One of the two men the Reverend encounters upon dying. Having just passed away and left the Bardo, the Reverend finds himself on a trail with the man in the yellow bathing suit and a man in a funeral suit. The man in the yellow bathing suit has just died while swimming in Maine. Because he walks in front of the funeral-suited man and the Reverend, he is the first one to step forth for judgment. As the Christ-emissary and his helpers run their tests on this man, the Reverend watches in awe. Eventually, the bathing-suited man is allowed into heaven, leaving the Reverend and the man in the funeral suit behind.
Get the entire Lincoln in the Bardo LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Man in the Yellow Bathing Suit Character Timeline in Lincoln in the Bardo
The timeline below shows where the character The Man in the Yellow Bathing Suit appears in Lincoln in the Bardo. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 61
...Somehow knowing they’re expected to proceed for judgment in the order in which they arrived, the man in the yellow bathing suit steps forward and presents himself to the Christ-emissary.
(full context)
...light” appear. “How did you live,” asks one, and both them place their heads to the man in the bathing suit ’s temples, “beam[ing] with pleasure at what they [find] within.” “May we confirm?” they ask,...
(full context)
As the large doors of diamond open to admit the bathing-suited man , the Reverend glimpses “a tent of purest white silk” and a “great feast about...
(full context)
