answersLogoWhite

0

Here are some ecletic thoughts and nonsequiturs to get the ball rolling:

The first person associated with wood, even before Cash and Addie, is Jewel. Wood conveys a sense of hardness and endurance, as opposed to flesh, which is soft and ephemeral, easily decayed (think about Addie's flesh).

It is, on the other hand, malleable and able to be shaped by carpenters. Wood is also directly related to trees, which come up in Anse's first chapter, in which he argues that people are tall like trees instead of long like snakes because God made man to rest, not to travel. Following this idea of wood's vulnerability, wood also inevitably turns into dust.

The second reference comes in Tull's chapter, when he's describing Vardaman's carrying the freshly killed fish. He likens Vardaman to carrying a(n) armful of wood. So wood's immense size, essential immobility and clumsiness, are all at work here.

Later on there is the wood of the coffin; wood acts as the container for Addie's flesh, protecting it from harm.

Wood is used to describe Cash's tools, in particular his hammer, which "has the most wood." Wood is also present in the river in the form of logs, one of which almost takes the life of the three Bundren brothers.

Wood is used repeatedly to describe Jewel by Darl toward the middle stages of the novel, and disappears toward the end.

User Avatar

Wiki User

17y ago

What else can I help you with?