LITERATURE: The Reivers – “swelling” story

Okay, I made that up, but it seems that this is what Faulkner is doing as he builds the character base and the importance of the automobile to plot.

It brings to mind making tapioca, or more particularly, jelly or candy where you must stir constantly while heating though nothing much appears to be going on. All at once, a certain temperature is reached and the boiling cannot be controlled by stirring and the mixture must be taken off the heat before it overflows the pot.

Faulkner has given us enough time spent with the two main characters, Boon Hoggenbeck and Lucius Priest, and has them past their first hurtle of taking off with the automobile on a secret joyride that will last supposedly for a day or two until they must return the car. Here, with the addition of the stowaway Ned, and the interest of Miss Reba's house of ill repute, we have more interaction that moves the story a bit more quickly.

And just as the story is starting to form those tiny bubbles at the edge of the pot, Faulkner threatens to boil: Ned has traded the auto for a racehorse.