Colonel Sartoris
Text:
Character Key:
Display Name:
Colonel Sartoris
Sort Name:
Sartoris, Colonel John
Race:
White
Gender:
Male
Class:
Upper Class
Rank:
Minor
Vitality:
Alive
Family:
Sartoris
Family (new):
Occupation:
Armed Forces
Specific Job:
Confederate Officer
First Mentioned:
Other Texts:
Biography:
Although only a minor character in Absalom, Absalom!, John Sartoris is a major figure in the Yoknapatawpha fictions as a group. As is generally agreed, Faulkner based his character on his own great-grandfather, William Falkner. In this novel he and Sutpen together organize a Confederate regiment at the start of the Civil War; Colonel Sartoris serves as its first commander, until the soldiers vote to replace him with Thomas Sutpen. In the last chapter of The Unvanquished, which Faulkner wrote soon after finishing this novel, Sartoris' second wife, Drusilla, offers her opinion on the contrasts between Sartoris and Sutpen.
Property Status:
owns land
owns house
owns slaves
Financial Status:
controls substantial wealth
Individual or Group:
Individual
Character changes class in this text:
digyok:node/character/15305