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Lena Kanty
Elijah works at the sawmill with Spunk Banks and admires him greatly for his strength and gumption. Frequenting the general store after work, Elijah enjoys gossiping and telling stories to the men there, who often take Elijah’s word as gospel. A large portion of the story is narrated through Elijah’s direct speech and, although the village men trust him, he is ultimately an unreliable narrator. As the ringleader of the men folk, for example, Elijah plays a crucial part in Joe Kanty’s murder. He shames, taunts and emasculates Joe in front of the men, who then join in, provoking and angering Joe to follow the lovers into the woods, where he is promptly shot and killed. Although Elijah assures the men that “Spunk wouldn’t shoot no unarmed man,” this turns out to be false. Elijah’s irresponsible storytelling has real, moral consequences. He is positioned as a foil to Walter Thomas, who takes a gentler and more compassionate approach to storytelling and to Joe’s situation in general.
Elijah Mosley Quotes in Spunk
The Spunk quotes below are all either spoken by Elijah Mosley or refer to Elijah Mosley. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Spunk
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“He rides that log down at saw-mill jus' like he struts round wid another man's wife—jus' don't give a kitty.”
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“’Tain’t cause Joe’s timid at all […] If Joe was a passel of wile cats Spunk would tackle the job just the same.”
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“Call her and see if she'll come. A woman knows her boss an' she answers when he calls.”
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“…a big black bob-cat, black all over, you hear me, black, walked round and round that house and howled like forty, an' when Spunk got his gun […] he says it stood right still an' looked him in the eye, […] He says it was Joe done sneaked back from Hell!”
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“The fust thing he said wuz, ‘He pushed me, 'Lige—the dirty hound pushed me in the back!”—He was spittin' blood at ev'ry breath.”
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Elijah Mosley Quotes in Spunk
The Spunk quotes below are all either spoken by Elijah Mosley or refer to Elijah Mosley. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Spunk
Quotes
“He rides that log down at saw-mill jus' like he struts round wid another man's wife—jus' don't give a kitty.”
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“’Tain’t cause Joe’s timid at all […] If Joe was a passel of wile cats Spunk would tackle the job just the same.”
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“Call her and see if she'll come. A woman knows her boss an' she answers when he calls.”
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“…a big black bob-cat, black all over, you hear me, black, walked round and round that house and howled like forty, an' when Spunk got his gun […] he says it stood right still an' looked him in the eye, […] He says it was Joe done sneaked back from Hell!”
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“The fust thing he said wuz, ‘He pushed me, 'Lige—the dirty hound pushed me in the back!”—He was spittin' blood at ev'ry breath.”
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