Dalton Ames

Submitted by thagood@fau.edu on Wed, 2014-04-09 08:39
Text: 
The Sound and the Fury
Character Key: 
Dalton Ames
Display Name: 
Dalton Ames
Sort Name: 
Ames, Dalton
Race: 
White
Gender: 
Male
Class: 
Lower Class
Rank: 
Secondary
Vitality: 
Alive
First Mentioned: 
Compson Place: The Branch in The Sound and the Fury (Location)
Biography: 

A new arrival in Jefferson in the summer of 1909, Dalton Ames is the first man Caddy Compson has sex with, and may be the father of Caddy's daughter. Caddy tells Quentin that Ames has "been in the army had killed men" (148) and "crossed all the oceans all around the world" (150). Quentin discovers for himself how good Ames is with a pistol when he tries ordering him to leave town. For more than one reason Quentin feels that Ames is not a proper suitor for Caddy, including the issue of class; his name, Quentin thinks, "just missed gentility" (92). But that name - Dalton Ames Dalton Ames Dalton Ames - echoes throughout Quentin's thoughts on the last day of his life.

Individual or Group: 
Individual
Character changes class in this text: 

digyok:node/character/4019