As the hunters in the story drive west and south to reach a surviving patch of American wilderness, they talk and think about the way the "old-world" is being engulfed by war (275). Hitler is mentioned (269) and Ike reflects on the way the cotton grown on the Delta will be used by Europeans "to shoot at one another" (275).
Lying on his cot in one of the few remaining pieces of American wilderness, Ike thinks about "the frantic old-world peoples" who buy the cotton that is grown on the Delta, and use it for "shells to shoot at one another" (275). Although at the time of the story the U.S. had not entered the war that became known as World War II , major fighting was underway between the Allies and the Axis armies.
Faulkner mentions locations in Europe in many texts, sets scenes in various parts of the continent in others, and in two 'Yoknapatawpha fictions' - "Ad Astra" and "All the Dead Pilots" - sets a whole story there. But usually he identifies a more or less specific part of the continent: France, say, or Paris, or the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. This entry represents the times he refers simply to "Europe." For example, the "fanlight" above the front door of Sutpen's mansion in Absalom! was "imported pane by pane from Europe" (150).
