Wash Jones
Text:
Character Key:
Display Name:
Wash Jones
Sort Name:
Jones, Wash
Race:
White
Gender:
Male
Class:
Poor White
Rank:
Major
Vitality:
Dies
Occupation:
Farming
Specific Job:
Plantation Factotum
First Mentioned:
Date of Birth:
Saturday, January 1, 1814 to Wednesday, December 31, 1817
Cause of Death:
Murder
Real?:
No
Other Texts:
Biography:
Gaunt and malaria-ridden, Wash Jones emerges as a furious underdog figure. A poor and jobless squatter, he lives with his granddaughter Milly in Thomas Sutpen's “crazy shack” on a slough in the river bottom of Sutpen’s land. During the Civil War, he was one of the few remaining white men in Yoknapatawpha between 18-50 who did not enlist in the war, and he was often teased because of it. When Sutpen returned from the war, Wash helped him manage a country store, which also meant Wash had to care for Sutpen when he was drunk. Wash’s downtrodden condition factors into the emotion that causes him to commit multiple counts of homicide as a way to even the score.
Note:
The tension between Wash and unnamed blacks adds significant personal conflict -- Faulkner is pointing to a race and class tension as well as Wash's double consciousness that mirrors Sutpen's in Absalom, Absalom!
Individual or Group:
Individual
Character changes class in this text:
digyok:node/character/1940