Notes

The crow that appears in this chapter is wet and looks ills. This can be compared to Inman who is again wishing he could fly off from his situation, perhaps from humanity all together. His solitude has become a threat to his spirit.

The girl, Sara, is the embodiment of endurance. There is little reason to hope that her situation will ever improve, yet she goes on.

The Federal raiders behave no better than the Home Guard. This gives us insight to the author’s viewpoint of the war. The killing and brutality was senseless, especially to the mountain people. This chapter punctuates the senseless loss - Potts’ loss of a son, Sara’s loss of her man, and Inman’s loss of himself. But it also gives a glimmer of hope. The melancholy, hopeless tone of the beginning of the chapter is lifted by the end. Inman brings some warmth and some needed help into Sara’s life. He even begins to believe that his own face “could in time be altered for the better.”

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