Inman and Veasey see a saw left by itself on a tree. Veasey steals it justifying his actions by saying that God cares little for property. The two then eat pods from a honey locust tree and continue their journey. They find a man who wants to remove a dead bull from a creek. Veasey tries shifting the bull according to his theory of fulcrum and leverage but fails. Inman stops him and begins to dismember the carcass with the saw Veasey previously stole. Piece by piece the men take the body out of the creek. The man thankful for the traveler’s help offers them dinner and lodging. Inman accepts this under the condition the man would take the saw. On their way to the man’s home the three share some tales over a bottle of liquor. The man tells them his name is Junior and tells them about his youth and his promiscuous wife and her two sisters. Once at Junior’s house he meets his daughter, and the sisters and continue to drink. After noticing the stunned children Lila, Junior’s wife, tells him that the disembodied light they see in the forest is the ghost of a man Junior decapitated. Inman begins feeling dizzy and hides his haversack. Lila tries to seduce Inman right before Junior walks in and arrests both Inman and Veasey. Before leaving with other captives though he tells Veasey to officiate the marriage between Inman and Lila. The men march east for days without food. Inman grows depressed with regrets. One night the guards line up the captives and shoot them all. Inman suffers only a superficial wound and comes in and out of consciousness until he is dug out of his shallow grave by hogs. Inman uses a stone to cut the rope tying his body to Veasey’s corpse. Walking west Inman meets a slave, yellow man, who offers him a ride to his owner’s farm. When they reach the farm the slave hides him in the fodder where Inman rests and loses track of time. When Inman decides to leave the slave draws him a map for Inman as he tells him that his master taught him how to read and write, and warns him of traveling north since confederates are around. Inman thanks him wishing he had some money to repay him. Inman then goes back to Junior’s farm and kills him by hitting him repeatedly with a pistol. He retries his haversack and walks west all night. During the day he rests under a tree where three crow’s nest wishing he could grow winds and fly away from all his enemies.
1b. Author's Style: In this chapter the author uses symbolism, flashback, and imagery.
Symbolism: "After a time, they spied a man standing off below the road, seemingly in deeply contemplation over the scene before him, the chief feature of which was a great black bull, dead in the fork of a creek." In this sentence, the black dead bull could symbolize a future tragedy.
Flashback: "Junior tells a story about his days as a gamecock and a certain dominicker that won him a lot of money, fame and women." this sentence is the beginning of Junior's flashback. In his flashback he talks about how good he used to live when he was young and used to be like a gamecock.
Imagery: "There was a fire smoldering in the fireplace, and a Dutch oven sitting in the coals putting out a smell of rank meat cooking." This imagery enables the reader to visualize how the fire place looked like and how the over smelled.
1c. Historical Context: “A band of Federals broke out of Salisbury prison last week, and the roads are running thick with patrols riding day and night looking for them.” This statement matches the time period of the book, 1864, because the Salisbury Prison was operating during the 1860s. By October 1864 the prison held 5000, and 10,000 soon after that. The town of Salisbury had only 2000 residents, making it the fourth largest town in the state.
2a. What this chapter reveals about Inman is that he is a very strong man, mentally, and physically, capable of surviving wounds in the neck and shots in the head. Even though Veasey was killed he still managed to move on very quickly. Inman is a changed man following his directional reversals and his near death. This chapter also shows Inman is a very vengeful person. Inman’s decision to kill Junior leads Inman to recognizes he needs to kill in certain situations. Seeking for some sense of order Inman tries to see his future in the pattern of a watermelon juice. This is an example of Inmans spiritual journey.
2b. Junior is a smart guy that first decided to befriend Inman and Veasey so then he can turn them in to the confederate home guards. It is suggested that Junior might me a murderer who consumes and feeds his family human meat. Junior's assassination by Inman once again demonstrates Inman has very good fighting skills.
3b.
No comments:
Post a Comment