Herman Basket's House (Location Key)

"A Courtship" refers to the dwelling places of the Chickasaws as "houses," but does not describe any of them clearly enough to establish what that might mean in the context, i.e. a tribe of Indians in the early 19th century American wilderness. The Indians of Mississippi were among the groups referred to, before they were 'removed' westward, as the 'Five Civilized Tribes,' because of the extent to which they adopted elements of the culture of the European settlers. Faulkner may be thinking of that when he gives the house where Herman Basket lives with his sister and his aunt not just a "gallery" (i.e. a front porch, 363) with a roof (364), a "floor" (368) and a "rocking chair" (372), but also a "kitchen" with both a latched door and a window (364, 365). Faulkner himself admitted that his "Indians" are largely the products of his own imagination.