Chapter 4 Summary

The inevitable happens: Spunk falls into the saw and is killed. His last words are, "It was Joe, 'Lige - the dirty sneak shoved me . . . he didn't dare come to mah face . . . but Ah'll git the son-of-a-wood louse soon's Ah get there an' make hell too hot for him . . . . Ah felt him shove me . . .!"

The entire village goes to the wake, including Elijah and Walter, and Joe's father, Jeff Kanty. Lena wails, everyone eats the food brought by the community, and they all conjecture about who will be Lena's next.

Chapter 4 Analysis

So now the climax has been presented. Joe, from the grave, seems to have come out the winner, and Spunk knows it. The story of his demise comes from Walter and Elijah, but again, the point of view shifts. The denouyment, the unraveling of the story, is told by the third-person...