# VI explained — Soldiers’ Pay

> Chapter companion for Soldiers’ Pay by William Faulkner.

## What happens

Emmy, the rector's servant, struggles with her feelings for Donald Mahon, who no longer remembers her after returning from war. She hides in the kitchen, overwhelmed by despair, while Mrs. Powers and the rector try to coax her out. The chapter explores Emmy's traumatic past and her inarticulate grief.

## Themes in this chapter

### Trauma and Its Aftermath

Emmy's traumatic childhood and Donald's war-induced amnesia both illustrate the lasting psychological scars of violence and loss.

### Loss and Grief

Emmy grieves the loss of Donald's recognition and her own hopes, while her past losses (mother's death, father's abuse) compound her present despair.

### The Futility of Communication

Emmy's inarticulate despair and Donald's inability to remember her underscore the failure of words to bridge emotional chasms.

## Character check-ins

### Emmy

Emmy hides in the kitchen, overwhelmed by Donald's failure to recognize her, reflecting her deep, unspoken grief and traumatic family history.

### Margaret Powers

Mrs. Powers finds Emmy hiding behind the kitchen door and gently tries to comfort her, urging patience with Donald's recovery.

### Donald Mahon

Donald is present at lunch but shows no recognition of Emmy, repeating her name tonelessly when prompted by his father.

### Uncle Joe

Uncle Joe is mentioned as being present in the study during the lunch scene.

## Key lines

> There was something wild in Emmy’s face: you knew that she outran, outfought, outclimbed her brothers: you could imagine her developing like a small but sturdy greenness on a dunghill. Not a flower. But not dung, either.

Emmy's face had a feral quality, suggesting she was tougher and more resilient than her brothers, growing up in a harsh environment that was neither nurturing nor entirely corrupt.

_This passage establishes Emmy's character as a product of a difficult upbringing, emphasizing her raw strength and survival instinct._

> “Don’t never marry a woman, Emmy,” her father, maudlin and affectionate, advised her. “If I had it to do all over again I’d take a man every time.”

Emmy's father, drunk and sentimental, told her never to marry a woman, saying if he could live his life again, he would choose a man instead.

_This darkly humorous advice reflects Emmy's father's own failed marriage and contributes to her resolve never to marry._

> “I won’t never marry nobody,” Emmy had promised herself passionately, especially after Donald had gone to war and her laboriously worded letters to him had gone unanswered. (And now he don’t even know me, she thought dully.)

Emmy vowed never to marry, a promise strengthened by Donald's departure for war and his failure to reply to her carefully written letters, leaving her feeling utterly forgotten.

_Emmy's internal vow and the parenthetical thought reveal her deep emotional investment in Donald and the pain of his indifference._

> But Emmy only looked at her from beyond the frontiers of her inarticulate despair, and the other woman carried the tray in to the table.

Emmy stared at Mrs. Powers from a place of wordless hopelessness, and Mrs. Powers took the dessert tray back to the dining room.

_This moment highlights Emmy's inability to express her grief and the isolation it creates, even as others try to help._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/soldiers_pay_se/chapters/vi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/soldiers_pay_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/soldiers_pay_se/chapters