- Dewey Dell wishes that Peabody, whom she refers to as "he," would perform an abortion for her.
- She feels that she is alone.
- She can hear the sound of Cash still sawing away on the coffin. When he comes in for dinner, he is covered in sawdust.
- Dewey Dell comments in narration that she doesn’t know how to cry.
- At dinner, the men ask why she isn’t serving the big fish that Vardaman caught. Dewey Dell responds that she never had time to cook it.
- The doctor welcomes Dewey Dell to sit and eat with them, but she runs off to the barn to milk the cow. Anse himself doesn’t eat until the doctor tells him to.
- Dewey Dell finds Vardaman and tells him to go eat dinner. Beside herself, Dewey Dell violently shakes her little brother. Crying, he accuses Peabody of killing their mother. Vardaman insists that he doesn’t want dinner, and he doesn’t want to go to Jefferson (to bury Addie). He eventually leaves Dewey Dell alone in the barn.
- Death hangs in the air as Dewey Dell is left alone to think and worry.