Wise Blood

The chapter opens as Enoch Emery travels through town wearing a trench coat. He has stolen the human remains from the museum and is bringing it to Motes’ room. By the time he arrives at Motes’ place, the ancient corpse is soaked with rain. He finds Motes’ door open and steps inside to find Sabbath watching Motes as he sleeps.

Sabbath tells Enoch that Motes is resting as he wasn’t able to sleep last night, and she promises him that she will take care of his package in the meantime. Enoch leaves and Sabbath decides to open the package. She is stunned to discover the ancient corpse, but eventually decides that it is cute.

Motes wakes up with moving desire to move to a new city to spread the word about the Church Without Christ. As Motes is packing his bags, Sabbath brings the corpse into the room. Motes grabs the corpse and throws it against the wall in a fit of rage.

Sabbath screams at him, but Motes isn’t fazed by her words. He says, “I don’t want nothing but the truth … and what you see is the truth and I’ve seen it” (188). Motes leaves and Sabbath stays behind.

This chapter once again opens from the perspective of Enoch Emery. As he is leaving Motes’ room he is overwhelmed by the feeling that he should be rewarded by the “new jesus” for giving Motes the ancient human remains. Enoch tries to occupy himself at home but then decides to go into town to grab a bite to eat.

Enoch goes to the Paris Diner and begins leafing through a newspaper as he eats a piece of cake. He sees an advertisement in the paper for Gonga, the Giant Jungle Monarch and decides to check out Gonga for himself. He arrives at the Victory Theater and sees a man in a gorilla costume shaking hands with people in a line. Enoch hides in the back of “Gonga’s” trailer.

The Gonga show eventually ends, and the crew get back into the truck and drive towards the highway. When the truck passes over a set of train tracks, Enoch falls out the back and begins running towards a line of trees. Once in the woods, he digs a hole and buries all of his clothes in it. He then puts on the Gonga gorilla costume and travels deeper into the woods.

Enoch sneaks up on a couple who are looking out at the moonlit skyline of Taulkinham. Enoch reaches his hand out toward them, but the couple runs away in terror at the sight of what they believe to be a real gorilla. The chapter ends with Enoch staring at the city’s skyline. 

This chapter beings with Motes secretly watching Onnie and his newly hired “Prophet,” Solace Layfield,” preaching about their Church of Christ Without Christ. After making over fifteen dollars, the two men get into their car and head home for the day. Motes follows them and watches Solace drop Onnie at his house; he then continues to follow Solace as he drives away.

When they reach a deserted dirt road, Motes speeds up and rams the back of Solace’s car so that it slides into a ditch. A distressed Solace gets out of his car and approaches Motes’ window: “What you knock my car off the road for” (205), he asks. Motes knocks Solace’s hat off and tells him to “take that off that suit” (205). Solace begins to run away, tearing his clothes off as he goes.

Motes accelerates and runs Solace over. He then puts the car in reverse and backs over Solace again. Motes gets out of the car and kneels down next to the dying man. Motes tells him, “Two things I can’t stand … a man that ain’t true and one that mocks what is. You shouldn’t ever have tampered with me if you didn’t want what you got” (205). Motes leaves the man to die and drives back into town.

The next morning, Motes decides that it is time to leave Taulkinham in order to begin the Church Without Christ in new areas. He brings the Essex to a gas station and tells the station attendant to fill it up with gas and to check the oil, and tire pressure. As the attendant works on his car, Motes explains the Church Without Christ to him. Once the man finishes, he tells Motes that the car has multiple leaks and probably won’t last twenty miles on the road. Motes disregards his warning and continues on his way.

Motes doesn’t get very far before being pulled over by a police car. Motes tells the policeman that he wasn’t speeding and that he was driving on the right side of the road, and the policeman agrees with him. He then tells Motes that “I just don’t like your face,” and asks him to drive his Essex to a nearby hill so that they can look at the scenery together. Motes does as the policeman asks.

The policeman proceeds to push Motes’ car over the embankment, which utterly destroys it. The police officer tells Motes, “Them that don’t have a car, don’t need a license” (210). The officer asks Motes if he can give him a ride anywhere, but a flabbergasted Motes says he wasn’t going anywhere. With this, the policeman drives off and leaves Motes alone. After waiting for some time, Motes gets up and starts walking back to town.

After a few hours, Motes arrives back in Taulkinham. He immediately visits a supply store and purchases a bag of quicklime. Motes returns home and walks past his landlady, who asks him what he’s going to do with a bag of quicklime. Motes replies, “Blind myself” (212). The chapter ends with Motes’ landlady wondering why he would do such an odd thing.

This chapter opens from the perspective of Motes’ landlady. Motes has already blinded himself and she lets him stay at her housing complex even though she is disturbed by the sight of his ruined eyes. She feels that Motes is cheating her in some way, but he receives a monthly check from the government for his service during the war, so his rent money is always on time.

One day the landlady finds almost two dollars in Motes’ trash bin, and when she asks him about it he says he no longer needs it. She comes to the conclusion that he is crazy and that she should take care of him. She suggests that he should start preaching again, but he claims, “I don’t have time” (224) and walks off with a limp.

Sometime later, Motes’ landlady is cleaning his room when she knocks over his shoes and discovers that they are filled with small rocks, gravel, and broken glass. When she asks Motes why he does this, he merely says, “To pay … It don’t make any difference for what … I’m paying” (226). From this point on, Motes spends his time walking around town, eventually catching influenza and becoming bedridden.

During his illness, Motes’ landlady takes to bringing him his meals. She finds him resting one morning and realizes that he has barbed wire wrapped around his chest. She asks him, “What do you do these things for? It’s not natural” (227). Motes only replies with, “It’s natural” (227). She retorts, “You must believe in Jesus or you wouldn’t do these foolish things” (228).

The landlady had planned to marry Motes so she could have him admitted to a mental hospital and cash in on his monthly government paycheck, but then she begins to fall in love with him and decides that she really does want to marry him. One day, as a storm approaches, she tells him that they should get married; Motes ignores her and walks out into strong winds.

It is revealed that the landlady’s name is Mrs. Flood, and that night she lies awake and cries as a terrible rainstorm passes through Taulkinham. Mrs. Flood’s thoughts revolve around her hope that Motes will come home safely. In the morning, she goes out to search for Motes, but she cannot find him. The storm continues to rage and she calls the police to ask them to keep an eye out for him.

Two days later, two policemen find Motes lying in a muddy ditch. His hand is moving slightly and he asks the policemen whether it’s night or day. They tell him that it is day and that he needs to come with them, but, he replies, “I want to go on where I’m going” (233). One of the officers hits Motes over the head with his baton and they put him in the back of their car. Unbeknownst to the policemen, Motes dies in the back of the squad car as they drive towards Mrs. Flood’s house.

The officers carry Motes onto Mrs. Flood’s bed and leave. At first, Mrs. Flood doesn’t realize that Motes is dead; she tells his corpse, “I knew you’d come back” (234). Mrs. Flood grasps Motes’ lifeless hand and shuts her eyes, and sees a small pinpoint of light in her mind, which she imagines is Motes. With this image, the novel closes.