ATDDTA(11) Webb Tommyknocker [316]
Keith
keithsz at mac.com
Sun Jun 17 22:12:50 CDT 2007
On this page, the "hammering up and down the valley"..."the bone-deep
voice of retribution long in coming" ties Webb to the activities of
the Tommyknockers who were known for their knocking sounds and who
were believed to be the ghosts of dead miners. Our narrator calls
Frank's ghostly skepticism "hardheaded" and presents the chidings of
the ghosts from a narratorial perspective rather than Frank's. And,
while there was some ambiguity perhaps about whether Webb was fully
dead when Reef was toting his corpse to Telluride, this passage
presents an even more detailed father-son conversation at graveside.
No reason to assume the Reefian dialogue was anything more than the
same father-son ghost talk.
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