n in the midst of familial togetherness is of particular note in the circumstances of Addie's death. Dr. Peabody suspects reflection for Dr. Peabody, who arrives at Anse's badly located farm that Anse, behaving as the independent, misanthropic social loner, is only vaguely aware that a physician is needed. Further, Anse glides over Addie's loss by focusing on errands to be done, journey to be made, teeth to be bought--the minutiae of existence and the universes conspiracy to delay his wish-fulfillment list. Small wonder that Peabody sees Addie's death as minimal transformation: "She has been dead these ten days. I suppose it's having been a part of Anse for so long that she cannot even make that change, if change it be. I can remember how when I was young I believed death to be a phenomenon of the body; now I know it to be merely a function of the mind--and that of the minds of the ones who suffer the bereavement" (43-4).
Of the family, only Darl has anything appr
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