Lincoln in the Bardo

In the line to the white tomb, Jane Ellis tells her story. Jane remembers how well her father adored her and how she had once believed life to be limitless. But the man she eventually married was boring, not handsome, and only used her for sex. She was happy only with her children; she now worries that her dull and egotistical husband has been left to take care of her girls. Jane Ellis is followed around by three orbs, each representing one of her daughters. At times, these orbs grow into life-sized versions of her daughters, asking her mother for help that she cannot give. The other ghosts have a hard time feeling sympathy for Jane because she speaks like a wealthy woman. When she meets Willie, she asks him to check in on her daughters when he re-enters the real world.

Mrs. Abigail Blass scrounges the cemetery for rocks and twigs, holding them to her and bragging about these prized possessions. She offers Willie money and her rocks for his help.

Lieutenant Cecil Stone yells that he was, in his former life, glorified, heroic, and popular with women.

Eddie and Betsy Barron, who are clearly from the lowest socioeconomic rung of society, approach, as the Reverend Everly Thomas attempts to stop them. The Barrons speak with vulgarity and curse words but are still desperate for someone to hear about their life of poverty. After they died in a fight, their bodies were dumped by the cemetery gates without ceremony. They can leave through the gates and come back whenever they want to. They accuse the Reverend of privileging wealthy spirits, but he claims he only wants a certain level of comportment appropriate for the little boy.

Meetings with Willie Lincoln stop as a tense, otherworldly atmosphere descends on the cemetery. A rush of water is heard, the tree branches scrape against one another, and fruits grow in a verdant rush. The ghosts roll into fetal positions, cover their ears, close their eyes, and plug their noses into the ground.

A force the ghosts call the “matterlightblooming phenomenon” descends upon them, disguised in the form each ghost most wishes to see. Hans sees young brides. Roger sees Gilbert. Jane Ellis sees her daughters. These images offer the ghosts blandishments to come with them. Willie sees his mother, but he knows she is not his real mother because the matterlightblooming image doesn’t smell like her. Suddenly, the image adapts to his senses, and he smells his mother after all. The matterlightblooming mother loves him and wants him to go with her. Hans accuses his images of wanting to trick him into going to the next place. Betsy Barron is visited by her daughter, who tells her mother how happy and successful she is and how she wishes her mother would follow her to that success.

Suddenly, the matterlightblooming disappears and the ghosts are sad again.

Hans, the Reverend, and Roger look around to find out who succumbed. Mrs. Blass has disappeared, her prized possessions scattered on the ground. The remaining ghosts feel a sense of camaraderie for having withstood temptation. Yet, they also hope that Willie has left, since he is so young.

Hans, the Reverend, and Roger are disappointed to find Willie still sitting atop his white tomb. Willie has lost weight and appears sick from the matterlightblooming. Willie tells them he will not go, as his father has promised to come back. The men assure Willie that he should go, that they will tell his father he has gone. Willie accuses them of lying.

They are interrupted by the sad calls of Mrs. Delaney, crying out for Mr. Delaney. She has a difficult time following her departed husband due to her relationship with another Mr. Delaney, her husband’s brother. She physically longs for the brother but emotionally longs for her husband. No one knows which Mr. Delaney she calls for.

When the men turn back to Willie, a thick tendril is approaching his legs. Hans calls it the beginning of the end.

Hans, Roger, and the Reverend worry that, like Elise Traynor, Willie will be secured to the roof, unable to ever escape. They remember how they abandoned Elise and watched from afar as she turned into a nightmare. The trio leaves Willie to his depression as he calls out for his mother.

Willie reminds himself to be strong. If he is strong, he can go back home. He recalls the life lessons his mother and father instilled in him; they taught him that perseverance through adversity would lead to success.

Later, Roger assures Willie that people can get used to the bardo if they belong here, but the Reverend counters that Willie doesn’t. Three orbs pass by, and they realize that Jane Ellis has also succumbed.

A rain of hats descends upon the ghosts, announcing the arrival of the Three Bachelors—another set of ghosts. The Three Bachelors were not loved in life; now, they explore the cemetery for silly pranks and to challenge their limitations.

By now, the tendrils have curled around Willie’s left leg, but his friends help him escape. The Bachelors claim they just passed a man they assume to be Willie’s father; no one believes them because the Bachelors often play tricks like this.

Hans, Roger, and the Reverend talk in private away from Willie, convinced Willie should not hear the rumor that his father has returned. But Roger and Hans agree to take a walk just to see if the Bachelors were right. They traipse through the cemetery, passing by mumbling ghosts. Trevor Williams calls out to them, asking for help with his collection of hunted carcasses, but Hans and Roger are on a mission.

They approach the Collier tomb, where Percival “Dash” Collier remains floating horizontally, pointed toward whichever of his former impressive estates he worried about the most in the moment. He flips vertically, happy to see Hans and Roger, but is quickly flipped back horizontally.

Hans and Roger reach a swampy area of the cemetery, where only the poorest people were buried. The ghosts of Mr. Randall and Mr. Twood are engaged in an inarticulate conversation that Roger and Hans can’t understand. Roger feels some disgust at the circular nature of the swamp ghosts’ movements, fearful that such repetition is in his future. The pair comes across a burial. They ask the gathered ghosts if the new arrival is still around.

Captain William Prince, clearly a soldier killed in the Civil War, recites a letter to his wife Laura. He tells her of Tom Gilman’s death and of the battle that killed him. He admits that he feels a foreboding that he should not linger. Out of the grave, the translucent ghost of a fallen soldier appears. Captain William Prince realizes he is trapped and asks Laura to take their children away while he makes amends with his God. Suddenly, the matterlightblooming phenomenon blasts a flash of light, and Captain William Prince is gone. The other ghosts mock the soldier’s grave, and Roger wonders why the soldier didn’t try to stay awhile.

Hans and Roger pass by graves whose ghosts have long gone. They feel a sense of vindication that they are still in the bardo, while others have capitulated. Roger and Hans find Lincoln sighing at the grave of a shipwright. They hesitate for a moment, knowing that the Reverend wouldn’t approve of their actions. Nonetheless, they forge ahead. They sit with Lincoln, mimicking his cross-legged seated posture. Hans looks ridiculous with his penis enlarged and hanging around.