As I Lay Dying questions

What does Pa say when Addie dies?

"God's will be done. Now I can get them teeth."

Is Dell pregnant?

"I know it is there because God gave women a sign when something has happened bad."

When will Peabody stop working?

"I must reach the 50,000 dollar mark of dead accounts on my books before I can quit."

What does Dell say about the cow?

"The cow nuzzles at me, moaning, 'You'll just have to wait. What you got in you aint nothing to what I got in me, even if you are a woman too.'" She is relating to the cow.

What allegations does Pa raise against Jewel?

"You got not affection nor gentleness for her." This is decidedly untrue. Either Anse cannot perceive the truth, or he is simply using the allegations to his own means.

Why does Cora stay with Addie?

1) Christian duty/obligation 2) Cora wants to feel superior

What do the italics symbolize?

A different physical location.

What is Addie's view of her casket?

Addie does not share Jewel's concern about the building of the casket. Addie is not bothered by the symbolic significance of having it built right outside her window. She even asks Cash to hold it up so she can inspect his handiwork. Addie requests that Cash build the casket because she is a very private woman - she doesn't want to be beholden to anyone.

How does Peabody view Addie and Anse?

Addie is better off dead. Peabody remarks "He has wore her out at last. And I said a damn good thing."

What is ironic about Anse's statement: "I mislike undecision"?

Anse never really makes a decision throughout the novel.

Darl

Articulate. Second child. Sensitive to mother's death. Most prolific voice in the novel; possesses gifts of clairvoyance, articulateness, prescience, and omniscience. He knows that Dell was pregnant thanks to Lafe, and he knows that Addie has died before he even sees her body, and she knows that Jewel is illegitimate, and he knows what's going on back at home with Addie even when he and Jewel were delivering lumber. He is a jerk to Jewel, however, perhaps because Jewel is Addie's fav. child and perhaps because Jewel is only his half-brother. He sets the barn on fire at Gillespie's place, ostensibly to end the onerous journey to Jefferson with Addie's decomposing corpse. Rejected by his mother, Darl exhibited signs throughout the novel of an ego at odds with itself; lacking a definitive way of identifying himself, he demonstrated in his narratives detailed descriptions of events but seldom did he reveal any emotional attachment to his subjects. At the end of the novel, he was committed to a mental asylum in Jackson for burning Gillespie's barn. On the train to Jackson, his identity was completely severed when be began to refer to himself in the third person (schizophrenia). Useless in practical matters - he did not do much in crossing the river.

Jewel

Bastard child, yet the most loved child of Addie. Bastard child of Addie and Whitfield (irony). Favorite cihld of Addie. Only Darl knew Jewel was illegitimate, a fact about which Darl taunted him by saying, "Who was your father, Jewel?" Fiercely independent, he worked nights for Mr. Quick to buy a horse (a descendent of the spotted horses which Flem Snopes had brought into the county twenty-five years before). Nevertheless, he acquiesced when Anse traded his horse, among other things, for a new mule team when theirs were drowned trying to cross the flooded Yoknapatawpha River. Throughout the novel, Jewel exhibited quiet anger at everything, as when he nearly started a fight on the road into Jefferson with passers-by commenting on the smell of Addie's decomposing body. Even so, he was instrumental in saving the coffin from the two major threats along the way; in a sort of rage, he saved the coffin from the flood waters and later single-handedly saved it from a fire (set by Darl) in Gillespie's barn. Near the end of the novel, he released some of his anger upon Darl by helping to subdue him when Darl's part in the fire was discovered and it was decided to commit him to an asylum in Jackson.

Vernon

Bundren's wealthier neighbor.

What does Jewel think of Cash?

Cash is a show-off. Jewel's thoughts of Cash may be colored by Jewel's jealousy of Cash's woodworking skills.

How reliable to Cora as a narrator?

Cora is unreliable as a narrator. Her personal bias colors what she sees.

What is Cora's perception of Darl?

Cora sees Darl as the one who loves his mother the most, among all of Addie's children. She thinks Darl begged Anse to call off the mission for the 3 dollars. This is factually untrue and directly contradicts Darl's version of events in the previous chapter.

Why is Darl perceived as odd?

Darl has a far-off look in his eyes. Darl may also feel alienated - he was drafted - as implied by the novel.

What does Darl suggest about Pa?

Darl, through his anecdote about how Pa can never sweat, suggests that Pa is lazy - after the anecdote - Darl remarks "I suppose he believes it," in a sort of defeated way, as if Darl knows that there is no amount of convincing to the contrary that will successfully persuade the obdurate Pa.

Cash

Eldest child; skilled carpenter; builds coffin. Oldest son of Anse and Addie. Carpenter by trade, and meticulous, circumspect, and exacting by nature. He breaks the same leg while trying to cross the flooded river. Somewhat simple-minded. Summarizes philosophy in carpentry terms: He welcomed the journey to Jefferson as an opportunity to get a "graphophone."

How did the family survive?

Everyone but Pa/Anse worked.

How does everyone treat Vardaman?

First of all, most of the characters simply ignore Vardaman. Dell treats Vardaman in a highly impersonal manner.

Dewey Dell

Has had a recent sexual experience. Fourth child, and only daughter of Anse and Addie Bundren. Impregnated by Lafe (cotton). Turned down in Mottson for an abortion by Moseley. Has no luck in Jefferson, instead, she ends up copulating with the quack MacGowan. Furious at Darl because Darl somehow knew that Dell was pregnant. Led charge to have Darl committed to the asylum in Jackson.

What does Anse blame for his luck?

He blames the road for bringing bad luck. Anse blames the road for taxes - presumably because he has to pay taxes to maintain the road - or because the road facilitates easier tax collection.

What is Anse's ultimate goal?

He does not send for Peabody as to save money so he can get some replacement teeth. "I never sent for you. I take you to witness I never sent for you." (Anse to Peabody)

What happened to Cash's leg?

He fell off a church.

What was a traumatic childhood experience of Vardaman's?

He got shut up in a corn "crib," or a granary used to store corn. The significance of this incident is that Vardaman questions why Cash is going to nail Addie shut in her coffin. As a result, Vardaman drills two holes in Addie's skull to help her breathe.

Anse

Head of Bundren family. Missing teeth. The lazy jerk who claims that he would die if he were to sweat. Relies greatly on the generosity of others. As Anse's neighbor Armstid said: The journey to get his wife to Jefferson is both a testament to his dogged persistance and his selfishness -

What is Anse's view of himself?

Holier-than-thou. "I have heard men cuss their luck, and right, for they were sinful men. [...] I have done things but neither better nor worse than them that pretend otherlike, and I know that Old Marster will care for me as for ere a sparrow that falls. But it seems hard that a man in his need could be so flouted by a road." In essence, he is saying that he has committed no especial sins and yet look at him - all desolate and hopeless in penury.

What is Anse's theory about horizontal and vertical things?

Horizontal things were meant to move; vertical things such as trees and men were not meant to move. He uses this as an excuse for his laziness.

What are the implications of Vardaman's running away to the Tulls?

It implies that the Tulls are a stable family. It also provides another impetus for Cora to think that she is superior to Addie. Cora indeed does pass judgement on Anse for Vardaman's running away.

What is Jewel torn about?

Jewel doesn't want to earn the three dollars. Yet, to be exempt from work, he has to admit that his mother is in a grave condition, which he cannot do. "Ma aint that sick."

How can Darl tell that Jewel's been to town?

Jewel has a haircut.

Does Jewel love his mother?

Jewel indeed loves his mother. He is very protective of his mother. Jewel refers to "them others" - Addie's visitors - as "buzzards." Jewel also despises Cash's sawing and knocking, and Dell's fanning - the "sawing and knocking" both "[keep] the air always moving so fast on her face that when you're tired you cant breathe it." Jewel may be jealous of Dell here because Dell gets to spend all her time with Addie, while Jewel doesn't. Jewel also envisions his being alone with Addie. Jewel wants to be alone with Addie on a "high hill" with "[him] rolling the rocks down the hill at their faces, picking them up and throwing them down the hill faces and teeth and all God ..." Jewel may be jealous of how his mother paid more attention to his siblings such as Cash when Cash fell off the church ... and Anse, when he "laid sick with that load of wood fell on him." Jewel may also be blaming to two for causing Addie's death - they brought worry to Addie.

What is the relationship between Jewel and his horse?

Jewel is ambivalent toward his horse; his feelings are conflicted toward his horse. Jewel does like his horse, and his horse obeys Jewel - when Jewel whistles, the horse comes straight to Jewel. When Jewel commands the horse to move toward him, the horse obeys. However, Jewel also curses his horse with "obscene ferocity." Perhaps Jewel's ambivalence toward his horse can be best summed up in the last sentence of the passage - "You sweet son of a bitch." Note Jewel's relationship with other people, such as Tull. Toward Tull, Jewel is mostly critical and disrespectful.

Who is the tallest kid, and what are the implications?

Jewel is the tallest kid. He, as a result, according to Darl, got the most attention from Addie.

Is Jewel religious?

No. He may simply be invoking the name of God because it is customary for his time and location.

Why does Anse blame others, and who does he blame for what?

Nothing is ever Anse's fault. "Making me pay for Cash having to get them carpenter notions when if it hadn't been no road come there, he wouldn't a got them; falling off churches and lifting no hand in six months and me and Addie slaving and a-slaving, when there's plenty of sawing on this place he could do if he's got to saw. And Darl too. Talking me out of him, durn them. It aint that I am afraid of work; I always is fed me and mine and kept a roof above it: it's that they would short-hand me just because he tends to his own business, just because he's got his eyes full of the land all the time."

What are the implications of Jewel's anecdote concerning Cash?

One - Jewel is younger than Cash - so Jewel must have heard the story secondhand. Two - the anecdote essentially says that Cash is misguided in his actions. Sure, he may have good intentions, but he is still misguided in what he does.

Why does Addie want to be buried in Jefferson?

Ostensibly, she wants to be with her family. Subliminally, she likely does not want to be buried with Anse's family - she feels no connection with his family. After all, Anse was a pretty crappy husband.

What is an example of Pa's selfishness?

Pa has no qualms about eating after Addie's death. "She would not begrudge me it." More than likely, he is using this an excuse for eating.

Why does Addie want Peabody to leave?

Peabody: "She watches me: I can feel her eyes. It's like she was shoving at me with them. [...] that pride, that furious desire to hide that abject nakedness which we bring here with us, carry with us into operating rooms, carry stubbornly and furiously with us into the earth again." Addie doesn't want Peabody there; Peabody, a physician, can see and understand just how sickly she is.

Why is Jewel the way he is?

Perhaps now is a bad time, with his mother dying. Perhaps Jewel is always this way - there is a bit of sibling rivalry alluded to in the first chapter in which the siblings walk 15 feet apart. Jewel also despises Cash's building of the casket - ostensibly because Jewel sees Cash's building as a harbinger of bad luck - but perhaps subliminally because Jewel is jealous of Cash's carpenter skills.

What is Dell's problem?

She wants an abortion because she is alone. "If I could just feel it, it would be different, because I wouldn't be alone." She also "cant think long enough to worry." She also does not comfort Vardaman - "You're fixing to make yourself sick and then you cant go to town. You go on to the house and eat your supper." Dell objectifies the situation and tells Vardaman that if he doesn't eat, he'll be sick and thus cannot help deliver his dead mom to Jefferson, Addie's final resting place.

Why does Addie watch Cash, according to Cora?

So Cash won't skimp on his construction of the coffin.

What is Darl's relationship like with Dell?

Tension in their relationship is foreshadowed in the end of Cora 6 - "What you want, Darl?" Their relationship is tense because Darl knows what went down between Dell and Lafe in that "secret shade" after cotton picking ............. and knowledge is dangerous - Dell could be shunned by society and Lafe could be hurt .... Darl also does himself no favors by being an incisive and penetrating discerner of character and peoples' moods.

What is significant about the way Dell 14 ends?

The section ends with a fertility metaphor: "I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth."

What is Vardaman's problem?

Vardaman confuses correlation with causation. Vardaman does not understand the severity of his mother's illness, and then Peabody comes, and then Addie dies. Vardaman therefore associates the two latter events and blames Peabody for causing Addie's death. He therefore attacks Peabody's horses.

What are the parallels between Vardaman's fish and Addie?

Vardaman drops his fish onto the ground, and it "flops down, dirtying itself again, gapmouthed, goggle-eyed, hiding into the dust like it was ashamed of being dead, like it was in a hurry to get back hid again." Addie is similarly private. Like the fish attempting to burrow into the ground, she looks for privacy.

Cora

Vernon's wife.

Addie

Wife of Anse Bundren. Mother to Cash, Darl, Jewl, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman. She lays dying during most of the novel. She wants to be buried in Jefferson when she dies. Former schoolteacher - hated children - married to Anse for more than 30 years. She died and had requested that she be buried in Jefferson with her family, and AILD details the arduous journey of the family to Jefferson with Addie in a coffin. She bore Cash and then Darl, whom she hated. She hated her husband's empty word of "love," which he simply used to get what he wanted. She also hated the general lack of meaning in words: Words are hypocritical. After she had Darl, she made Anse promise to bury her in Jefferson as to avenge Anse. Her favorite child, conceived with Rev. Whitfield, is Jewel. She later bore two more children - Dell and Vardaman - to replace the children she had stolen from Anse. Addie's favorite children are Jewel and Cash - not Dell, Vardaman, or Darl.

Vardaman

Youngest. Youngest child of Anse and Addie. Thinks that his mom is a fish. Saw Darl set fire to Gillespie's barn. Mostly ignored by the other characters and often referred to as "that boy" - alienated.