Cash and His Saw

 

In As I Lay Dying, Cash’s saw echoes throughout the Bundren family farm as Addie lays dying in her bed. It represents her ever looming death and with every pass of the blade on the wooden planks that would eventually become her coffin. The fact that he is sawing nonstop outside of her window served as a reminder to both Addie and the rest of the Bundren family that her final moments were nearing. Dewey Dell describes that, "from the back porch I cannot see the barn. Then the sound of Cash's sawing comes in from that way. It is like a dog outside the house, going back and forth around the house to whatever door you come to, waiting to come in" (Faulkner 59). Dewey Dell hears the never-ending sound of Cash’s saw moving back and forth, with each stroke her death was drawing closer and closer.

    Through Cash’s sawing, we get a glimpse into who he is as a character. Cash, who rarely had dialogue, was a very quiet and reserved character. In Cash’s brief chapter, the reader hears him repeatedly say, “It won’t balance. If they want it to tote and ride on a balance, they will have” and then his dialogue cuts off (Faulkner 96). The only times the reader heard from him it was because he was talking about how the wagon carrying the coffin needed to be balanced, further showing how important it was to him that his creation that contains his deceased mother stayed intact. 

    Sawing her coffin was also seemingly his way of coping with the loss of his mother. It allowed for him to have time to process her death while the rest of his siblings tended to her in bed. The entire time that we see Addie laying in bed ridden with her impending death, we also see Cash hammering and sawing the coffin nonstop. His siblings notice this as well, and some are unhappy with how he chooses to spend his time. In the first line of Jewel's first chapter he says, "It's because he stays out there, right under the window, hammering and sawing on that goddamn box. Where she's got to see him. Where every breath she draws is full of his knocking and sawing where she can see him saying See. See what a good one I am making for you. I told him to go somewhere else" (Faulkner 14). Jewel is fed up with Cash making the coffin outside of her window, even though it is clear that Cash is also trying to make his mother proud by "making a good one". He is still near to his mother, but keeping a distance while he does something he enjoys, perhaps to ease the fact that she is dying.

    Even after the coffin is built, the saw is still mentioned in respect to Cash, demonstrating how the other characters understand how important it is for him as well. We can see this, for example, in the scene after the Bundrens and Tull cross the broken bridge over the river. Upon arriving at the bank, it is revealed that Cash is injured and while Dewey Dell is tending to him, the rest of his siblings are scrambling around the river to find his tools, specifically his saw. They are aware of how meaningful his saw is for him and are not willing to risk the loss of his tool.