The Unvanquished
A friend recently posted on Facebook that she planned to add some
Faulkner to her reading list for the coming year. That inspired me to
pull down my copy of "The Unvanquished." As I read, I was reminded of
the universality of the "brains, brawn, and bravado" concepts.
In these posts, I do not try to explain the plot of the story or give a review of the book or the film. I am only trying to pass on enough information from the story to illustrate the mind, body, and spirit characters and concepts. I try to make the post relatively brief and therefore encourage you to read the book for yourself to discover all I haven't included.
Ringo is a young slave boy who is more of an adopted son than a slave. After the fall of Vicksburg, the Sartoris family must leave their land, taking their valuables and their slaves with them. They stop in town and receive a gift of rose clippings, which Ringo must tend to along the journey. At one point, he pulls some dirt from the roots and puts it in his pocket. He was about 12 or 13 years old and wanted a physical reminder of his old home because he thought he would never see it again.
Ringo's character comes most vividly to light when the family encounters the Yankee troops on their way back home from the river, trying to locate the things the troops had stolen from them. The troops have misunderstood Granny's request and are giving them much more than they had requested be returned to them. He squeezes them for as much as he possibly can, requesting extra mules and horses and extra food, milking their requisition letter for all it's worth, and then some.
Ringo and Granny even start a 'mule laundering' business, using forged requisition letters to steal mules from Yankees and then selling the same mules back to other Yankees. Ringo acts as the eyes and ears of the operation, keeping track of which units are where and which way they are moving so they don't inadvertently try to sell a batch of mules back to the same unit from which they took them.
Rosa Millard, or 'Granny,' knows how to take care of her family. When they must retreat, she takes charge of the chest of silver and other valuables, giving strict instructions about how it is to be handled, and she never waivers, despite complaints and protests from the slaves who must handle the heavy chest.
Ringo succinctly describes Granny's character when he says, "She 'cide what she want and then she kneel down about ten seconds and tell God what she aim to do, and then she get up and do hit. And them that don't like hit can get outen the way or git trompled."
When the family is leaving home, people try to convince Granny to turn around or go a different way because they are afraid of what the Yankees will do to her and the children. She, however, relies on her own experience with Yankee officers, not the speculation and rumors told by others. Throughout the book, she generally relies more on facts and experience than on the word of others.
As a young boy, Bayard doesn't see his father, John, as a man; he sees him as an ideal. On his horse, John Sartoris was too big to be believable. When he comes home from fighting, Ringo and Bayard only want to hear about the fighting and the glory. John is only home for a short time, and when he leaves to fight again, Bayard sees it all happen as if in a dream.
Later, as the family is leaving and Ringo takes the dirt from the rose clippings, Bayard points out that "it's not Sartoris dirt." He then takes out a snuff box full of dirt from behind the smokehouse where they used to play war together. He trades half of it with Ringo for a Yankee saddle buckle. When Ringo points out that Bayard has a lot of dirt, Bayard replies he "brought enough to last."
Bayard takes family honor seriously. When Granny is killed, he and Ringo hunt down her murderer. When they catch him, they do more than just kill him, they use his death to send a message. They nail his body to the door of the building where he killed Granny and then nail his hand to Granny's grave.
When his father is killed, Bayard still must face his murderer or lose face for himself and his family. Rather than kill the man who killed his father, Bayard faces him and humiliates him, forcing him to leave town and never come back.
In these posts, I do not try to explain the plot of the story or give a review of the book or the film. I am only trying to pass on enough information from the story to illustrate the mind, body, and spirit characters and concepts. I try to make the post relatively brief and therefore encourage you to read the book for yourself to discover all I haven't included.
The Body Character: Ringo
Ringo is a young slave boy who is more of an adopted son than a slave. After the fall of Vicksburg, the Sartoris family must leave their land, taking their valuables and their slaves with them. They stop in town and receive a gift of rose clippings, which Ringo must tend to along the journey. At one point, he pulls some dirt from the roots and puts it in his pocket. He was about 12 or 13 years old and wanted a physical reminder of his old home because he thought he would never see it again.
Ringo's character comes most vividly to light when the family encounters the Yankee troops on their way back home from the river, trying to locate the things the troops had stolen from them. The troops have misunderstood Granny's request and are giving them much more than they had requested be returned to them. He squeezes them for as much as he possibly can, requesting extra mules and horses and extra food, milking their requisition letter for all it's worth, and then some.
Ringo and Granny even start a 'mule laundering' business, using forged requisition letters to steal mules from Yankees and then selling the same mules back to other Yankees. Ringo acts as the eyes and ears of the operation, keeping track of which units are where and which way they are moving so they don't inadvertently try to sell a batch of mules back to the same unit from which they took them.
The Mind Character: Granny
Rosa Millard, or 'Granny,' knows how to take care of her family. When they must retreat, she takes charge of the chest of silver and other valuables, giving strict instructions about how it is to be handled, and she never waivers, despite complaints and protests from the slaves who must handle the heavy chest.
Ringo succinctly describes Granny's character when he says, "She 'cide what she want and then she kneel down about ten seconds and tell God what she aim to do, and then she get up and do hit. And them that don't like hit can get outen the way or git trompled."
When the family is leaving home, people try to convince Granny to turn around or go a different way because they are afraid of what the Yankees will do to her and the children. She, however, relies on her own experience with Yankee officers, not the speculation and rumors told by others. Throughout the book, she generally relies more on facts and experience than on the word of others.
The Spirit Character: Bayard
As a young boy, Bayard doesn't see his father, John, as a man; he sees him as an ideal. On his horse, John Sartoris was too big to be believable. When he comes home from fighting, Ringo and Bayard only want to hear about the fighting and the glory. John is only home for a short time, and when he leaves to fight again, Bayard sees it all happen as if in a dream.
Later, as the family is leaving and Ringo takes the dirt from the rose clippings, Bayard points out that "it's not Sartoris dirt." He then takes out a snuff box full of dirt from behind the smokehouse where they used to play war together. He trades half of it with Ringo for a Yankee saddle buckle. When Ringo points out that Bayard has a lot of dirt, Bayard replies he "brought enough to last."
Bayard takes family honor seriously. When Granny is killed, he and Ringo hunt down her murderer. When they catch him, they do more than just kill him, they use his death to send a message. They nail his body to the door of the building where he killed Granny and then nail his hand to Granny's grave.
When his father is killed, Bayard still must face his murderer or lose face for himself and his family. Rather than kill the man who killed his father, Bayard faces him and humiliates him, forcing him to leave town and never come back.
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