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As I Lay Dying Plot

As I Lay Dying begins in a rural farming town in Yoknawpatapha County, the Bundren family prepares for the death of its matriarch, Addie Bundren. She was a schoolteacher and mother of five children. Addie becomes ill and requests that she be buried with her family in the town of Jefferson. She had four children with her husband Anse, Cash, Darl, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman, and one son Jewel; from her adulterous affair with the town minister. Cash, a skilled carpenter whom diligently works on her coffin, as neighboring farmers Vernon and Cora Tull offer their help and sympathy. Feuding sons Darl and Jewel depart on a lumber job as their mother lay dying, in order to make three dollars in wages. While they are absent, Addie closes her eyes and takes her final breath.
When the boys return, Anse prepares the family for the journey to Jefferson. They place Addie in the homemade coffin and then inside the rickety wagon. It was raining heavily, causing the land to be troublesome for traveling. When they reach their first destination, they discover that the bridge has been washed away. Tull has followed them to the bridge wanting to help, while his wife Cora prays for their souls. Convinced that they must keep going, they travel across the river without Tull's mule which he eventually gives to them. However, as they attempt to cross the ford, a loose log disturbs the wagon, injuring Cash's healing leg, almost losing the coffin in the water, and killing the mules.Anse mortgages his farming tools and trades Jewel's horse for a new team of mules, so that the family can move on. Furious by Anse's selfishness, Jewel vanishes from the farm they are staying at. As the Bundrens pass through the town of Mottson, they pour concrete around Cash's leg in attempt to heal it, and Dewey Dell tries to get an abortion from a local pharmacist, with no luck because of his morals. When night comes, they stay at the "Gillespie" barn.Vardaman the youngest, becomes fascinated with the buzzards...