CliffsNotes on

As I Lay Dying

Search this CliffsNote

About The Author

About the Novel

Introduction
A Brief Synopsis
List of Characters

Summaries and Commentaries

Sections 1-5
Sections 6-10
Sections 11-14
Sections 15-23
Sections 24-27
Sections 28-38
Sections 39-41
Sections 42-44
Sections 45-47
Sections 48-51
Sections 52-54
Sections 55-59

Character Analyses

Anse Bundren
Cash
Jewel
Dewey Dell
Vardaman

Critical Essays

Addie Bundren and the Birth of Her Children
Darl and Addie Bundren: A General Interpretation
Faulkner’s Style and Imagery

Study Help

Quiz
Essay Topics and Review Questions

Cite this Literature Note

What should be his first order of business once President-elect Obama takes office?

Cutting taxes/economic recovery.
Promoting peace in Israel/Gaza.
Ending the war in Iraq.
Creating jobs/dealing with unemployment.
Addressing climate change/environmental issues.

View Results

Study Help

Quiz

1:  Jewel’s love for his mother is

a. easily communicated

b. gentle

c. manifested in harsh words

d. frighteningly obsessive
2:  How does Faulkner interrupt the seriousness of building the coffin?

a. By recalling a funny anecdote

b. By describing a party

c. By reminiscing about Addie and Anse’s romance

d. By giving historical detail about the town
3:  Anse covers up for his laziness by

a. pretending he is having a heart attack

b. reading voraciously

c. claiming that if he sweats, he will die

d. telling everyone what to do while he just sits
4:  Dewey Dell hates her brother Darl because

a. he makes her build the coffin

b. he taunts her about her pregnancy

c. she blames him for their mother’s illness

d. he doesn't have any money or ambition
5:  Anse does not want to call the doctor because he

a. knows a doctor cannot help Addie now

b. believes he can take care of Addie better than a doctor

c. is busy with his chores and errands

d. does not want to pay a doctor
6:  Vardaman confuses his dead mother with

a. Dr. Peabody

b. his dead fish

c. Dewey Dell

d. the coffin
7:  Cash cannot grieve for his mother because

a. she never expressed any love for him

b. he does not believe she is dead

c. he is not finished building her coffin

d. he is too busy preparing to go to Jefferson
8:  Cash’s personal sphere is

a. measured and regulated

b. insightful and introspective

c. angry and violent

d. confused and disoriented
9:  When Sampson sees the Bundrens traveling, he assumes they are

a. setting out to bury Addie

b. taking a family vacation

c. seeking out a doctor for Dewey Dell

d. buying supplies for the farm
10:  In order to get to Jefferson, the Bundrens must

a. get permission to travel with a coffin

b. travel halfway around a lake

c. make the journey entirely on foot

d. cross the river where the bridge is out
11:  In her affair with Preacher Whitfield, Addie was looking for

a. atonement

b. violence

c. understanding

d. rejection
12:  Addie wants to be buried in Jefferson so that she can

a. bankrupt her children

b. be laid to rest near her family

c. force Anse into action

d. take revenge on Preacher Whitfield
13:  The buzzards remind readers that

a. dead animals lay exposed on the road

b. Addie’s body is decaying

c. Darl’s mind is sinking into madness

d. the family is as hungry as the birds
14:  Darl burns the barn because he

a. needs to comment on the futility of running a farm

b. wants Vardaman to understand him more fully

c. is sinking into madness and, therefore, fears the mules

d. wants to give his mother a proper funeral
15:  Anse allows Darl to be declared insane because

a. Anse does not want to pay for the barn

b. Anse’s grief for Addie clouds his judgment

c. Anse wants to protect Dahl from his insanity

d. Darl will have new friends in the asylum



Previous page
Next page
Resources

Ask Cliff

Read More About

Video Interviews with Real Students
Get to know your top college picks without stepping foot on campus.
Watch now!
Study Guides To-Go!
Get the complete text from CliffsNotes guides on your video iPod®.
Learn more!
cover
Learn the Words You Should Know
Vocabulary Puzzles is the fun way to ace the SAT, ACT, GRE, LSAT & more!
The Ultimate Learning Experience!
WATCH the film and READ the lit note for a fast way to study!
Learn more!