Chapter 7: Exile And Brute Wandering

1a.  The title of this chapter, Exile and brute wandering, refers to the tales Inman and Odell were telling to each other. The book states that while they drank, they were telling each other tales of exile and brute wandering. Odell's tale was the story he told Inman of how he grew a forbidden love towards a slave, which his father strongly opposed, so he decided to send the slave to Mississippi, and how he decided to leave his town and wander to find his beloved Lucinda.
       In chapter 7 as Inman continues his journey he meets the preacher whose name is Solomon Veasey walking along the road. The preacher tells him that he was thrown out the community because of his crimes and thanks Inman for saving him of his sins. The preacher tells Inman of his plans to go to Texas and start a ranch as the two keep walking together though Inman doesn't want Veasey to accompany him. They find an abandoned house in which Inman looks for honey. Before leaving the abandoned house they talk about their wishes and what they seek. As they follow the stream Veasey sees catfish and tries to catch it by wrestling it but fails, Inman then shoots it. The two camp out for the night eating their fish when Veasey tries to get Inman to tell him his story. Inman tells him about a “blowup” in Petersburg. The next day comes with heavy rain. As Veasey and Inman go shopping for some supplies Veasey pulls a gun on the shopkeeper. Inman then hits Veasey in the head taking his gun and they both leave. They're both directed to an inn where they can spent their night by a slave woman. Veasey begins an argument with a customer over a “black whore” who goes by the name Big Tildy. Both Inman and Big Tildy intervene to prevent him from getting shot. Veasey leaves with Big Tildy while Inman pays for food and a bed. Inman finds that he is sharing his loft with a peddler named Odell. While Odell shares a flask with him he explains he is the heir to plantation in Georgia. Odell also shares that he fell in love with a slave named Lucinda who m he wanted to marry even if he was already married. When Odell confessed to his father that he was in love with a slave he sent her to work in another farm. Odell and Lucinda had an affair until he found out she was pregnant. When found out about Lucinda’s pregnancy he tried to buy her off his father, but that only made things worse since his father sent her to Mississippi instead. Odell left his home searching for her and became a peddler in order to make money. Odell also tells him about some of the terrible things he has seen in his travels. The next morning Inman leaves the inn and meets up with Veasey who has a cut under his eyes. Veasey tells him that it was worth it and was stunned by the naked body of a prostitute.

1b. Author's Style: In this chapter Frazier uses imagery, flashbacks, and allusions.
      Imagery: "Inman walked through days of cooling weather, blue skies, and empty roads". This imagery enables the reader to visualize the scenarios which Inman walked as the days passed.
      Imagery: "All Inman remembered of another day's march was the white sky and that sometime during it a crow had died in flight, falling with a puff of dust into the road before him, its black beak open and its grey tongue out as if to taste the dirt, and that later he came upon three farm girls in pale cotton dresses dancing barefoot in the dust of the road". This imagery enables the reader to clearly visualize how the crow looked when it had died in a day's march.
      Imagery: “One morning at the end of this time, Inman found himself walking through a wood of young poplar, their leaves already turning to yellow, though the season did not yet call for it." This imagery enables the reader visualize how one morning when Inman woke up he found himself walking through a poplar. It gives description of how the poplar looked.

      Flashback: "The mortar blew many of them to pieces, and when that was done, Inman's regiment led the attack into the crater, and the fighting inside was of a different order from any he had done before. It was war in is most antique form, as if hundreds, of men were put into a cave, shoulder to shoulder, and told to kill each other" this flashback is about his fighting with the federals.
      Allusion: "What he told Veasey was about the blowup at Petersburg" Allusion to the battle of the crater during the American civil war, which took place on July 30th.

1c. Historical Context: “All underfoot were bodies and pieces of bodies, and so many men had come apart in the blowup and the shelling that the ground was slick and threw a terrible stink from their wet internalments.” This statement matches the time period of the book, 1864, because during this time the battle of the Crater was being fought. It also matches the description Inman gives to Veasey. The Federals exploded a mine in Burnside’s IX Corps sector beneath Pegram’s Salient, blowing a gap in the Confederate defenses of Petersburg. From this propitious beginning, everything deteriorated rapidly for the Union attackers.

2a. What this chapter reveals about Inman is that even though he is capable of stealing, he is still good enough to leave some money to that person form which he stole the food from. It also shows that he still loves Ada strongly enough not to cheat on her with a whore, so that show he is a very devoted and honest husband/boyfriend. This chapter also reveals Inman is a very good friend because he intervenes twice, in the inn, and at the store, to save the preacher.

2b. Odell, the man Inman meets at the Inn, and Inman stay up most of the night telling tales of exile and brute wandering. Even though it’s Odell the one that talks about his unseemly love story, Inman feels identified. Odell could be considered pretty much a man who’s going through the same as Inman, since he left his house in order to find Lucinda, the woman he’s in love with. Odell’s story parallels Inman’s own quest to return to Ada

3b.