As I Lay Dying - Plot

Question 1

exposition

Answer 1

meet the characters

Question 2

inciting incident

Answer 2

addie’s death

Question 3

rising action

Answer 3

• cash breaks his leg; they cast it with cement in the summer
• their mules die in the flood
• addie’s body gets wet and it is a hot july
• dewey dell is secretly pregnant and contemplating an abortion
• darl is losing his sanity
• anse sells jewel’s horse and mortgages his farm equipment
• the bundren’s turn out to be a “burden” to everyone they meet
• vardaman is young and confused about the fact that his mother is dead
• darl burns a barn down trying to cremate addie

Question 4

climax

Answer 4

• bury the body, but have to borrow a shovel to do it
• cash has to see a doctor
• darl gets arrested
• anse marries the woman they borrow the shovel from

Question 5

answers

Answer 5

• by including narratives
• the building of addie’s coffin (exposition)
• stream of consciousness
• to obtain an abortion
• the setting of the novel