As the "Appendix" to The Sound and the Fury briefly notes, Spain was part of the history of the "Mississippi Valley" (327): until 1803, it claimed much of the immense area drained by the Mississippi River and its tributaries, which became known as the Louisiana Purchase after Spain ceded it to France and France sold it to the young U.S. In The Mansion Linda Snopes and Barton Kohl go to Spain after their wedding to fight in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
While riding with the truck driver who gives him a ride from Parchman Penitentiary to Clarksdale, Mink Snopes is surprised to see a structure alongside the highway that "looks like - Parchman" (118). The trucker identifies it as a "P.O.W. camp," adding for Mink's benefit "Prisoners from the war" (118). German soldiers captured in Europe were interned at a number of camps in the U.S., including three in Mississippi. The closest one to Mink would have been Camp McCain, just outside Grenada. Almost 8000 POW's were held there between 1944 and 1946.
The Spanish-American War (1898) provides the context for the novel's two references to Cuba. Major de Spain "went to Cuba as a lieutenant and come back with a long jagged scar" of ambiguous origin (142), and the character who calls himself Captain Strutterbuck says he was in the "cavalry, in Cuba in '98" (84).
Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the oldest university in the U.S. Both Gavin Stevens and his nephew Charles Mallison go there for college - Charles because, as he puts it, it was his uncle's idea "to send me all the way to Cambridge, Mass for what we laughingly call an education" (215). While there, Charles is in the Reserve Officer Training Program, and intends to apply for membership in "Porcellian" (214), one of the oldest and most exclusive undergraduate clubs in the country, having been founded in the late 18th century.
Submitted by ben.robbins@fu-... on Mon, 2017-10-23 13:04
This "pickup truck" driver (285) gives Mink a ride from outside Parchman to Clarksdale. He is angry that "they" didn't let "us" defeat Russia as well as Germany and Japan during the Second World War (119).
Submitted by ben.robbins@fu-... on Mon, 2017-10-23 12:58
The mentioned but unseen deputy is transporting a prisoner from Greenville, which makes it likely that he doesn't work for Yoknapatawpha County. (Greenville is the county seat of Washington County.)
Submitted by ben.robbins@fu-... on Mon, 2017-10-23 12:53
At some point during Mink's tenure in jail, the role of Sheriff is taken over by Hub Hampton's son. He inherits his father's "capacity to stay on the best of political terms with his alternating opposite number, Ephriam Bishop" (407).
Submitted by ben.robbins@fu-... on Mon, 2017-10-23 12:50
This man - presumably the father of Ab Snopes - makes an oblique appearance in the novel when Mink answers the warden's question about his connection to "Linda Snopes Kohl" with an oblique reference to his connection to Flem: "His and my grandpaw had two sets of chillen" (114). This implies that this grandfather was married at least twice, but nothing else about him is said, either in The Mansion or elsewhere.
