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Summary
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Contents
Summary
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Addie Bundren dies on her Mississippi farm, and her family promises to bury her in Jefferson, her hometown. What follows is a disastrous road trip: a rotting corpse, a flooded river, a barn fire, and a family that can barely hold itself together long enough to keep the promise. Faulkner tells the whole story through 59 short chapters, each narrated by a different character. Some narrators are reliable. Some are not. The result is a story where you have to piece together what actually happened from people who each see only part of the picture.
Addie Bundren has been dying for days when the novel opens. Her husband Anse has promised to bury her in Jefferson, forty miles away, where her family is from. Her children watch her die, each carrying their own private grief and private agenda. Addie herself gets one chapter, narrated after her death, where she reveals how little she thought of Anse and how much she resented the life she ended up with. The journey to Jefferson goes wrong almost immediately. A bridge washes out. The family tries to ford a flooded river and loses the mules, Cash breaks his leg, and Jewel's horse nearly drowns. They press on anyway, partly out of duty and partly because Anse refuses to give up. The coffin, poorly sealed, begins to smell. Buzzards follow them down the road. Each family member has a secret motive. Anse wants new teeth. Dewey Dell wants to find someone in Jefferson who will give her an abortion. Cash wants to finish his carpentry work. Darl, the most perceptive narrator, seems to see everything and slowly unravels. Jewel, Addie's favorite, is the one who physically saves the coffin twice, from flood and fire, without ever saying much about why. Darl eventually sets fire to a barn where the coffin is being stored, apparently trying to end the whole ordeal. The family has him committed to a mental institution rather than face the legal consequences themselves. The act reads as both madness and mercy. Vardaman, the youngest, has been telling himself that his mother is a fish ever since she died, a coping mechanism that makes more sense the longer you sit with it. The family reaches Jefferson. Addie gets buried. Then Anse reappears with a new wife and a new set of teeth, introducing her to the children as if nothing happened. The novel ends on that note: the journey is over, but nothing has been resolved, and the family is already moving on to the next thing.
What happens first
The novel opens on the Bundren farm in rural Mississippi. Addie Bundren is dying. Her son Cash builds her coffin outside her window while she watches. Her husband Anse has promised to bury her in Jefferson, where her people are from, and he intends to keep that promise no matter what it costs.
How the pressure builds
Addie dies partway through the book. The family loads her coffin onto a wagon and sets out. Almost immediately, the journey becomes a disaster. Heavy rains have flooded the Yoknapatawpha River and washed out the main bridge. The Bundrens try to cross at a ford. The wagon tips, the mules drown, Cash breaks his leg, and Jewel barely saves the coffin. They recover the mules' bodies to sell and push on.
Where the story turns
The coffin has been on the road for days in summer heat. It begins to smell. Neighbors and strangers notice. The family borrows cement to set Cash's broken leg, which later has to be broken again by a doctor because it was set wrong. Anse borrows and trades his way across the county, acquiring new mules by trading Jewel's horse without telling Jewel first.
What starts to collapse
Darl narrates more chapters than anyone else and sees more than anyone else. He knows Dewey Dell is pregnant. He knows Jewel is not Anse's biological son. He describes scenes he wasn't present for, which signals to the reader that his grip on reality is loosening. He is the most articulate character in the book and also the one the family ultimately sacrifices.
How it ends
Dewey Dell is desperate to reach Jefferson so she can get an abortion. She has money hidden away. In Jefferson, she is twice deceived by men who take her money and give her nothing useful in return. Her storyline ends without resolution, which is Faulkner's point: the system offers her no real options.
Why it matters
Jewel, Addie's favorite child and her son by another man, says almost nothing throughout the novel. He acts. When the wagon nearly drowns, he saves the coffin. When a barn catches fire, he runs in and carries the coffin out. His love for Addie is physical and furious, not verbal.
The moments you will actually pull into your answer.
Cash builds the coffin in front of Addie
Cash works on the coffin outside Addie's window while she is still alive. It's practical and cold and loving all at once. It sets the tone for how this family handles grief.
The river crossing
The Bundrens try to ford a flooded river and lose their mules. Cash breaks his leg. The coffin nearly floats away. It's the moment the journey tips from difficult to catastrophic.
Addie's chapter
Addie narrates one chapter after her death. She says she felt that words like 'love' and 'motherhood' were just shapes people made with their mouths. She reveals Jewel is not Anse's son.
Darl sets the barn on fire
Darl burns Gillespie's barn with the coffin inside. The family interprets it as madness. It can also be read as an attempt to give Addie a cremation and end the rotting journey with some dignity.
Anse introduces the new Mrs. Bundren
Minutes after burying Addie, Anse shows up with new teeth and a new wife. The speed of his replacement is the novel's darkest joke and its clearest statement about his character.
Questions that are actually worth answering.
What does Darl actually understand?
Darl narrates scenes he wasn't present for and knows things he shouldn't. What does Faulkner want you to think about a character who sees everything but can't survive within his own family?
Is the journey an act of love or selfishness?
Each family member has a personal reason for making the trip. Does that make the burial promise meaningless, or can a journey be selfish and loving at the same time?
What does Addie's chapter change?
Addie speaks after her death. How does her perspective on words, love, and motherhood change the way you read the rest of the novel?
How does Faulkner use the coffin as a symbol?
The coffin is present in almost every scene. Track what happens to it. What does the way characters treat it reveal about how they feel about Addie?
Why does Vardaman say his mother is a fish?
Vardaman's logic is strange but consistent. What does his coping mechanism reveal about how children process death, and how does Faulkner use his voice differently from the adult narrators?
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