Unnamed Granddaughter of James Beauchamp

Character Key Number: 
163
Display Name: 
Unnamed Granddaughter of James Beauchamp
Sort Name: 
Unnamed Granddaughter of James Beauchamp
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?: 
No
Biography: 

The woman with whom Roth Edmonds has an affair and a child in Go Down, Moses is part of the extended McCaslin family: she is the granddaughter of James Beauchamp and so related to both Roth and Ike McCaslin. She is 'white' enough to pass as 'white' - until the fact that her aunt "took in washing" makes Ike realize that she is a Negro (though Ike uses a more offensive term, 343). She was born and educated in the North, and has taught school in Mississippi. Roth refuses to marry her, and even her "Uncle Isaac" tells her to take her child and "Go back North. Marry: a man in your own race" (345). With considerable dignity, she rejects both Roth's money and Ike's advice.