The Tall Man by William Faulkner

　　The young state draft investigator labels the marshal as one of “these people,” who never cooperate with the Government, nor appreciate its policy, but put priority only on their benefit. The investigator can’t stand these “selfish” people, for he is a faithful Government bureaucrat whose only concern is to execute his job of arresting Buddy’s two sons as stipulated by law. 　　However, the investigator’s prejudice against them dissolves as he witnesses Buddy’s leg amputation, is compelled to delay his return to town, and listens to the marshal’s story about Buddy and the McCallums’ background. 　　The marshal is an experienced “tall” man, who knows how to deal with such a rigid, inflexible, red-tape man like the investigator. He delays his return to town to secure enough time to talk to him, lets him carry Buddy’s leg in a bundle to the McCallum graves, and tells him that people are too much bound to the rules and regulations. The important thing is, he says, “honor and pride and discipline that make a man worth preserving, make him of any value.” 　　When the marshal took up a shovel to dig a hole for the leg, he says to the investigator to set the bundle down, but he says, “I’ll hold it.” This means the investigator’s contempt for “these people” has disappeared and turned to something like respect. At this moment he has begun to join the McCallum folks, who have honor and pride. He has just begun to become a “tall” man, too. 　　I admire Faulkner’s excellent writing skill. Just three words, “I’ll hold it” reveal the investigator’s change of mind to the reader. The investigator’s prejudice described at the outset of the story awakens the reader’s expectation that it will somehow dissolve at the end of the story. It is fulfilled by the three words on the last page. Faulkner knows the right way and the right time to fulfill the reader’s expectation.