The Digital Yoknapatawpha Project

Charles, his nephew, sums up Gavin Stevens' biography in the middle of the novel: "aged fifty, M.A. Harvard, Ph.D. Heidelberg, Ll.B. Mississippi, American Field Service and Y.M.C.A., France, 1915-1918, County Attorney" (236). Gavin is one of Faulkner's most frequently-used characters, appearing in 16 different fictions - often as a major character. He is descended from an old Yoknapatawpha family and is highly educated, as Charles notes. Charles also refers to Gavin's non-combatant service during World War I: with the "American Field Service . . .

The judge who sentenced Montgomery Ward Snopes to a two-year sentence at Parchman. In the chapter he narrates in the novel, Montgomery Ward refers to him as "that old sanctimonious lantern-jawed son of a bitch up there on that Federal bench" (77).

Montgomery Ward is the son of I.O. Snopes and the "half-brother" of Clarence (they have different mothers; I.O. is a bigamist). Additionally, Mink Snopes identifies him as "my brother's grandson" (99), but it seems unlikely that Mink had any siblings. On his return to Jefferson after World War I, he opened up what Ratliff calls "a dry whorehouse" (59) - an establishment just off the Square where men could view French postcards featuring "nekkid" people (57). After serving a term in the penitentiary, he ends up working in the film industry in Hollywood.

Vernon Tull's wife. She helps Mink Snopes's wife correspond with Mink.

The warden at Parchman's when Mink first arrives is remarkably kind to his prisoner, helping Mink with his correspondence to his wife.

The guards at Parchman are described as "men with shotguns" at the gate, and as "men on horses with shotguns across the pommels" overseeing the inmates as they work in the field (54).

The deputy sheriff who escorts Mink to Parchman presumably works for Yoknapatawpha County.

In an odd twist, after Mink's conviction in The Mansion, this District Attorney who prosecuted Mink meets with Mink's lawyer and the judge who oversaw the trial to try to figure out what kind of sentence to give him, for Mink's sake and the public's.

Mink's lawyer speculates that after Mink gets to the penitentiary, a meddler with "access to the Governor's ear" may be able to secure his early release (50). Almost four decades later, a different Governor approves Mink's petition for freedom (408). (The actual Governors of Mississippi in 1908 and 1946 were, respectively, James Kimble Vardaman and Thomas Lowry Bailey.

The lawyer whom the Judge appoints to defend Mink is "too young and eager" and therefore he "made such a hash of the thing" (47). He tries to help Mink, but ends up horrified by his client's insanity and tries to convince the system to send him to an asylum instead of prison.