Far from the Madding Crowd, Chapter 42 summary

What happens

1. Joseph Poorgrass collects Fanny Robin’s coffin at the Union-house and drives toward Weatherbury through thick autumn fog.
2. He stops at the Buck’s Head, where Jan Coggan and Mark Clark persuade him to keep drinking past his deadline.
3. Gabriel Oak arrives at six, rebukes the drinkers, and takes charge of the wagon.
4. The parson postpones the funeral because darkness falls and Gabriel lacks the registration certificate.
5. Bathsheba insists that Fanny’s coffin stay inside her house, despite Gabriel’s efforts to suggest another arrangement.
6. Alone beside the coffin, Gabriel removes the final two words from its inscription to conceal the child’s presence.

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What to notice

Gabriel turns his wish to protect Bathsheba into deliberate concealment. The altered inscription hides the child’s presence without removing the coffin from her house.

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