Holly Springs in Sanctuary (Location)

Horace's train trip from Jefferson to Oxford and back again takes him from the county seat of Yoknapatawpha to the county seat of Lafayette, the real place on which Yoknapatawpha is based. This must have been an interesting trip for Faulkner's imagination to take. In any case the route Horace takes is practically impossible to follow. On the way to Oxford he gets off the train twice, once at dawn to eat breakfast and so to change trains (though not necessarily directions), and then "again" at a station filled with college students (168). On the way back he seems to change once, at Holly Springs, though between Oxford and Holly Springs the train stops at "a small dingy station with its cryptic bulletin board chalked over" (174), somewhere in the country. It seems, in other words, as if the narrative goes to some lengths to mystify the geographical relationship between the real Oxford and the imaginary Jefferson. The only point on this journey that is definitely established is the real town of Holly Springs, which lies about 30 miles north of Oxford. Given all the complications and uncertainties, we have decided to let this one Location serve for the other three (or possibly two) stations as well.