Quentin's Father

Text: 
Character Key: 
Display Name: 
Quentin's Father
Sort Name: 
Compson, Father of Quentin
AKA: 
Jason Lycurgus Compson III
Race: 
White
Gender: 
Male
Class: 
Upper Class
Rank: 
Minor
Vitality: 
Alive
Family: 
Compson
Family (new): 
Origin: 
Yoknapatawpha
Biography: 

The "father" of the "Quentin" who narrates this story (almost certainly Quentin Compson) apparently joins the hunt on its last day; he speaks to his son several times, and that son also remembers what his father told him about hunting safety (193), so "father said" - the phrase that haunts Quentin Compson's section of The Sound and the Fury, published in 1929, half a dozen years earlier - also appears often in Quentin's narrative here (193, 195, etc.). But in the wilderness setting of the story there is no anguish in the father-son relationship, and the "father" himself, based on what he does say, seems very different from the cynic in the novel. In fact, he seems hopeful about the future, and anxious to give his son good advice as a hunter. Even before his father appears in the story, Quentin remembers that "father had taught me never to take [his rifle's safety] off until I saw what I was going to shoot at" (193).

Note: 
In "Lion,"Quentin's Father, is not easily equated with Jason Lycurgus Compson of <em>The Sound and the Fury,/em>, as the latter is a hopeless drunk and would not be a good instructor for Quentin in the safe use of hunting guns, nor would he be a respected member of the hunting party's audience.
Individual or Group: 
Individual
Character changes class in this text: 

digyok:node/character/12453