In As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, the coffin is an important inanimate object. After Addie Bundren's death, the Bundren family traveled 40 miles to Jefferson to honor her wish to be buried there. Cash Bundren builds the coffin while Addie is dying, the coffin goes through many obstacles with the Bundrens during the journey and the overall goal of the journey is to bury the coffin. Although the coffin literally serves as the box containing Addie's corpse, the coffin also serves as a central symbol of the family's love and gratitude for her as well as their instability. One of the coffin's purposes is to serve as a container to hold Addie Bundren. Cash builds the coffin right under Addie's window so that "it will give her confidence and comfort." Before she dies, she calls Cash to see the coffin because she wants to see him during his final moments. Another purpose of the casket is that the casket serves as a symbol of the family's love and gratitude for Addie. Cash shows his appreciation by building the coffin. Since the coffin is his final farewell gift to his mother, he ensures that the coffin is perfect and "lifts the board for (Addie) to see, (…) shaping with his empty hand in pantomime the finished box". Furthermore, he carefully places the planks of the coffin “as if any movement could dislodge them” and “bevels the edge with the tedious and meticulous care of a jeweler.” The image of Cash delicately constructing the coffin signifies his determination to make it perfectly his symbol of gratitude to his mother. Likewise, the coffin symbolizes Vardaman's gratitude when he punches holes in the coffin "so she can breathe." Even though his mother is dead, Vardaman does... middle of paper ......this to get rid of Darl, who knows about his "woman problem". Additionally, the purpose of the coffin serving as a symbol of the Bundrens' gratitude to Addie leads to the coffin's purpose of serving as a symbol of the family's instability. Darl, the most perceptive and observant of the family, realizes that the coffin is causing the family's destruction and that the trip is absurd. Darl desperately tries to burn the coffin in Gillipsie's barn to cremate her properly and "so she can give her life." After it failed, due to the Bundrens' dysfunction, they prioritized burying the coffin over Darl and sent him to a mental institution, because "it was either sending him to Jackson , or to ask Gillipsie to sue them.” Darl's act of burning the coffin for his gratitude to Addie leads him to fall into the instability of his family, in which he goes insane..