Summer Reading
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Submitted by kimbq46 on 09/05/2011 06:00 PM Flag This Paper
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Summer Reading
3. The novel begins with Addie lying on her death bed and her son Cash building her coffin outside her window. Her family has arranged for her to be buried in the town of Jefferson, as it is her dying wish. Addie’s husband Anse however wishes to go to Jefferson to selfishly get fitted for new teeth and to find a new wife. Their other sons, Jewel and Darl struggle with the death of their mother. While Darl is aware and yet taunting, Jewel is affectionate only through violence because he was conceived by Addie having an affair. Addie and Anse’s simple minded daughter, Dewey Dell is pregnant and looking for an abortion in Jefferson. The last Bundren child is Vardaman and is much younger than the other children. To follow Addie's wish, the family travels to Jefferson during a hot and rainy time in Mississippi. Throughout the journey, Addie's body continues to decay, causing buzzards to constantly circle overhead. When they find that a bridge has washed out, the family must figure out a way to get the coffin over the river. Darl soon realizes that his mother needs a proper burial when these events become all too horrifying. He tried to burn his mother's body and coffin in a barn, an act for which he is indicated to be mentally unstable and insane. Anse agrees to send Darl to an insane asylum because he does not want to refund the family for their barn, which was destroyed by the fire. Jewel, meanwhile, saves his mother's body from the fire, just as he saved her coffin from the swollen river, thus fulfilling Addie’s prediction that he would save her.