Spoon River Anthology · Chapter
A. D. Blood explained
A.
What happens
A. D. Blood, a moral crusader who closed saloons and stopped card playing, questions why the village that praised his work now allows the milliner's daughter Dora and Benjamin Pantier's worthless son to use his grave as a pillow for their unholy acts.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy and Corruption
A. D. Blood's lament highlights the hypocrisy of a community that praised his moral reforms yet allows his grave to be desecrated by the very sinners he opposed.
Death and Legacy
Blood's posthumous concern about how his grave is used underscores the fragility of legacy and the irony of being honored in death while his resting place is dishonored.
Characters to notice
- Daisy Fraser
Haled before Justice Arnett by A. D. Blood during his crusade against sin.
- Benjamin Pantier
His worthless son is one of those who nightly make A. D. Blood's grave their unholy pillow.
Key passages
“If you in the village think that my work was a good one, Who closed the saloons and stopped all playing at cards, And haled old Daisy Fraser before Justice Arnett, In many a crusade to purge the people of sin; Why do you let the milliner’s daughter Dora, And the worthless son of Benjamin Pantier, Nightly make my grave their unholy pillow?”
If the village believes my work was worthwhile—closing saloons, banning card games, and dragging Daisy Fraser to court to cleanse the town of sin—then why do you allow Dora, the milliner's daughter, and Benjamin Pantier's good-for-nothing son to use my grave as their nightly bed for immoral acts?
A. D. Blood questions the community's inconsistency in honoring his moral crusade while permitting his grave to be defiled by those he opposed.