The Violent Bear It Away

After the drowning, Tarwater walks down the road toward Powderhead until he is picked up by a trucker. While Tarwater wants only to be alone with his thoughts, the trucker insists that the boy talk to keep him awake. Tarwater admits to drowning a boy, adding that the baptism was an accident. He further admits his only reason for leaving Powderhead in the first place was to find out if he is prophet, and now he knows he is not. After the driver pulls over to fall asleep, Tarwater recalls the drowning incident. It is his friend who counsels him to drown Bishop, playing on Tarwater’s need to act by concluding, “No finaler act than this” (214). As Tarwater falls asleep in the truck cab, he once again envisions the act of drowning Bishop in dreams, reciting the words of baptism with the friend at his side. In the morning, the friend is finally gone. The driver, meanwhile, forces Tarwater to walk the rest of the way because he never drives anyone with mental illness, except to stay awake.