George Wilkins

George Wilkins is a tenant farmer on the McCaslin-Edmonds plantation who is at times Lucas' rival, and at others his assistant. He is also Lucas' son-in-law, though there is some uncertainty about when the marriage took place. The judge who oversees the pair's aborted trial for making moonshine calls George a "jimber-jawed clown" (72), and that verdict is mostly upheld by the rest of his scenes in the novel. It describes him as "lean, wasp-waisted, foppish even in faded overalls below the swaggering rake of the hat" (66) - and the hat is described as a "ruined panama" (64), making even its swagger ridiculous. His wife constantly scolds him for his laziness, his father-in-law treats him with condescension, but George also has his moments of wit. When Lucas, for instance, tries to alarm him with the idea of what his life will be like in prison, George replies, "Yes sir . . . Especially wid you there to help me worry hit out" (66).