Roskus Gibson

In The Sound and the Fury Roskus is husband to Dilsey and father to Versh, T.P., and Frony. He drives for the Compsons while also caring for the farm animals, although over the years his rheumatism makes that increasingly hard. He is slightly less loyal than his wife to the white family he works for, complaining that there "aint no luck on this place" (29). Dilsey reproaches him for giving their son Versh "them Memphis notions" - that is, presumably, encouraging Versh to leave Yoknapatawpha (31). Roskus' death is recorded among the jumbled memories that recur in Benjy's consciousness, but the date of it is uncertain. Benjy remembers when "Dilsey moaned" in her grief and Luster said he saw Roskus' ghost, "waving his arms in the barn" (33). His only other appearance in the fictions is at the start of "A Justice," when he is briefly described driving the surrey that carries Grandfather, Quentin, Caddy and Jason to the Compson family farm.