Eustace Grimm

Character Key Number: 
293
Display Name: 
Eustace Grimm
Sort Name: 
Eustace Grimm
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?: 
Yes
Biography: 

When Eustace Grimm first appears in the canon, in As I Lay Dying, he is simply someone who "works at Snopes’ place" (192); in that role he brings Anse the team of mules he traded for with Mr. Snopes. He plays a more complex role in "Lizards in Jamshyd's Courtyard" and again in The Hamlet, as the "youngish man" in overalls with a snuff stick in his mouth" from "the adjoining county" who seems to be competing with Suratt and Tull to buy the Old Frenchman place (147). However, what Suratt and Tull don't remember until it is too late is that Grimm is an "in-law or something" that makes him "kin to them Snopeses," in particular to Flem, who is conning them into making the purchase (150). The account of this episode in The Hamlet adds the facts that he's been married a year (387), and that "Eustace's ma was Ab Snopes' youngest sister" (399) - making him Flem's nephew as well as his accomplice.