As I Lay Dying Family Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Section.Paragraph) Every "section" is marked by a shift in narrative point of view.

Quote #1

"Eat," he says. "Get the goddamn stuff out of sight while you got a chance, you pussel-gutted bastard. You sweet son of a b****," he says. (3.12)

Jewel speaks to his horse in an unusually crude way. Since we know his horse is his most valued possession, we get the sense that he deals with love differently than his brothers. This goes some way in explaining his strange reaction to his mother’s death.

Quote #2

I said you’d just let her alone. Sawing and knocking, and keeping the air always moving so fast on her face that when you’re tired you cant breathe it, and that goddamn adze going One lick less. One lick less. One lick less. (4.2)

Jewel’s love for Addie alienates him and causes the rest of the family to resent him.

Quote #3

"If everybody wasn’t burning hell to get her there," Jewel says in that harsh, savage voice. "With Cash all day long right under the window, hammering and sawing at that – "

"It was her wish," pa says. "You got no affection nor gentleness for her. You never had." (5.21-2)

Although Addie’s death brings the family physically together, they are torn apart over their varying feelings for her.