The edition and the spoilers on this page
The As I Lay Dying family tree on this page follows the novel as Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith published it in New York on 6 October 1930.1 Digital Yoknapatawpha, the Faulkner project of the University of Virginia, reads the same novel in the corrected text of the Vintage International paperback.1
The chart opens before Addie dies. The cards further down give away the ending, and each one says what it reveals. Works published in the United States in 1930 entered the American public domain on 1 January 2026, and the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain names this novel among them.2 The novel is still in copyright in other countries, so the page uses no pictures and no quotations, and our own chart and tables carry it.
Addie and Anse at the top of the family tree
The As I Lay Dying family tree has two parents at the top. Addie Bundren is the wife of Anse and the mother of all five children.3 The Bundrens are poor farmers who live beyond Frenchman’s Bend, in the south east of Yoknapatawpha County.1
Addie dies while Darl and Jewel are away on an errand for Vernon Tull, and the family sets out to carry her body to Jefferson for burial.41 Digital Yoknapatawpha counts ten days of July for the whole story.1 Anse ends the novel with new false teeth and introduces the children to a new Mrs Bundren, the woman who lent him the spades to bury Addie.4
On the chart Addie therefore has a cross from the second story point, and Anse gains a second marriage line at the last one.
Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell and Vardaman
Cash is the eldest son and a carpenter, and he builds his mother’s coffin while she is still alive.34 Darl is the second son and speaks more sections of the novel than anyone else.31 Jewel is the third son, Dewey Dell the only daughter and Vardaman the youngest.3
Dewey Dell is pregnant by Lafe, a man who works on the farm and never appears in person. She looks for a drug to end the pregnancy in Mottson and in Jefferson.3 On this As I Lay Dying family tree Lafe has a short partner line to Dewey Dell and no child below it, because the child is not yet born when the novel ends.
| Child | Place in the family | Father | What happens on the journey |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | Eldest son | Anse | Breaks his leg at the river |
| Darl | Second son | Anse | Burns a barn and is sent to an asylum |
| Jewel | Third son | Whitfield | Loses his horse, saves the coffin from the fire |
| Dewey Dell | Only daughter | Anse | Seeks a drug to end her pregnancy |
| Vardaman | Youngest son | Anse | Travels with the family to the burial |
Jewel’s father on the As I Lay Dying family tree
Jewel is Addie’s son by the minister Whitfield, not by Anse.3 Addie tells of the affair in her one section of the novel, the fortieth, which comes after the river crossing.4 Digital Yoknapatawpha lists a lover who is the secret father of one of the children, without naming him on its page about the novel.1
An As I Lay Dying family tree that shows Whitfield from the first page gives away the secret that Addie keeps until her own section. The story chart draws Jewel under Addie alone at the farm, and the line to Whitfield appears at the river, the story point before her section.
The Tulls, the doctor and the farmers on the road
Vernon Tull and his wife Cora are the nearest neighbours. Cora is a devout woman who stays at Addie’s bedside and sets her own faith against Addie’s.3 Doctor Peabody is the family doctor, and he is appalled when he sees what has been done to Cash’s leg.3
Samson and Armstid are farmers who give the family shelter on the road, and Gillespie owns the barn that Darl burns.3 They stand outside the As I Lay Dying family tree, so the chart leaves them off and this page names them here.
The As I Lay Dying family tree stage by stage
Each card gives the family at one point of the journey. The cards name the secret and the ending, so read each one after that part of the novel.
At the farm
The coffin under the window
Spoiler note. Nothing beyond the first chapters.
- Addie lies dying while Cash builds her coffin.
- Darl and Jewel leave on an errand for Vernon Tull.
Sources4
Addie dies
The start of the journey
Spoiler note. Addie dies.
- Addie dies while two of her sons are away.
- The family sets out to carry her body to Jefferson.
The river
The ford
Spoiler note. Jewel’s father is named.
- A log knocks the coffin from the wagon, the mules drown and Cash breaks his leg.
- Anse trades Jewel’s horse for new mules, and Addie’s section names Whitfield as Jewel’s father.
The barn fire
Darl and the coffin
Spoiler note. Darl burns a barn.
- Darl sets fire to Gillespie’s barn to destroy the coffin.
- Jewel carries the coffin out of the fire.
Sources4
Jefferson
The burial and the new wife
Spoiler note. The ending is told in full.
- The family has Darl sent to an asylum so that Gillespie cannot sue.
- Anse, with new false teeth, presents a new Mrs Bundren.
How to read this As I Lay Dying family tree
A square is a man and a circle is a woman. A line between a couple with a line down to the children is a marriage, and a dashed partner line is an affair or a brief relationship. A cross marks a death.
The coloured lines are relationships. The dotted blue line from Anse to Addie stands for the burial in Jefferson that drives the whole journey, and the line between Darl and Jewel marks the rivalry the narrators return to again and again. The rings show who belongs to the family, who to the neighbours and who to the town.
To build an As I Lay Dying family tree of your own, open the chart in the editor from this page or start from the story charts. The symbols are set out in the genogram symbols.
Questions about the As I Lay Dying family tree
Who is Jewel’s father in As I Lay Dying
The minister Whitfield. Addie tells of the affair in her own section of the novel.34
How many children are on the As I Lay Dying family tree
Five. Cash, Darl, Dewey Dell and Vardaman are the children of Addie and Anse, and Jewel is Addie’s son by Whitfield.3
Whom does Anse marry at the end
He presents a new Mrs Bundren in Jefferson, the woman who lent him the spades for the burial.4
People and sources
A page of its own lists all 13 characters on the chart, each with a short note and the sources for it, and the four numbered sources this article cites. It also gives this page as a reference in the APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles, ready to copy.