One of many of Faulkner's "boy" narrators, this twelve-year-old son of tenant farmers is probably an adult when he tells this story about how Pat Stamper bested both his "Pap" and "Mammy." Although he is a sympathetic companion to his father, he is also a careful reporter and analyst of Pap's behavior. At least from his older perspective, he can see Pap's weaknesses for horse- and mule-trading, and for alcohol as well. He tells this story in a vernacular dialect that is often eloquent, though also characterized by the racist language and biases he has learned from his surroundings.
Pat Stamper is the greatest horse- and mule-trader in the entire Yoknapatawpha region. He wears a "cream-colored Stetson [hat] cocked over one" of his eyes, which are described as "the color of a new plow point," that is, presumably, a cold steel grey (125). Shrewd and intimidating, he knows, with great help from his assisant, Jim, exactly how to get the better of Pap (and later Mammy) in livestock trades.
