Clay

= = =By William Faulkner =

**Poem-Dewey Dell's Section (Pages 26-28)**

__Picking Cotton__

Lafe and I were picking cotton Oh, that day won't be forgotten Just the two of us, Lafe and I The others had an alibi:

Pa can't sweat--he has a disease So everyone does what he needs Jewel didn't care, no not at all And Cash was busy with a saw

We were picking fast as we could And then approaching came the woods At the end of the row my sack was overflowin' So there was nothing to do but sleep with him

I'm very ashamed at what I did with Lafe Though I was near certain our secret was safe But I think Darl knows from his actions at dinner And now I won't be getting any thinner

How he found out, I'm completely unsure I hope in the future I can be more mature My mother is weakening, portion by portion I want her to die so I can get an abortion



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**Poem-Vardaman's Section (Pages 65-67)**

__Ma's Coffin__

Are they really putting ma in there? In that coffin where she'll have no air? I was once locked shut in my crib. The rats breathed my air, I'm surprised I lived.

How could Cash do this to ma? This makes me so very appalled. All nailed shut, she'll never leave. And she'll quickly run out of air to breathe.



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**Visual Depiction-Sumo Paint-Vardaman's Section (Page 84)**




 * Extended Response-Darl's Section (Pages 97-99)**

Cash, Jewel, Pa and I took the coffin out finally. Cash kept going on to Jewel about how it is unbalanced. Jewel, as usual, kept cursing at him, yelling at him to lift the coffin. I have a feeling that the two of them have had a similar argument before about this. Jewel is just so rude and impatient! For example, when we left the house with the coffin, Pa said to wait a second to close the door and he wouldn't even wait for him! He's ridiculous! He just kept on saying, "Come on, come on." As we took it down the stairs, we had to breathe through our mouths because the stench was so awful, from the body sitting out for three days or so. Cash then told Jewel to slow down because of it being unbalanced, but, of course, Jewel didn't listen to his advice. I wasn't just going to stand there while Jewel was being a total jerk, so I joined their little back-and-forth. I told him to wait sternly, but he completely ignored me. Cash had fallen behind and he didn't seem to care whatsoever. I grabbed one end of it since he was being so stubborn, but it had no weight on it, since, like Cash said, it was unbalanced. He had to throw it into the wagon bed all by himself since my end of the coffin had no weight, but then was very ticked off towards me and cursed at me for it! It was his fault in the first place! He is something else.



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 * Visual Depiction-Wordle-Vardaman's Section (Pages 100-102)**



​ My family is so stupid, I knew I could get a good laugh from beyond the grave by forcing them to take me to Jefferson. Jewel is the only good exception to my awful family. He had just saved my coffin with my corpse in it from the river after that idiot Cash dropped me. I knew he would be my salvation. What a great son Jewel is. I saw Cash wash up on shore after he nearly drowned vomiting. I bet that just made the smell a whole lot worse. On a hot July day in Mississippi, with my body, nearly a week dead, my poop, all of their disgusting body odor, and now vomit, I can only imagine how awful the reek must be. It makes me feel sorry for them almost, but then I remember how much I hate them and laugh about it. Anyway, later on they all started trying to pull the wagon debris out of the water. They're simply wasting their time, though. Those fools should just all carry my coffin, which according to Cash, is unbalanced. Whatever makes them more miserable makes me happier. I then saw Jewel retrieving Cash's precious little tools. I don't understand why. Cash needs to learn not to idolize them. Carpentry is a very dumb hobby anyway. Jewel shouldn't be such a pushover to go and get them, but I still love him regardless. Perhaps the reason that he is my favorite son is because he isn't Anse's son, since he is my bastard baby with Whitfield, a man I actually enjoyed sleeping with. Also, since he isn't fully related to the rest of them, he just seems less like them, which I admire, since I despise them. Cash didn't look like he was doing very well, as he wasn't speaking and was constantly throwing up. It made me a little happy to see that. Gosh, what a bunch of morons my family is. I'm actually glad that I am dead for two reasons. The first is that I have finally finished my hideous life; my only purpose was to prepare for death anyway. The second reason is that I no longer have to put up with these awful people any longer.
 * Addie's Reaction-Darl's Section (Pages 156-164)**

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**William Faulkner's Voice-Blabberize-Cora's Section (Pages 166-168)**

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**Newspaper Article-Addie's Section (Pages 169-176)**



**Extended Response-Vardaman's Section (Pages 214-217)**

Darl and I were out by the apple tree where ma's coffin was. Darl told me to listen to what she had to say. I put my ear up to her coffin, but I couldn't understand anything that she was saying. Darl said that she was talking to God, asking him for help to hide her from man so she could lay down her life. I heard her turn over on her side, and Darl told me she was looking at me through the wood. I didn't understand, though, how she could see through her coffin, and Darl wouldn't tell me, even though I asked him many times. We then went to check on Cash and poured water on his leg with the cement cast on it. He said that he felt fine a bunch of times. Then Dewey Dell and I went to sleep on the back porch. She was very moody. I kept trying to talk to her and she kept telling me to hush and go to sleep. I saw pa, Jewel, Darl, and Mr. Gillespie's boy moving the coffin into the barn then. I could smell it from the pallet. After they were done, Dewey Dell completely stopped responding to me. I think she fell asleep. I wasn't tired, so I went to find the buzzards, but instead I saw Darl burning the barn. I rushed back to tell Dewey Dell, and, for some reason I don't know of, she told me not to tell anyone else. I was very confused. Why was Darl burning the barn, and why couldn't I tell anybody? I didn't worry too much of it, and I just went to sleep.



Diary Entry-Dewey Dell responding to MacGowan's Section (Pages 241-248) Dear Diary,

Today I finally got an opportunity to get my procedure taken care of. I was helped by a very kind doctor named MacGowan. I'm pretty sure he finds me attractive, because I saw him looking me up and down. It took him a bit to understand what I was there for, but he finally picked up that I wanted an abortion. I was a bit ashamed, so I was beating around the bush a bit because I was too embarrassed to just come out and say that I wanted an abortion. I only had ten dollars to offer him for the procedure, but he said that wasn't enough. However, I was very desperate to get this done. Very kindly of him, MacGowan gave me a bottle to drink from. It smelled like turpentine and tasted very strange. He then told me to go back later that night for the rest of the treatment, so I did. He gave me a box of capsules, and told me to go into the cellar. He said the way to get the baby out was the same way it got in there, so he had sex with me. That son of a bitch tricked me. I don't think it will work, because I don't feel any less pregnant than I did before.

Until next time,

Dewey Dell