As I Lay Dying characters

Cash Bundren

Cash Bundren

The eldest of all Bundren children and probably the most stable one. He is also an experienced and adept carpenter, who makes the coffin for his mother Addie Bundren. The fact that he constructs it right in front of his mother’s bedroom demonstrates how chill and cool Cash is, stripped of...

Anse Bundren

Anse Bundren

The father of the Bundren family who only deserves that title for formal reasons. The actions and decisions of this man make reader doubt his ability to love or take responsibility for anybody, even for himself. He doesn't take care of his children and looks for his own benefits in every...

Addie Bundren

Addie Bundren

Could have been the protagonist of the story. Addie is the mother and the main keeper of the Bundren family. She is very sick and dies at the very beginning of the plot. Being involved in an affair with the village priest, Addie has given birth to Jewel, the only child who doesn’t call Anse...

Darl Bundren

Darl Bundren

One of Addie’s children. He is the one who narrates in course of most of the book and we see the absurdity of the situation from his perspective. The boy is caring in his own way – he tries to conjure a cask to heal the broken leg of his brother Cash, and he wants to relieve his mother...

Jewel Bundren

Jewel Bundren

First introduced as a child who doesn’t have much to say in the family, but then the reader realizes that it is because of immense love Addie had for her son. Jewel was born as a result of Addie’s affair with a minister and is treated like a God by his mother. It makes many people...

Dewey Dell

Dewey Dell

The only female in the family, besides her mother Addie Bundren. She is young and her naivety and curiosity have left her pregnant. Her condition keeps her mind distracted and she never truly gets involved with the events related to her mother’s death or the travel adventures. In every city...

Vardaman Bundren

Vardaman Bundren

The youngest of all children in Bundren family. He is described as having the same level of naivety as his sister Dewey Dell, but with a positive perspective. The way he views his mother’s death, comparing it to his lost fish, presents the kind of feeling the reader gets when he reads the...

Vernon Tull

Vernon Tull

Not a member of the extensive Bundren family, but he is their friend and neighbor. He and his wife are also farmers and most likely are more successful than the Bundren family. He appears in the story sporadically, helping the characters to rescue the coffin from flooded river, for example. The...

Cora Tull

The wife of Vernon Tull. She is a religious lady and wishes her husband would pay more attention to God. She is the one who tells the reader all about Addie’s affair with minister Whitfield and she is in no way neutral in her evaluations of the situation. She spends the last hours of Addie’s life...

Peabody

One of the few characters who are not members of the Bundren family. He even narrates in several chapters in the book. He is portrayed as powerless in the face of Addie’s illness and simply watches her die during her last hours. He himself doesn’t look healthy – he is overweight and his speech...