The first time we see Jewel in the novel is in Darl's first chapter. Jewel is in the barn with his horse and is seen violently beating his horse, kicking it in the stomach and punching it in the face. Right off the bat, we develop a bad first impression of this angry character. In the very next chapter, Jewel narrates for the first time and gives us an inside look as to why he is so angry.
Jewel seems to be filled with envy of his brother, Cash, and his affection for their mother. Cash's detailed carpentry when making their mother's coffin angers Jewel and causes him to become jealous. This is seen with the repetition of "One lick less," as Jewel views Cash's carpentry of the coffin as a way to draw attention to himself rather than Addie, their late mother. At this point in the book, it is unclear to the reader why Jewel is so angry and bitter. But that's makes us wonder, what is his secret and what caused him to act be like this?
I agree with Rachel, Faulkner is leaving the reader in suspense as to why/ what has made Jewel the way he is. What I find most fascinating about this is that he seems to have one of the best lives out of the children on the farm, yet holds the most anger and resentment over some secret we are yet to find out. Jewel, as Faulkner tells us early in the book, is his mothers favorite and when he was sneaking out at night and not sleeping his mother worried that her son was becoming very sick. He also has his own horse and although this created conflict between Jewel and his father, he still has his horse and it seems to be his escape from life with his family on the farm. So Jewel is the favorited child by his mother, who passes away and he is also has something that not many of his siblings have, an escape from life on the farm, his horse. So why is he so angry? I am left to believe that it has something to do with the way that everything ends up playing out with his mothers burial but we are left unsure until Addie's chapter in the book. I think that in analyzing Jewel's anger it is also generally assumed that he is not a good person, by this I mean to say that in almost every interaction he has with other people in the book he is outright rude or angry for the most part no apparent reason. This leaves me to think that something happened earlier in his life to make him the way he is
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