As I Lay Dying (novel) - Characters

Characters

• Addie Bundren – Addie is the wife of Anse and the mother of Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman. She had an extramarital affair with her preacher Reverend Whitfield which led to the conception and birth of her third child, Jewel.
• Anse Bundren – Anse is Addie's widower, the father of all the children but Jewel.
• Cash Bundren – Cash is a skilled and helpful carpenter and the eldest son of the family, in his late twenties, who builds Addie's coffin.
• Darl Bundren – The second eldest of Addie's children, Darl is about two years younger than Cash. Darl is the most articulate character and objective narrator in the book, and therefore narrates 19 of the 59 chapters. He is believed to be psychic due to certain events.
• Jewel Bundren – Jewel is the third of the Bundren children, and is most likely around nineteen years of age. A half-brother to the other children and the favorite of Addie, he is the illegitimate son of Addie and Reverend Whitfield.
• Dewey Dell Bundren – Dewey Dell is the only daughter of Anse and Addie Bundren, and is seventeen years old, the second youngest of the Bundren children.
• Vardaman Bundren – Vardaman is the youngest Bundren child, somewhere between seven and ten years old.
• Vernon Tull – Vernon is a good friend of the Bundrens, who appears in the book as a good farmer, less religious than his wife.
• Cora Tull – Cora is the wife of Vernon Tull, a neighbor of Addie's who is with her at her death. She is very religious and this shows in her language.
• Peabody – Peabody is the Bundren's doctor; he narrates two chapters of the book. Anse sends for him shortly before Addie's death, but this is far too late for Peabody to do anything, and he is unable to do nothing more than watch Addie die. Towards the end of the book, when he is working on Cash's leg, Peabody gives an excellent assessment of Anse and the entire Bundren family from the perspective of the community at large.
• Lafe – Lafe is a farmer who impregnates Dewey Dell and gives her $10 to get an abortion.
• Whitfield – Whitfield is the local reverend with whom Addie had an affair, which results in the birth of Jewel.
• Samson – Samson is a local farmer who lets the Bundren family stay with him the first night on their journey to Jefferson. Samson's wife, Rachel, is disgusted with the way the family is treating Addie by dragging her coffin through the countryside.
• Other narrators: MacGowan, Moseley, and Armstid