The Digital Yoknapatawpha Project

Mrs. Grier refers to her mother, whose son was wounded in France, as she responds to Pete's news that he is joining the Army. Mrs. Grier shares her mother's sentiment that she cannot understand why sons go to war.

Maw Grier's brother, Marsh fought and was wounded in World War I. For Mrs. Grier, her brother's decision to enlist in 1917 makes it possible to appreciate why "Pete's got to go" to the new war. For Mr. Grier, however, Marsh's "actual wound on the battlefields of France" means the family has already contributed "enough" to U.S. war efforts (85).

The younger of two Jefferson women who act as social workers on behalf of the young Grier boy. She may simply be a concerned member of the community (the "fur coat" she wears suggests a lady rather than a public employee, 91) but she does carry a "hand satchel" with papers in it, and tells the boy "we must have a case history for our files" (91).

The older of the two women whom Mr. Foote summons to help with the Grier boy. She may be a social worker, like the younger woman, or as is more likely, just a caring member of the community. Her family name is one of the oldest in Yoknapatawpha, and she may be the same character who appears as Miss Habersham in Intruder in the Dust and The Town.

The ticket salesman in the Jefferson bus depot gives the Grier boy "a ticket out of my own pocket," considering the gesture something of a civic matter (92). He seems understandably anxious to get rid of the boy, who pulls a knife on him earlier. The boy notes that "he could move quicker than any grown man I ever see" (90).

Mr. Foote is a policeman who takes the young Grier boy to the Jefferson Bus Depot. He is not terribly inquisitive, as he does not compel the young boy to tell him where he is from.

The narrator of "Two Soldiers" mentions that "the feller wound the door shut and the bus began to hum" (87). He is referring to the driver of the bus that his brother, Pete, departs the Grier farm upon.

Vernon Tull's daughters are mentioned by the narrator of "Two Soldiers"; he notes that his brother, Pete, also left him behind when he "went sparking them girls of Tull's" (83). In As I Lay Dying the Tull's have two daughters, Kate and Eula.

Res Grier is a farmer whose work ethic is remarked upon by both of his sons; he is perpetually behind on the farm, which does not seem to bother him terribly. He does not want his son Pete to enlist; "the country ain't being invaded," he says, and besides, he spent almost eight months during the first World War in uniform in Texas, which should be "enough for me and mine to have to do to protect the country" (85).

Mrs. Res Grier - or "Maw," as the narrator calls her - does not want her son Pete to go to war, but accepts his decision to do so. Through her tears, she sends him off with mended and clean clothes and "a shoe box of vittles" (85). She also functions something as a family bridge between the World Wars, as her brother served in World War I, and her son is getting ready to serve in World War II.