Compson Place: The Branch in "Skirmish at Sartoris" (Location)

Display Label: 
Creek at Compson Place
Map Icon: 
Event
Authority : 
Context (text, as interpreted)
X: 
1358
Y: 
900
Description: 

The Compsons are among Yoknapatawpha's oldest inhabitants, and their big mansion house appears in a number of other Faulkner fictions. In this story, the only part of their plantation that is mentioned is the "creek" where "Mrs. Compson's husband" makes slave children stand while he shoots sweet potatoes off their heads (62). It's a confusing event, because it's hard to figure out who this "husband" might be. But the place where he displays such callous disregard for human life is probably the same creek in which, in The Sound and the Fury, Caddy gets her underpants muddy, but there's no way to know with any certainty that Faulkner was thinking of it that way.

Role: 
Site of Event
Status: 
Continuous
Types: 
Plantation; Plantation Grounds; Quarters

digyok:node/location/6761