Editing In Watermelon Sugar (section)

==Plot==
Through the [[narrator]]'s first-person account, we learn the story of the people and the events of i<small>DEATH</small>. The central tension is created by Margaret, once a lover of the narrator, and in<small>BOIL</small>, a rebellious man who has left i<small>DEATH</small> to live near a shunned area called the Forgotten Works, a huge trash heap where the remnants of a former civilization lie abandoned in great piles. Margaret, a collector of such "forgotten things", is friendly with in<small>BOIL</small> and his followers, who explore the place and [[distillation|make whiskey]].

in<small>BOIL</small>'s separation from the group may have been related to the annihilation of the tigers, killed many years previously by the people. It is not clear to the reader whether the tigers were actual [[tiger]]s, human beings or somehow [[anthropomorphic]]: they killed and ate people, including the narrator's parents, but they could also talk, sing, and were at least competent with [[arithmetic]]. Two tigers were killed on a bridge known later as the "abandoned" bridge. The last tiger was killed on a spot later developed into a [[fish hatchery|trout hatchery]].

In the violent climax of the novel, told in retrospect after the fact, in<small>BOIL</small> returns to the community along with a handful of followers, planning, he says, to show the residents what i<small>DEATH</small> really is. The residents know only that something is about to happen. After leading members of the community to the trout hatchery, in<small>BOIL a</small>nd his followers commit suicide, dismembering their faces with jackknives. Margaret appears oblivious to the threats, and unconcerned about the safety of her family and friends. Many suspect that Margaret knew and did not reveal details of in<small>BOIL</small>'s real plan, thus "conspiring" with the evil men. She is semi-ostracized from i<small>DEATH</small>. At the beginning of the novel the narrator reveals that he ended their relationship because of these events.<ref>Brautigan, Richard, ''In Watermelon Sugar''. San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation, 1968.</ref>