Even the worst person deserved compassion. He once wrote of his opponents, “If slavery did not now exist amongst them, they would not introduce it.” The President did not fault the nature of those he killed. History shows that Lincoln’s own deep love for all must have worsened his anguish. They (possibly) enlighten Lincoln with their own experiences, and in return can hear his thoughts-enabling Saunders to mine the mentality of a President whose “magnanimity” William Seward once called “almost super-human” as he confronts an increasingly bloody civil war.īut in war, empathy for the enemy doubles the burden. To do this, they must form a union to free the boy from bondage. But watching Willie become consumed by demons, Vollman, Bevins, Thomas and their compatriots attempt to compel the President to return.

Lincoln says, and the disembodied 11-year-old hears, that he will come back again. In the night, Abraham Lincoln has come to the crypt to cradle Willie’s corpse (a “worm,” to his son’s spirit). That is, until they witness a marvel: a living loved one who does not abandon the deceased. Each encourages Willie to move along to the true afterlife, because the bardo is dangerous for children. Everly Thomas, unable to determine his life’s great sin. Willie’s ghost befriends a trio: the naked, excessively endowed printer Hans Vollman, who just wants a conjugal reunion with his wife the many-eyed, -nosed and -handed Roger Bevins III, who swears he “changed mind” about his suicide over his gay lover and the fright-faced Rev.

Saunders lincoln in the bardo