Spunk takes place in a small town deep in the south. The story begin in a bar where the patrons are busing discussing the new relationship that Spunk has formed with young Joe's wife. Shortly there after Joe walks in to the bar only to be confronted by the fact that the town knew about the affair going on between his wife and Spunk. Spurred on by this Joe sets out to reclaim his wife. The only thing the patrons of the bar here is a gun shot off in the distance. Joe is now dead. Spunk claimed that Joe came after him, from behind, with an ax. In the end of our story we find that spunk has been killed. Somehow he fell into the saw at the saw mill. The towns people believe it to be the ghost of Joe that, perhaps, pushed him into it. Spunk to claims, as he's dying, that Joe's ghost pushed him into the blade.
The story tries to demonstrate that Joe was the brave man in it all. Spunk was a huge man feared by all. Joe had the courage to confront him. Something no man in the town had done. Joe is killed by Spunk, but gets his revenge in the end, at least that's what the story leads us to believe. Joe's wife gets what she deserves, a life alone.
I'd have to say that Joe was the hero of our story because he had the courage to face Spunk when no one else would. He loved his wife, which is evident because he faced Spunk in an attempt to get her back. However, that was our hero's tragic flaw, he should have let the women go, but in the end his heart caused him his life. Our hero may have died bravely in attempt to recapture his ungrateful wife, but he got his revenge in the end. Spunks death was thought by the towns people as well as spunk himself to have been caused by Joe's ghost. If it was or not the author never says, but it is the essence here that is important. That Spunk thought he was pushed into the saw by Joe's ghost was the important thing. The fact that Joe faced spunk is reason enough for us to call him a hero, remember no one else in the town would dare challenge Spunk. That is why Spunk is a hero. Southern Literature and Abortion