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Chapters
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Chapters
Chapters at a glance
As I Lay Dying has 59 chapters.
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Chapters59 items
Darl
The novel opens with Darl and Jewel walking back from the fields toward the Bundren house. Darl narrates in close, almost hyper-aware detail, describing the path, the house, and J…
Cora
Cora Tull, a neighbor woman, narrates this section. She has been at the Bundren house helping care for Addie.
Jewel
Jewel's single narration is a furious, violent fantasy. He imagines getting Addie away from everyone, including the neighbors, the other siblings, and even Anse, so that it is jus…
Darl
Darl narrates again, this time describing the scene outside the house as evening comes on. He watches Jewel with his horse, and the description of Jewel and the horse together is…
Dewey Dell
Dewey Dell narrates for the first time. She is seventeen and secretly pregnant.
Tull
Vernon Tull arrives at the Bundren farm and observes the family's strange behavior as Addie lies dying inside. He notices Cash building the coffin right outside the window where A…
Anse
Anse narrates briefly and reveals his own self-pitying worldview. He complains about his bad luck, his physical ailments, and the hardship of his life.
Peabody
Doctor Peabody arrives at the Bundren farm, summoned far too late to do anything for Addie. He is old, overweight, and has to be hauled up the steep hill to the house.
Darl
Darl narrates from a distance, somehow describing events at the Bundren farm even though he and Jewel are away on a delivery job for Anse.
Dewey Dell
Dewey Dell narrates for the first time and reveals that she is pregnant. She is not grieving her mother's death in the way the reader might expect.
Tull
Vernon Tull narrates as the Bundren family attempts to cross the flooded Yoknapatawpha River. The bridge has been washed out, and the family pushes forward anyway, using a makeshi…
Cash
This is one of Cash's numbered-list chapters. He gives a short, itemized account of why he built Addie's coffin the way he did, listing the carpentry reasons in plain technical la…
Darl
Darl narrates the river crossing from his own perspective, filling in what Tull's chapter described from the outside.
Samson
Samson is a farmer the Bundrens stop with overnight. He narrates this chapter from the outside, like Tull, giving a neighbor's view of the family.
Dewey Dell
Dewey Dell narrates and her focus is almost entirely on her own crisis: she is pregnant and needs to get to Jefferson to find medicine or a doctor who will help her end the pregna…
Tull
Vernon Tull watches the Bundrens attempt to cross the flooded river with Addie's coffin. The bridge has been washed out, so they try to ford the current directly.
Darl
Darl narrates the river crossing from his own perspective, giving a more interior and poetic account of the same disaster Tull described.
Whitfield
Whitfield, the local preacher, narrates a short chapter in which he confesses, to himself and to the reader, that he had an affair with Addie.
Cora
Cora Tull narrates her memories of Addie, particularly their conversations about faith and salvation. Cora is deeply religious and convinced that Addie was spiritually lost becaus…
Addie
Addie Bundren narrates her own chapter from beyond death, making it the emotional and philosophical center of the novel.
Whitfield
Whitfield, the preacher who had an affair with Addie, rides toward the Bundren house intending to confess his sin to Anse.
Darl
The Bundren wagon crosses the flooded Yoknapatawpha River at a dangerous ford. The bridge has been washed out, so they attempt a crossing on foot and by mule team.
Armstid
The Bundrens arrive at the Armstid farm after the river disaster. Henry Armstid and his wife take them in for the night.
Vardaman
Vardaman's short chapter continues his fragmented, childlike processing of Addie's death and the chaos of the river crossing.
Moseley
Moseley is a pharmacist in Mottson who narrates a brief chapter about Dewey Dell coming into his store to ask for an abortion-inducing drug.
Darl
Darl narrates the family's arrival at the flooded Yoknapatawpha River. The bridge is washed out, and the crossing looks nearly impossible.
Vardaman
Vardaman gives a short, fragmented account of the river crossing preparations. His narration is childlike and disjointed, but it captures the fear and confusion of the moment.
Cash
Cash gives a numbered list of reasons why he built Addie's coffin the way he did. It is one of the most unusual chapters in the novel — a carpenter's logical defense of his craft…
Darl
Darl narrates the actual river crossing, one of the most chaotic and physically dangerous scenes in the novel. The wagon tips, the coffin goes into the water, and Jewel and Cash a…
Dewey Dell
Dewey Dell narrates her experience during and after the river crossing. Her focus is not on the coffin or Cash's injury but on her own situation — she is pregnant and desperate, a…
Vardaman
Vardaman watches the family stop at Samson's place and fixates on the fish he caught earlier, trying to make sense of his mother's death by connecting her to the fish he cut up.
Darl
Darl narrates the family's attempt to cross the flooded Yoknapatawpha River at the ford near Tull's bridge. The crossing goes badly wrong.
Cash
Cash gives a numbered list of reasons why he built the coffin the way he did, specifically defending the bevel on the edges.
Darl
Darl narrates the aftermath of the river disaster. The family recovers what they can, deals with Cash's injury badly by pouring concrete over his broken leg, and pushes forward to…
Vardaman
Vardaman narrates a short, disjointed chapter in which he watches Dewey Dell and is aware that something is wrong with her, though he does not understand what.
Cash
Cash narrates in his most extended section, reflecting on Darl's madness and the family's decision to commit him to the Jackson asylum.
Darl
Darl narrates his own removal to the asylum in a fractured, third-person style, referring to himself as both 'I' and 'Darl' as if watching himself from outside.
Vardaman
Vardaman's brief chapter near the end of the novel shows him fixated on the toy train in a Jefferson shop window. He has been watching it throughout the trip.
Darl
This is Darl's final chapter, and it is the one where he narrates in full third person, describing a version of himself sitting in the train car on the way to Jackson, laughing.
Cash
Cash closes the novel with a short, quiet chapter. Anse has returned the borrowed shovels, gotten new teeth, and introduced a new woman to the children as the new Mrs.
Darl
Darl narrates the family's arrival at Mottson, where they stop to get cement for Cash's broken leg. The smell of Addie's rotting body has become impossible to ignore, and townspeo…
Cash
Cash gives a short, numbered list of reasons why he thinks Darl is crazy. The chapter is brief and almost clinical.
Darl
Darl narrates the final leg of the journey into Jefferson. The wagon crosses the last stretch of road, and the smell is overwhelming.
Peabody
Peabody, the doctor, sees Cash's leg after the cement is removed in Jefferson and is furious. The leg is in terrible shape, possibly permanently damaged.
Darl
Darl is taken to the asylum in Jackson. He is restrained and put on a train.
Dewey Dell
Dewey Dell is in Jefferson, finally close to getting the abortion medicine she needs. She goes to a drugstore and tries to explain her situation to the pharmacist, Moseley, who re…
Vardaman
Vardaman wanders through Jefferson, distracted and overwhelmed by the city. He fixates on a toy train in a store window, the same one he noticed before.
Darl
Darl narrates the family's arrival in Jefferson and the chaos that follows. He watches everything with his usual detachment and clarity, describing the town, the other Bundrens, a…
Cash
Cash gives one of his most reflective narrations in the novel. He thinks about Darl, about what it means to be sane or crazy, and about the family's decision to have Darl committe…
Darl
This is Darl's final chapter, and it is written in third person — Darl refers to himself as 'Darl' rather than 'I.' He is being taken away to the Jackson asylum.
Dewey Dell
Dewey Dell enters a drugstore in Jefferson and tries again to get an abortion. The pharmacist, Moseley, refuses her outright and lectures her about morality.
Cash
Cash narrates briefly, noting the family's arrival in Jefferson and the state of Addie's coffin after the river crossing and the fire.
Darl
Darl is taken away to the Jackson asylum. The family has had him committed, partly because he set fire to Gillespie's barn.
Dewey Dell
Dewey Dell is approached by a drugstore worker named MacGowan, who pretends to be a pharmacist and tricks her into a sexual encounter by claiming it is part of the treatment she n…
Cash
Cash gives the novel's final narration. He reflects on Darl being sent away, on the journey, and on Anse's remarriage.
Anse
Anse narrates briefly after Addie is finally buried. He reflects on the journey's end and almost immediately pivots to his own needs.
Cash
Cash gives a measured, retrospective account of the journey and its aftermath. He reflects on Darl's breakdown and the decision to have him committed to the Jackson asylum.
Darl
This is Darl's final chapter, and it is written in the third person. Darl narrates himself as if watching a stranger, referring to himself as both 'I' and 'Darl' in the same passa…
Cash
The novel's final chapter belongs to Cash again. He gives a brief, quiet closing statement that looks back on the whole journey.
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