Unnamed Uncle of Doom

Character Key Number: 
249
Display Name: 
Unnamed Uncle of Doom
Sort Name: 
Unnamed Uncle of Doom
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?: 
Yes
Biography: 

In Faulkner's first two stories about the Indians who inhabit Yoknapatawpha in its early history, he does not name the man who is "The Man," the hereditary chief of the tribe. His sister is the mother of Doom. In "Red Leaves," The Man and his son both die shortly after Doom returns from a sojourn in New Orleans - presumably at Doom's hands, but that part of the story is left untold here. It is told in "A Justice," which describes him as "getting old" by the time Doom leaves for New Orleans (346), and "not very glad" when Doom returns seven years later (349) - for good reason: Doom returns with poison, the Man and his son both "act strange" at their food, and "so Doom was the Man" (349). (When Faulkner re-tells this story in later fictions, The Man, Doom's uncle, is named Issetibbeha - the name of Doom's son in "A Justice" - and The Man's son, Doom's cousin, is Moketubbe.)