From Addie’s monologue to the drugstore
That was when I learned that words are
no good; that words dont ever fit even what they are trying to say
at.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Addie
The next monologue is Addie’s, although it is not made
explicitly clear whether her thoughts are from the coffin, or whether
the narrative leaps back in time to when Addie is still living.
Addie remembers working as a schoolteacher before her marriage,
taking pleasure in whipping her pupils when they misbehaved. Addie
then recounts Anse’s terse courtship and their marriage. She says
that when she gave birth to their eldest children, Cash and Darl,
she felt as if her aloneness had been violated. She had declared
Anse dead to her and bemoaned the uselessness of words. She recalls
the extramarital passion she shared, and then lost, with Whitfield,
the minister. As a result of that brief affair, Addie became disillusioned
by that fact that someone supposedly virtuous could engage in such
sinful behavior. She eventually gave birth to Jewel, Whitfield’s
bastard son. Addie remembers giving birth to Dewey Dell and Vardaman, and
describes the births as the final payments in an emotional debt to
Anse, after which she was free to die. Addie recalls some of Cora’s remarks
about sin and salvation, and dismisses them as empty words.
Whitfield
Whitfield overcomes temptation, and resolves to go to
the Bundren household and confess his affair with Addie to Anse
before Addie can do so herself. Although the bridge is washed away,
Whitfield is able to cross. Upon reaching Tull’s house, he learns
that Addie is already dead, and nobody seems to know about the affair.
Whitfield decides that this turn of events must be a sign from God.
He pays his last respects, and leaves without confessing.
Darl
Darl helps lay the semiconscious Cash on top of the coffin.
Jewel rides ahead to get Armstid’s team, and the Bundrens ride up
to the Armstid household. They carry Cash inside. Armstid offers
the house to the Bundrens for the evening, but Anse declines and
the Bundrens return to the shed. After initially refusing Armstid’s
offer of supper, Anse accepts. Jewel remains behind to attend to
the horses.
Armstid
Over supper, Armstid and Anse discuss the purchase of
a new team of mules. Armstid offers Anse the use of his team, but
Anse declines. Jewel rides out to find Peabody, but returns with
a horse doctor instead, who sets Cash’s broken leg. Cash faints
from the pain but does not complain. The next morning, Anse rides
off on Jewel’s horse to see about purchasing a team. Armstid watches
Vardaman fight off a slew of buzzards that have gathered around
Addie’s coffin. Jewel attempts to move the wagon out of the shed,
but Darl refuses to help. Late in the day, Anse returns to announce
that he has purchased a team. He explains that he has mortgaged
his farm equipment, used some money that Cash was saving to buy
a gramophone, used some money from his own false teeth fund, and
traded away Jewel’s horse. After the first shock wears away, Jewel
rides off on his horse. Without the horse, it looks as if the trade
will not go through. However, the next morning, a farmhand comes
by with a team of mules, saying that the horse was left, unattended,
on the land of the man who made the trade with Anse.
Vardaman
Vardaman is traveling with his family in the wagon, and
watches a group of buzzards circling above them in the sky.
Moseley
Moseley, a shopkeeper in the town of Mottson, sees a young
woman browsing in his store, and asks her if she needs assistance.
Moseley is shocked when the young woman, Dewey Dell, hints that
she is in search of an abortion treatment. He flatly refuses to
provide her with one, saying that he is a churchgoing man. The young
woman insists, and tells Moseley that Lafe told her the drugstore
would give her the proper treatment for ten dollars. Moseley still
refuses, and advises the young woman to marry her precious Lafe.
After the young woman leaves, Moseley hears more about the Bundren
family from his assistant. The assistant tells Moseley that Anse
had an encounter with the Mottson marshal earlier about the stench
of Addie’s eight-day-old corpse. One of the sons was seen buying cement
to set his brother’s leg, and then the family left Mottson.
