When Hans Vollman refers to his coffin, he calls it his sick-box. In doing so, he avoids admitting that he is dead, instead spinning a harebrained narrative that enables him to indulge his sense of denial. This evasive tactic comes to stand for the many ways in which the characters in Lincoln in the Bardo delude themselves. Rather than acknowledging that his inert form lies in a casket, Vollman goes to great lengths to uphold that he’s simply “recovering” from an illness. He even says that he “took” to his sick-box “per the advice of [his] physician,” a ridiculous claim, considering the fact that the only thing his physician has done is place him inside a wooden box because he is, in fact, dead. Nonetheless, Vollman goes out of his way to interrupt his friends whenever he senses they might use some other word when referring to the boxes that hold their physical forms. In this manner, the so-called “sick-boxes” that populate Lincoln in the Bardo represent the Bardo-dwellers’ elaborate attempts to stave off the realization that their lives have ended.
Sick-Box Symbol Timeline in Lincoln in the Bardo
