Course Hero Logo

As I Lay Dying | Study Guide

William Faulkner

Get the eBook on Amazon to study offline.

Buy on Amazon Study Guide
Contents
Cite This Study Guide

How to Cite This Study Guide

quotation mark graphic
MLA

Bibliography

Course Hero. "As I Lay Dying Study Guide." Course Hero. 19 Jan. 2017. Web. 3 June 2023. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/As-I-Lay-Dying/>.

In text

(Course Hero)

APA

Bibliography

Course Hero. (2017, January 19). As I Lay Dying Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved June 3, 2023, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/As-I-Lay-Dying/

In text

(Course Hero, 2017)

Chicago

Bibliography

Course Hero. "As I Lay Dying Study Guide." January 19, 2017. Accessed June 3, 2023. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/As-I-Lay-Dying/.

Footnote

Course Hero, "As I Lay Dying Study Guide," January 19, 2017, accessed June 3, 2023, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/As-I-Lay-Dying/.

As I Lay Dying | Infographic

Share
Share
Email Facebook Pinterest Twitter Google+
Click to copy
Embed
Click to copy code

Check out this Infographic to learn more about William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. Study visually with character maps, plot summaries, helpful context, and more.

as-i-lay-dying-william-faulknerDarl, Section 10t takes two people to make you, and one people to die. That’s how the world is going to end.One Coffin and a Nine-Day OdysseyIn 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 CHARACTERSSources: E.L. Doctorow, Encyclopaedia Britannica, The Guardian, The Mississippi Writers Page, NobelPrize.org Copyright © 2016 Course Hero, Inc.Addie Anse’s unhappy wife; dying and then dead matriarchDarlIntelligent second son; tries to burn mother’s coffinJewelPassionate, independent third son; child of Addie and the ministerAnseFamily patriarch; poor farmer who wants false teethVardamanImaginative youngest son; decides his mother is a fishDewey DellUnintelligent 17-year-old; newly pregnant daughterCashPatient oldest son; carpenter who builds Addie’s coffinSymbolsSymbolizes death and the suffering of the poorAnimalsServe as symbols of Addie or of challenges for each of the childrenMoneyRepresents what the family lacksThemesPovertyGrievingCrueltyEvery action is dictated by the desperate need for money or the need to purchase something.Addie grieves for the life she lost in marriage; most family members grieve for Addie.The Bundren family members lie and steal money and possessions from one another. As I Lay Dyingby the Numbers6119Weeks Faulkner claimed it took to write As I Lay DyingDays of hard riding it should have taken the Bundrens to get to JeffersonNovels Faulkner published over more than 35 years of writingBooks inspired by As I Lay Dying—Last Orders by Graham Smith and Getting Mother’s Body by Suzan-Lori Parks2WILLIAM FAULKNER1897–1962Faulkner 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.AuthorCoffinWilliam Faulkner1930EnglishNovel AuthorYear PublishedOriginal LanguageAs I Lay DyingDrama
Overview Context

Want to see more infographics? View All Infographics on Course Hero!

Cite This Study Guide

information icon Have study documents to share about As I Lay Dying? Upload them to earn free Course Hero access!

Copyright © 2016. Course Hero, Inc. As a reminder, you may only use Course Hero content for your own personal use and may not copy, distribute, or otherwise exploit it for any other purpose.