# Peabody — As I Lay Dying character guide

> Peabody in As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Doctor Peabody, Peabody mought

**First appearance:** 0012-peabody

## Snapshot

The county doctor, two hundred and twenty-five pounds of weary sarcasm, hauled up a bluff by rope to confirm what everyone already knows.

## Who they are

Peabody has doctored the Bundrens for years and has learned to expect the worst from Anse, whom he regards as a man who wears out wives the way weather wears out fences. He arrives too late, as he knew he would, and his grumbling ride up the mountain becomes a comic and grim portrait of rural medicine. He matters because he names the truth the family keeps circling: Addie is dying, and no one is ready.

## In the story

### [Darl](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/as_i_lay_dying_se/chapters/darl)

Expected to arrive to attend to Addie; Darl imagines him being hauled up the path with a rope.

### [Peabody](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/as_i_lay_dying_se/chapters/peabody)

Narrates the chapter; arrives reluctantly, diagnoses Addie, and criticizes Anse's delay.

### [Darl](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/as_i_lay_dying_se/chapters/darl)

Helps carry the finished coffin into the house and suggests eating a snack.

### [Tull](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/as_i_lay_dying_se/chapters/tull)

Doctor who comments on the river and Cash's leg.

### [Peabody](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/as_i_lay_dying_se/chapters/peabody)

Doctor Peabody examines Cash's leg and expresses outrage at Anse's crude treatment with cement and the lack of proper care.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/as_i_lay_dying_se/characters/peabody
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/as_i_lay_dying_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/as_i_lay_dying_se/characters