Unnamed Cousin of Doom

Character Key Number: 
250
Display Name: 
Unnamed Cousin of Doom
Sort Name: 
Unnamed Cousin of Doom
Parent Character Key: 
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?: 
Yes
Biography: 

In Faulkner's first two stories about the Indians who live in Yoknapatawpha when the white settlers begin arriving, neither the chief of the tribe (The Man) nor his son are named. In the patriarchal society Faulkner imagines, this son is heir to the title The Man - and as the son of The Man's sister, his cousin Doom is out of the line of succession. In "Red Leaves" both The Man and his son die mysteriously after Doom returns from a sojourn in New Orleans. In "A Justice" Doom's responsibility for their deaths is made explicit. (In the later versions of this story, Doom is named Ikkemotubbe, his uncle The Man is Issetibbeha - who is Doom's son in "Red Leaves" - and his cousin, the son of the man, is Moketubbe.)