Samson (112-119)

"Stinking Up the Barn"

If the Bundrens ever come to your farm, stand by the gate with a shotgun until they pass by. You don't want them around. Worst. Guests. Ever.

Samson and the fellahs see the Bundrens go by and assume they're on a holiday and that Addie has already been buried. As any objective person would assume!

Quick goes to get them, because they think they might not know about the bridge being out. They refer to Darl not by name, but by "the one folks talk about" (113). This foreshadows difficulties for Darl ahead.

When he finds out the truth, Samson tries to talk Anse into burying Addie immediately, but no go.

He says: "I notice how it takes a lazy man, a man that hates moving, to get set on moving once he does get started off, like it aint the moving he hates so much as the starting and the stopping" (114.) This is as poetic a definition of inertia as you will ever see. Compare.

Samson finally convinces them to stay overnight, but he senses great hostility from Dewey Dell: "If her eyes had a been pistols, I wouldn't be talking now" (115). He goes on to say this again, and also says that her eyes "blazed" at him.

Jewel insists on paying for the feed for his horse, not wanting to be "beholden" to anyone. Considering his lineage, this is hardly surprising.

After they leave, the smell of the body lingers in Samson's barn. Also, there's a buzzard that he has to let out from it.

Samson's narration reminds us how crazy this entire venture is, and how normal people go about honoring the dead.