Structure Work								Michael Pruess

In the case of Jewel, the past is not the past; Addie and all his emotions associated with her live on within him. From "Requiem for a Nun" by Faulkner: "The past is never dead. It's not even past." — this quote holds true for Jewel's character, caught up in his mother's passing and his potent feelings for her and the rest of his family, including the horse...

Now I need a quote...

“You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.”
- Jan Glidewell

Structure, structure... so, uh, what is it that I want to say?

Jewel...

What does the past not being past do to him?
- it makes him angry
- he acts irrationally?
- rage, hate, etc. - extreme negative emotions for family
- takes it out on the horse

With the past dead,
- Jewel could move on to "embrace the present" — to live with his family as a family
- Jewel could accept his mother's passing
- Jewel could be a happier person in general...
- horse would suffer less abuse? But be target of less love?

Jewel's arms are, in fact, so full with the past (and at times physically so with the coffin of his dead mother) that he is incapable of embracing the present. Sure, there's that his family is a bunch of nuts and living happily with them might not be such a good thing, but I believe I can make the case that Jewel would be better off with the past dead and gone.

The above can work as a structure when built upon with text references... 

To first expose the quotes being worked with (Faulkner's and Glidewell's), to then expose Jewel's condition (pointing again and again at his first chapter), then to draw the inference of his past not being past, following that with an analogy to Addie not being "past" (with apt reference to the clocks in the book and Darl's tenses), finally ending with the conclusion that were the opposite of Faulkner's quote true, Jewel would be better off.