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As I Lay Dying | Introduction

Although it achieved little commercial success at the time of its publication, As I Lay Dying has become one of William Faulkner's most popular novels. At first put off by its controversial subject matter and confusing style, commentators and readers have come to appreciate the novel's vivid characters, elusive tone, and complex narrative techniques.

As I Lay Dying chronicles the death of Addie Bundren and the subsequent journey to bury her corpse in her family's cemetery several miles away. This disastrous and darkly comic tale is enriched by Faulkner's innovative narrative technique, which features narration by fifteen characters, including a confused child and the dead woman, Addie. In addition, Faulkner mixes vernacular speech with "stream-of-consciousness" passages to enhance this unique narrative style.

Through his characters, Faulkner addresses subjects that challenge stereotypical perceptions of poor Southerners. For instance, characters contemplate issues of love, death, identity, and the limitations of language. Their actions and adventures draw attention to rural life, class conflicts, and the repercussions of desire and selfishness. Significantly, Faulkner explores the potent, complex workings of the human mind. Difficult to categorize, As I Lay Dying has provided a rewarding, illuminating, and, at times, unsettling experience for generations of readers.

As I Lay Dying Summary

Addie Bundren, the wife and mother to a poor white farm family, is on her deathbed. Friends and family members gather around to comfort her and to prepare for her funeral. Addie, a proud and bitter woman, has no interest in the religious comfort her neighbor, Cora Tull, offers. She is tired of living, loves only her son, Jewel, and despises her husband, neighbors, and all others around her. She desires only to be buried among her own family members in the town of Jefferson. She has made her useless and ineffectual husband promise to do as she wishes and, upon her death, the family sets out for Jefferson with her corpse in a casket.

On the way to Jefferson, each member of the family narrates part of the story and relates what happens during the journey or what has happened in the past. Each of the narrators has his or her own reason for making the trip. Anse wants to get a set of false teeth. Dewey Dell, the daughter, needs an abortion. Cash plans to buy a record-player. The baby, Vardaman, is promised a toy and exotic fruit (bananas) when they get to town. The only characters who have no material stake in getting to Jefferson are Addie’s sons, Darl and Jewel. Darl is as determined to prevent the grotesque affair as Jewel is to carry out his mother’s wish. Darl uses every obstacle or setback to try to prevent Addie’s casket from getting to Jefferson.

Many incidents occur which seemingly frustrate Addie’s progress toward being buried in the soil of her home town. Her youngest son, drilling holes in her casket so she can breathe, instead, drills through to her face. The casket is overturned while the family is crossing a river and nearly gets washed away. Cash, one of Addie’s sons, injures his leg and needs a doctor. However, the family refuses to postpone its journey. These setbacks make the trip longer than expected, and the body begins to decompose. Followed by cats and buzzards, and accompanied by a terrible odor, the burial procession is chased out of towns. Darl fights with his brother Jewel, who is intent on burying Addie in her family plot. When he sets fire to one of the barns holding the corpse, Jewel must “rescue” Addie.

When they reach Jefferson, Anse goes into a house to borrow spades to dig Addie’s grave. His family waits in the wagon and wonders why it takes him so long. They see a woman peering out at them from behind the curtains of a window. Cash’s leg becomes gangerous because of the makeshift cement cast which Anse made for him. Dewey Dell, nervous because Darl knows her secret, turns him in for burning the barn. He is arrested and taken away to the asylum for being insane. Dewey Dell is fooled by a druggist’s clerk pretending to be a doctor. He gives her some talcum powder in capsules for medicine, then convinces her that she needs to... » Complete As I Lay Dying Summary