Memphis Junction|Junction-Point|Tennessee Junction in The Mansion (Location)

"The Junction" in this novel that Mink passes through on his way to Jefferson (435) is almost certainly the same place as the "Memphis Junction" and "the Junction" referred to earlier in the novel (37, 313), and the location Faulkner also calls "Memphis Junction" on his 1936 map of Yoknapatawpha. The map locates it due north of Jefferson, and the novel puts it within "thirty miles of Jefferson" (435). It is called a "junction" because it is where two sets of railroad tracks cross, and as Mink notes on page 313 it was where railroad passengers from Jefferson "changed" to get on a train "that went right into the middle of Memphis," but when he himself passes through it, it is associated with cars and trucks rather than trains; since Mink has been in prison, passenger trains have stopped running through Yoknapatawpha and the highway at Junction has been converted to blacktop and is buzzing with cars.