As I Lay Dying Study Guide for Ms. Hartling HELP AS MUCH AS YOU CAN PLEASE

SECTION 1

1. Why are Cora and Vernon Tull, Kate, and Eula at the Bundren house?

2. What reason does Anse give for not working?

3. How do we know Cora Tull is not a reliable narrator?

4. How does Dewey Dell explain why she got pregnant?

5. What reason does Tull give for people continuing to help Anse out?

6. Who is Anse’s main concern?

7. Why is Peabody upset at being called to the Bundren’s farm?

8. Why didn’t Anse send for Peabody sooner?

9. What is the function of the italicized sections in Darl’s narratives?

10. What are Anse’s and Dewey Dell’s actual motives for getting to Jefferson?

SECTION 2

1. How does Peabody’s team of horses get chased away from the Bundren farm?

2. How did Lafe respond when Dewey Dell told him she was pregnant?

3. How do Cora and Vernon Tull discover that Addie has died?

4. Before boring the holes in the coffin, how else does Vardaman attempt to provide his dead mother with air?

5. Why does Armstid suggest Anse bury Addie in New Hope?

6. Why does Cash walk with a limp?

7. According to Cora, what reward has Addie finally received?

8. Why does Cash take his tools with him on the trip to Jefferson?

9. What other indication does Darl give that he knows Dewey Dell is pregnant?

10. Why does Anse claim to be “the chosen of the Lord”?

SECTION 3

1. Why won’t the Bundrens accept food or decent shelter from Samson?

2. What does Samson consider to be the way to show respect to Addie?

3. What does the buzzard in the barn remind Samson of?

4. Who decides that they will cross the river?

5. Why didn’t they get a doctor for Jewel when they thought he was sick years ago?

6. Why did Cash hope that Jewel was not having an affair with a married woman?

7. Who followed Jewel to find out where he was spending all of his time?

8. Why was Tull so intent on getting Cash out of the river?

9. What happens to the Bundren’s team of mules?

10. How does Darl describe the coldness of the river?

SECTION 4

1. What does Cora believe was the relationship between Addie and Reverend Whitfield?

2. Where does Addie go when school lets out?

3. How does Addie feel about her father?

4. Are we sure Addie’s kin are dead?

5. Who does Whitfield credit for Addie’s not confessing about their affair?

6. What kind of doctoring does Uncle Billy usually practice?

7. Why doesn’t Vardaman come in to dinner at Armstid’s house?

8. What does Moseley suggest Dewey Dell use the ten dollars for?

9. How many days has Addie been dead by the time the family arrives in Mottson?

10. What is Cash’s reaction to Anse’s suggestion that they cover his broken leg with a cement cast?

SECTION 5

1. Who tries to stop Jewel from returning to the burning barn to save Addie?

2. What is Peabody’s reaction when he sees Cash’s leg in the cement cast?

3. What reactions does the wagon get as it approaches the town of Jefferson?

4. When Anse criticizes Darl’s suggestion that they go to the hardware store to buy spades with which to dig Addie’s grave, what does Darl reply?

5. What does Jewel suggest they do with Darl before the authorities come to get him?

6. How many days has it been between Addie’s death and her burial?

7. Why was Cash surprised that Dewey Dell turned Darl in to the authorities?

8. What is Cash’s response when Darl, restrained by the officials from Jackson, asks him, “Do you want me to go?”?

9. When Anse tries to take the ten dollars from Dewey Dell, to whom does she say the money belongs?

10. What is Cash’s reaction upon being introduced to the new Mrs. Bundren?