Addie's Coffin

In "As I Lay Dying," much of the story, at least early in it, is centered around the construction and burial of Addie in her coffin.  Her coffin serves to symbolize the dysfunction created by her untimely death.  After the careful creation of the coffin, things begin to spiral out of control with her being placed upside down in the coffin, and Vardaman drilling holes in her face.  Instances, like this, represent the issues that her death has caused within the family.  The fact that the coffin is thrown off balance by Addie's corpse represents how the Bundren's lives are "thrown off balance" by her death.  This coffin serves as a symbol in "As I Lay Dying," representing the effect her death has on her family.