It is also comic that Cash's precision will let him give the exact distance that he fell when he broke his leg. That Cash has broken a leg previously is important to know since later on when he breaks the same leg trying to rescue the coffin, Anse will say that it is lucky that he broke the same leg that had previously been broken. But also Cash's giving the exact measurement of the distance that he fell when he broke his leg emphasizes that Cash exists in a world of well-regulated fact, and that he is concerned with how well the coffin is made according to balance, measurement, and weight.
In Section 21, narrated by Darl, three important thematic ideas are employed: Jewel as wooden, Jewel's mother as a horse, and Darl without a mother. Darl's taunt that Jewel's mother is a horse indicates that Jewel devotes all the love he possesses for his mother on the horse. The horse has become a type of mother symbol, but only Darl is perceptive enough to be aware of this. However, Darl does not realize that when Jewel was conceived, Addie thought of Jewel as being conceived in violence. Therefore, the symbol of the horse, a violent and untamed horse, as the symbol of the mother conforms with the circumstances surrounding the birth of Jewel and also answers the question of why Jewel himself expresses his love in terms of violence.
Jewel is constantly depicted by Darl and to a lesser degree by other characters as having a wooden appearance. In this section alone he is described both as "wooden-backed" and "wooden-faced." This wooden imagery contrasts ironically with Jewel's violent and agitated motions.
