As i Lay Dying By

Step 1: Definition of terms and concepts
1. Adze –a hand tool with a sharp cutting blade that is attached to a wooden handle, it’s used to chop wood
2. Spindling- long or tall or slender, oftendisproportionately so
3. Kilt-killed
4. Travail- pain, suffering or anguish from mental or physical hardship
5. Bereavement-a period of mourning after a loss, especially after the death of a loved one6. Buzzard- vulture
7. Ford- a place where a river or other body of water is shallow enough to be crossed by wading
8. Sacrilege- the violation or profanation of anything sacred or held sacred9. Proscenium: the wall that separates the stage from the auditorium and provides the arch that frames the stage
10. Tarnation: an expression of annoyance

One of the words that have specialsignificance in the story is adze, which is a tool that Cash uses to make his mother’s coffin. In the beginning of the novel, Darl describes the only sound to be the “Chuck.Chuck.Chuck” of the adze. Thetools are also symbols of respectable living. The word “kilt” is significant in that it represents the southern language, in other words, the setting of the novel. It also demonstrates that thecharacter involved, Vardaman, does not come from a sophisticated family but rather from an uneducated background. The term “buzzard” is introduced once Addie is dead and her deceased body is being transportedto Jackson. This animal is also a symbol of the family’s oppression and death.

Step 2: Setting

The story takes place in 1920’s Yoknapatawpha County. In the novel, after Dewey Dell leaves thestore looking for abortion treatment, the shopkeeper’s assistant tells him about the Bundren family. The assistant tells the shopkeeper that the family comes from some place in the Yoknapatawpha Countyand is headed for Jefferson. The time setting of when the book is said in the author’s note.
This place is important to understanding character, plot, and theme because the place from where the...