Don Boyd

grdenton@memphis.edu's picture
Submitted by grdenton@memphis.edu on Mon, 2015-06-01 16:02
Text: 
"Delta Autumn"
Character Key: 
Don Boyd
Display Name: 
Don Boyd
Sort Name: 
Boyd, Don
Race: 
White
Gender: 
Male
Class: 
Upper Class
Rank: 
Major
Vitality: 
Alive
First Mentioned: 
Road to the Delta in "Delta Autumn" (Location)
Date of Birth: 
Wednesday, January 1, 1896 to Sunday, December 31, 1899
Origin: 
Yoknapatawpha
Biography: 

One of the leaders of the hunting party, Don has "the youngest face of them all, darkly aquiline, handsome and ruthless and saturnine" (268). The story reveals his ruthlessness in several ways, beginning with his driving and ending with his abandonment of the woman he had an affair with and the child they conceived together. He seems to think money can settle his moral and emotional debts. A veteran of the first World War, he is cynical about America and "women and children" (270). Although he is introduced as one "of the sons of [Ike McCaslin's] old companions" (268), when Boyd violates both the game laws and Ike's hunting code by shooting a female deer with a shotgun, he seems to represent the pattern of generational decline. (When Faulkner revised the story for inclusion in Go Down, Moses, the part of Don Boyd was re-assigned to Roth Edmonds.)

Note: 
Cancelled bio: Don is just past forty, and he has “the youngest face of them all, darkly aquiline, handsome and ruthless and saturnine and staring somberly” (268). He owns the car in which they travel as well as two of the three Walker hounds they use while hunting. Ike notes that Don does the driving of anything animal, machine, or human. He is the member of hunting party who does not give warning before slamming on the brakes. He also wonders who will defend the country against Hitler or any man like him. He asks if it would be done by men “singing God bless America in bars at midnight and wearing dime-store flags” in their lapels (269). He also states there is no shortage of women and children in the world. The previous year, the hunting group lost their supplies so Don goes into town for more supplies. While he is in town, he meets a biracial woman that Legate calls a "doe." He has an affair with this biracial woman, which results in a son whom he does not want to claim. He gives the child's mother money and expects to be free from any paternal duties.
Individual or Group: 
Individual
Character changes class in this text: 

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