Percy Grimm

Submitted by sfr on Fri, 2020-01-31 08:45
Character Key Number: 
3025
Display Name: 
Percy Grimm
Sort Name: 
Percy Grimm
Parent Character Key: 
Grimm, Father of Percy
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?: 
Yes
Biography: 

Introduced into Light in August in Chapter 19, twenty-five year old Grimm brings Joe Christmas' life to a violent end. A captain in the state national guard, he organizes American Legion members to patrol Jefferson even though both the Legion commander and the sheriff refuse to give him permission. When he insists on carrying a gun, the sheriff makes him a special deputy (455). Like Christmas, Grimm's life seems strangely determined. He sets out to "preserve order" and prevent a lynching - "It is the right of no civilian to sentence a man to death" (451-52) - and yet within a few days and a dozen pages ends up "emptying the automatic's magazine" into Joe's unresisting body (464). The "automatic" is the pistol Grimm fires - but the word seems equally applicable to his actions.

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