The Digital Yoknapatawpha Project

The narrative pays two separate visits to the state penitentiary, but the only specific reference in makes to the inmate population is when, during an "abortive jailbreak," Monk shoots the warden. "Fifty men" see him do that, and "some of the other convicts" overpower him afterwards (50). One of these men is later identified as Bill Terrel, and some of them, like Bill Terrel, are considered by the Governor's Pardon Board for release.

Mrs. Gambrell is the wife of the penitentiary warden. She seems to treat Monk with kindness, and even teaches him how to knit (50).

The Mississippi Governor in this story is almost surely modeled on Governor Theodore G. Bilbo, who served two terms in that office (1916-20 and 1928-32) and as a U.S. Senator from 1934 until his death in 1947. He, like the Governor in "Monk," is "a man without ancestry" (53), and is charged with trading in pardons for political gain. As a critic of the Governor's "puppet" Pardon Board, Gavin Stevens implies that the Governor is just another crooked politician more concerned with garnering votes than dispensing any actual justice; the Governor seems comfortable admitting that is the case.

Gavin Stevens is one of Faulkner's favorite characters, and is elsewhere described as a Harvard graduate with a Ph.D. from Heidelberg who chooses to stay close to home, serving as the County Attorney for Yoknapatawpha in many of Faulkner's texts. Here, as in the other stories in Knight's Gambit, he acts as both amateur detective and crusader as he tries to right the wrong done to Monk by securing a pardon for the initial crime that he did not commit. Often described as a knight errant, Stevens is devoted to making Yoknapatawpha a better, more just place.

The murder victim at the gas station where Monk works and lives is described as "no loss to anyone" (46). That's all we can say about him.

There are two unnamed men present when Monk is found holding a pistol beside a man who has been shot. This icon represents the man who did not do the killing - though of course he becomes an accomplice when he refuses to tell the truth about how the murdered man was killed.

There are two unnamed men present when Monk is found with a pistol in his hand beside the man who has been shot. This icon represents the one of these men who, five years later, confesses on his deathbed "that he had fired the shot and thrust the pistol into Monk's hand, telling Monk to look at what he had done" (49).

After Fraser dies, an unnamed driver sees Monk and says, "All right, Monk. Jump in" (45). He takes Monk to a gas station two or three miles from Jefferson.

Mr. Fraser is the "childless widower" who takes Monk in after his grandmother's death and teaches him how to make whiskey as well as he made it himself (45). They live together for ten years, until Fraser's death. The narrator of "Monk" speculates that "it was probably Fraser who gave [Monk his] name," and the citizens of "the county got to know [Monk] or become familiar with him, at least" through his association with Fraser (45).

After Mrs. Odlethrop dies, these neighbors try and fail to catch the young Monk. The story describes the people of this part of the county as violent towards strangers, but in this instance it shows that they can treat their own with kindness: they bury Mrs. Odlethrop and leave food for Monk at the "deserted house" even though they don't see him (44).