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9 years ago
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But_i_thought_ I thought it was a metaphor for Allmon's soul "returning home". At the river, I believe his mother "calls to him by his given name" and he returns to her, raising his arms in "long-awaited greeting". It was a way of saying good-bye to the character after the shock of the last chapter.

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Paige I thought it was Allmon's dying "thoughts" or experience or what have you. The man was written to sound like Allmon physically, and then the arms were burned, like Allmon's were right before he shot himself, and he got out and crossed the river, which like Laurel mentioned is a symbol of cleansing and freedom, and also of death (River Styx).

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Laurel

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Kenneth R. McKune The unnamed man in the epilogue is certainly Allmon Shaughnessy. As Allmon had told Henrietta, after their lovemaking and in response to her question about his happiest vision, it was the river - and across it, his mother was still alive, waiting for him. This turned out to be the ending at the epilogue.

But in the final chapter, Allmon had left nothing to chance when he aimed his pistol at himself, after shooting four rounds deliberately missing Henry Forge - and subsequently, Forge saw a dead man lying there, arms outstretched, which could only have been Allmon.

I found it evocative that in the epilogue, Allmon spoke only five words: the river, stop, stop, yes.

The rest of the epilogue is taken up by the driver, who after some length delivers Allmon to the river. The driver's first impression of Allmon is that he almost a ghost, stern, chilling, silent. Only by his shape, color, and burned smell do we know it is Allmon, or his spirit.

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