Summary

Part 2, Chapter 8 – After lunch, Rayber, Bishop, and Tarwater head out on a boat to fish on the lake. Tarwater feels as if a grand trap is about to fall on him, brought about by absolute silence. He thinks Rayber is of no significance, and insults his own intelligence. He knows he could have baptized Bishop countless times, but has refused to do so for fear of being lost in the silence.

Tarwater’s voice – the strange friend – has suggested that the silence is the absence of a sign, that Tarwater is waiting for a sign of some kind. If Tarwater is a prophet, the voice explains, he deserves to be treated like one. God, the voice asserts, has never bothered to try. Since burying his uncle, Tarwater has constantly felt hungry, Hunger, the voice contends, is not a sign. The voice further contends...