What happens in Chapter 49 of As I Lay Dying?
Vardaman and Darl make their way to where she lies beneath the apple tree at night. Vardaman hears her voice through the wood but can't quite catch what she's saying. Darl explains that she is talking to God, asking Him to conceal her from human eyes so she can let go of her life. Vardaman wonders how she can see through the wood, but Darl suggests they check on Cash, who has hurt his leg. They pour water over Cash's leg, and he assures them he feels fine and appreciates their help. Vardaman recalls something Dewey Dell asked him to keep secret, something that doesn’t involve pa, Cash, Jewel, Dewey Dell, or himself. Vardaman and Dewey Dell lie on a pallet on the back porch, their legs bathed in moonlight. Vardaman talks about a train he saw through a window and mentions Santa Claus and the boys from town; Dewey Dell tells him to go to sleep. Vardaman then notices pa, Jewel, Darl, and Mr. Gillespie's boy walking around the house toward the apple tree. He insists he can smell her. The men lift her onto their shoulders and carry her to the barn, the moonlight shining down on her, before returning to the house. Vardaman waits for Dewey Dell, then goes to find out where they sleep at night and uncovers something Dewey Dell asked him to keep private.
Analysis
The chapter is told from Vardaman's perspective, a young child who has a limited and literal grasp of what has happened to the woman in the wood. He hears her "inside the wood" and wonders how she can see through it, viewing the wood as a puzzle of perception rather than fully understanding what it conceals. His questions to Darl—"What is she saying?" "Who is she talking to?" "How can she see through the wood?"—show a child who is aware of sensory experiences but struggles to interpret them.
Darl's responses are gentle yet evasive. He tells Vardaman that she is "calling on Him to help her" and wishes to "hide her away from the sight of man" so she can "lay down her life," phrases that are theological and difficult for a child to grasp. When Vardaman presses for clarification on how she can see through the wood, Darl shifts the focus by saying, "Let's go see about Cash," avoiding the question he cannot answer.
Moonlight shapes the imagery throughout the chapter. Vardaman and Dewey Dell lie "half in the white and half in the black" on the pallet, while the men carry her with the "moon shining flat and quiet on her." Mr. Gillespie's boy's legs "fuzz" in the moonlight, blending the ordinary with the surreal. The phrase "something Dewey Dell told me not to tell nobody" recurs three times, adding to the mystery without providing answers. Vardaman's thoughts about the toy train, Santa Claus, and the town boys bring a child’s sense of Christmas excitement into the night, and his goal of finding "where they stay at night" propels the chapter forward toward a final, undisclosed discovery.
Key quotes from Chapter 49
“She wants Him to hide her away from the sight of man,” Darl says.”
Darl explains to Vardaman early in the chapter what the woman under the apple tree wants from God.
“we will lie half in the white and half in the black, with the moonlight on our legs.”
Vardaman describes how he and Dewey Dell will sleep on the pallet on the back porch.
“And I saw something Dewey Dell told me not to tell nobody.”
Vardaman says this after checking on Cash, and repeats variations of the phrase throughout the chapter.
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