# Willard Fluke explained — Spoon River Anthology

> Chapter companion for Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters.

## What happens

Willard Fluke recounts his wife's decline into illness, his infidelity with a woman called Cleopatra, the deaths of those involved, his subsequent religious fervor and writings about the second coming of Christ, and a moment of confession in church interrupted by the sight of his blind daughter, after which all goes black.

## Themes in this chapter

### Hypocrisy and Corruption

Willard Fluke's adultery and subsequent claim of God's grace highlight the hypocrisy of his religious turn.

### Unfulfilled Lives and Repression

His wife's wasting illness and his daughter's blindness symbolize lives marked by suffering and unfulfillment.

## Character check-ins

### Willard Fluke

Narrator who confesses his wife's illness, his adultery, and his religious crisis.

## Key lines

> My wife lost her health, And dwindled until she weighed scarce ninety pounds.

My wife became ill and wasted away to almost nothing.

_Describes the physical decline of his wife._

> Then that woman, whom the men Styled Cleopatra, came along. And we—we married ones All broke our vows, myself among the rest.

Then a woman the men called Cleopatra arrived, and all of us who were married broke our vows, including me.

_Confession of adultery with a local seductress._

> I saw my little girl, who was sitting in the front seat— My little girl who was born blind! After that, all is blackness!

I saw my little girl, blind from birth, sitting in the front row, and then everything went dark.

_The sight of his blind daughter during his confession triggers a blackout or breakdown._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/spoon_river_anthology_se/chapters/willard-fluke
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/spoon_river_anthology_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/spoon_river_anthology_se/chapters