Vocabulary in As I Lay Dying

A small outbuilding on a farm used to store picked cotton before it is ginned or sold. It serves as a landmark here, a fixed point from which someone could watch the path.

Worn down and unraveling at the edges, as cloth or straw does after long, hard use.

A state of mental blankness that must come before you can fall asleep — the mind cleared of all thought and self-awareness.

A dry leavening agent mixed into batter to make baked goods rise; here it is a small household staple Cora carefully sets aside so it won't be wasted.

To strengthen someone's spirit or character so they can endure hardship; used here in a religious sense, meaning suffering builds inner strength.

In Jewel's violent fantasy, hurling large stones down a hillside at a crowd of people to drive them away and protect his mother from them.

Violently disturbed or churned up; used here to describe the earth itself as wild and agitated, not a human feeling of anger.

An image of something living but helpless, buried in darkness with no control over what happens to it — used to express a feeling of being trapped and overwhelmed by forces beyond one's understanding.

The practice of lending money and charging very high interest on it; Anse uses the word to condemn merchants and moneylenders he sees as profiting unfairly off honest working people.

An archaic third-person singular form of 'chastise,' meaning to punish or discipline; Anse quotes a biblical-sounding phrase suggesting God punishes those He loves.

A rural Southern expression of mild oath or strong emphasis, a softened form of 'I'll be damned,' used to express surprise, frustration, or firm conviction.

Cutting a board's edge at an angle rather than straight across, so that two boards meet at a slant; Cash does this to make the coffin joints fit more tightly and neatly.

To hold firmly; here it means the nails have more wood surface to bite into and hold when the board edge is cut at a bevel rather than square.

To work a kind of spell or mysterious influence over someone; used here in a folk sense meaning Anse has an uncanny ability to persuade or manipulate people against their better judgment.

A regional, nonstandard expression meaning 'should have' or 'ought to have'; used in Southern dialect to express something that was overdue or should already have happened.

Tilted or tipped to one side at an angle; describes the way Jewel wears his hat pushed sideways on his head.

A shallow place in a river or stream where people and vehicles can cross by driving or wading through the water rather than using a bridge.

Roughly put together from whatever is available as a temporary substitute for the proper thing; used to describe improvised solutions the family uses on their journey.

Morally corrupt and full of wrongdoing; Anse uses it as a sweeping condemnation of the wider world outside his own hardship, implying honest men like himself are victims of a corrupt society.

Making or buying something in advance on the chance that someone will want to purchase it, without a firm order; Cora baked the cakes hoping to sell them but had no guaranteed buyer.

Deeply and demonstratively religious; used to describe Cora's habit of framing every event, even a failed cake sale, as part of God's plan or a test of faith.

A long speech or passage of thought delivered by one person; in this novel each chapter is a single character's uninterrupted first-person narration of their own thoughts.

Dewey Dell's image for the overwhelming, tangled mess of feelings and physical sensations pressing in on her — everything crowded together with no room left for anything else.

Strange or odd; in Southern dialect use here it means puzzling or hard to understand, not simply interesting.

More precise, clean, and well-finished in craftsmanship; Cash's final point on his list, showing that good carpentry is also a matter of pride in appearance.