As I Lay Dying Characters

Meet the Cast

Darl Bundren

Darl is Addie’s second child and narrates sections 1, 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 21, 23, 25, 27, 32, 34, 37, 42, 46, 48, 50, 52, 57. He is probably in his late teens.Darl’s Relationship to Jewel...

Jewel Bundren

Jewel is Addie’s third child and narrates Section 4. His biological father is the Reverend Whitfield.If you look at the amount of times Jewel narrates in this novel, you might think that he w...

Anse Bundren

Anse is Addie’s husband and father to Cash, Darl, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman. He narrates sections 9, 26, and 28.Anse is a lazy man. We know as much because most of his neighbors tell us so and...

Cash Bundren

Cash is Addie’s oldest child and narrates sections 18, 22, 38, 53, and 59.Cash is the novel’s logical thinker, as evidenced in his narrative sections. He gives us lists, not paragraphs....

Dewey Dell Bundren

Dewey Dell is Addie’s fourth child and only daughter. She narrates sections 7, 14, 30, and 58. She’s also seventeen and pregnant.It’s not easy being Dewey Dell. She’s the on...

Addie Bundren

Addie is Anse’s wife and mother to Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman (in that order). She narrates section 40, though she dies in Section 12.Before we start a character analysis her...

Vardaman Bundren

Vardaman is Addie’s youngest son and narrates sections 13, 15, 19, 24, 35, 44, 47, 49, 51, and 56.Vardaman’s thoughts are not easy to decipher, are they? His language is convoluted, tur...