Boyd Ballenbaugh

Character Key Number: 
2509
Display Name: 
Boyd Ballenbaugh
Sort Name: 
Ballenbaugh, Boyd
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?: 
Yes
Biography: 

In "Hand upon the Waters," Boyd Ballenbaugh is Tyler Ballenbaugh’s younger brother. After a brief career in Memphis, where he worked as a hired guard during an industrial dispute and then got involved in undisclosed but apparently criminal activities with a set of "associates," he returns to his brother's house in Yoknapatawpha to hide out (76). A drunkard and a braggart, he is hotheaded and violent. Because he resents having to work for his brother "about the farm" (76), he comes up with what he thinks will be a quick - and murderous - way to make money.