover and who excuses himself from confessing.
Character Relationships who connects to whom, and the themes that bind them
Love / marriage
Family
Rivalry / conflict
Connection
Themes in As I Lay Dying what the novel is really about
Death and the meaning of burial
The family’s attempt to honor Addie becomes grotesque, raising questions about what the living owe the dead.
Self-interest disguised as duty
Most of the Bundrens use the journey for their own ends: Anse wants teeth, Dewey Dell wants medicine, and Vardaman wants a toy train.
Words and action
Addie believes words are empty and only actions matter, a view the novel tests through its many talkative narrators.
Madness and sanity
Darl sees the absurdity of the journey most clearly, yet he is the one labeled insane.
Family and isolation
The Bundrens travel together yet remain deeply alone, each trapped in private thoughts.
Symbols & motifs
The coffin
Cash’s carefully built coffin represents duty, craft, and the burden the family carries.
Jewel’s horse
The horse stands for Jewel’s independence and his substitute for his mother’s love.
The fish
Vardaman’s fish helps him understand death as a transformation.
Anse’s teeth
His new false teeth symbolize the selfishness beneath his talk of duty.
Buzzards
The birds circling the wagon mark the decay the family refuses to acknowledge.
Recurring motifs
Multiple voices. Fifteen narrators give fifty-nine short sections, each revealing a different view of events.
Water and fire. The flood and the barn fire are the two great trials of the journey.
Smell. The growing stench of the corpse reminds everyone of what the family is ignoring.
Important quotes
“Jewel and I come up from the field, following the path in single file.”
“My mother is a fish.”
“I could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time.”
“That was when I learned that words are no good; that words don’t ever fit even what they are trying to say at.”
“Now I can get them teeth.”
“Meet Mrs. Bundren”
The ending of As I Lay Dying, explained
As I Lay Dying ends with a burial and a shock. After days on the road, the Bundrens finally reach Jefferson and bury Addie. Almost immediately, the family turns on Darl. Gillespie, whose barn Darl burned, could sue, and to avoid it the family has Darl seized by two men and sent to the state asylum in Jackson. Dewey Dell, who suspected Darl knew her secret, attacks him, and Darl laughs uncontrollably as he is taken away. Cash, narrating, reflects that Darl may have been right that the coffin should have burned, but that a man cannot destroy another man’s property, and he wonders who can say what is crazy. Meanwhile, Dewey Dell goes to a drugstore, where a clerk named Macgowan pretends to be a doctor and exploits her with a false cure. Anse then takes the ten dollars she was given for the abortion, claiming he needs it. The next morning the children wait for their father. He returns wearing a new set of false teeth and accompanied by a woman carrying a graphophone. With a look that is both hangdog and proud, Anse introduces her as Mrs. Bundren. The ending reveals that the journey, presented as an act of devotion, has served Anse best of all: he has buried his wife, gained new teeth, and found a new wife in a single trip. The final lines give the novel its bleak comedy and its sharp judgment on selfishness disguised as duty, while Darl’s fate suggests that the one who saw the truth most clearly is the one society sends away.
Common misreadings
MythAddie narrates the whole novel.
ActuallyAddie narrates only one section, and it comes after her death. Most sections belong to Darl and the rest of the family and neighbors.
MythAnse is the family’s devoted hero.
ActuallyHe talks about duty but uses the journey to get new teeth and a new wife, while his children pay the price.
MythDarl is simply insane.
ActuallyDarl is the most perceptive narrator, and his burning of the barn can be read as a clear response to the grotesque journey.
Test yourself
1. What is Cash building at the beginning?
He builds the coffin outside Addie’s window.
2. What happens when the family fords the river?
The flooded river crossing is disastrous.
3. Who is Jewel’s real father?
Addie reveals her affair with Whitfield.
4. Why does Darl set the barn on fire?
He tries to end the grotesque journey by burning the coffin.
5. What does Anse get in Jefferson?
The journey serves Anse’s wishes most of all.
Flashcards flip, self-grade, and the deck remembers what you know
Nice work.
Addie Bundren is dying, and she wants to be buried in the town of Jefferson, far from her farm. After she dies, her husband and five children put her coffin in a wagon and travel for days. They face a flooded river, a barn fire, and the terrible smell of the coffin. Each person secretly has their own reason for the trip: the daughter is pregnant and wants medicine, the dad wants new false teeth, and the youngest boy wants a toy train. The story is told by fifteen different people, and it ends with the dad showing up with new teeth and a new wife. It is a strange, sad, and funny book about family and selfishness.
Compare & connect the story universe
The Sound and the Fury
Faulkner’s earlier novel also uses several narrators to tell the story of a Southern family.
The Odyssey
The title echoes a line from the Odyssey, and the novel is a comic, grim journey home of its own.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find
A Southern family road trip turns grotesque and violent.
Barn Burning
Another Faulkner story in which a barn fire tests family loyalty.
Adaptations. As I Lay Dying (2013, Film directed by James Franco).
Discussion & essay prompts for class, or your next paper
💬 Discussion questions
- Why does Anse insist on burying Addie in Jefferson
- What does My mother is a fish mean
- Why does Darl burn the barn in As I Lay Dying
- How does As I Lay Dying explore the theme of death and the meaning of burial?
- How does As I Lay Dying explore the theme of self-interest disguised as duty?
- What is the central conflict in As I Lay Dying, and how does it shape the ending?
✎ Essay prompts
- Analyze how William Faulkner develops the theme of death and the meaning of burial in As I Lay Dying. Support your argument with specific evidence from the text.
- Examine the significance of the coffin in As I Lay Dying. What does it represent, and how does it deepen the work’s meaning?
- How does William Faulkner use multiple narrators to shape the reader’s experience of As I Lay Dying?
- Some readers assume that addie narrates the whole novel. Argue for or against this interpretation, using evidence from the text.
Key questions students ask
- Why does Anse insist on burying Addie in Jefferson
- What does My mother is a fish mean
- Why does Darl burn the barn in As I Lay Dying
- Who is Jewel’s father in As I Lay Dying
- What does the ending of As I Lay Dying mean
- Why does As I Lay Dying have so many narrators
Analysis is original StoryBites commentary. Quotations are from William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying (1930), from the Standard Ebooks edition, which is in the public domain in the United States. The novel remains under copyright in many countries that protect works for 70 years after the author’s death, so we quote short passages and do not host the full text.