Damuddy Bascomb

The grandmother whom the Compson children call "Damuddy" in The Sound and the Fury does not appear elsewhere in the fictions. The day of her death, in the summer of 1898, is the earliest scene in Benjy and Quentin's memories. The novel does not explicitly say that she is their maternal grandmother, but Mrs. Compson's reaction to her death and Damuddy's association with Jason - until Damuddy got "sick," for example, Jason apparently slept in her bed with her (26) - suggest she is a Bascomb rather than a Compson. This identification seems borne out by the Compson grandmother who appears in the later Unvanquished stories.