Jewel seems to have the most violent nature of all the Bundrens. However, Jewel is not a Bundren since his father was the preacher Whitfield. Jewel was conceived at a time when Addie was searching for some violent act that would give to her a sense of awareness. Her relations with the preacher Whitfield were to her symbolically more violent because his garments were sanctified.
Jewel has only one section to narrate. And in this section we see Jewel expressing his love in the most terrible images and thoughts. We see his deep-rooted, violent, but inexpressible love for Addie. Because Jewel is unable to express his love for his mother, he substitutes all of his love for the horse. Thus, later we get from Darl the accusation that Jewel’s mother is a horse.
We eventually learn that Jewel is the “cross” that Addie bears and that he is to be her salvation. But Jewel is never able to act upon the level of either conscious or unconscious thought; his is a world of words and emotions translated into actions without the intercession of thoughts. In fulfillment of Addie’s prophecy, it is Jewel who saves her from the water and the fire, and he is her salvation since he sells his horse in order to complete the journey.
