The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, he is dead — the violent departure echoes the Gerasene exorcism's violent exit. The boy's post-exorcism state — lying still, looking dead — communicates that the departure of the possessing spirit has left the boy without the animated energy of the demonic. The many who say he is dead are wrong but understandably so: the boy who convulsed and foamed is now completely still.

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