Had-Two-Fathers 1

Submitted by sfr on Sun, 2015-02-15 15:58
Text: 
"The Old People"
Character Key: 
Unnamed Son of Ikkemotubbe
Display Name: 
Had-Two-Fathers 1
Sort Name: 
Unnamed Son of Ikkemotubbe
Parent: 
Ikkemotubbe
Unnamed Enslaved Grandmother of Sam Fathers
Race: 
MixedBlackIndian
Gender: 
Male
Class: 
Enslaved Black
Rank: 
Minor
Vitality: 
Alive
Family: 
Issetibbeha|Ikkemotubbe
Family (new): 
IkkemotubbesInOLD
First Mentioned: 
Choctaw|Chickasaw Plantation in "The Old People" (Location)
Other Texts: 
Go Down, Moses
Biography: 

If this character exists, he is the illegitimate son of Ikkemotubbe and an unnamed "slave woman" who was bought in New Orleans (202). He is also the sole father of Sam Had-Two-Fathers. The Harpers Magazine version of "The Old People" creates an ambiguity when it says that "almost a hundred years ago" Ikkemotubbe sold "his own son" to a white planter, the great-grandfather of the narrator on whose farm Sam lived for most of his life (203). Since Sam is "seventy" years old (202), he could not be this man, and would have to be this man's son. This would make "Had-Two-Fathers" a family name that Sam inherited from this enslaved father. Faulkner resolved the confusion when he revised "The Old People" for inclusion in Go Down, Moses; there Ikkemotubbe is Sam's biological father rather than grandfather.

Note: 
GDM vs. magazine: the slave woman that Ikkemotubbe brings with him from New Orleans is identified only as Sam Fathers' mother and not his grandmother.
Individual or Group: 
Individual
Character changes class in this text: 

digyok:node/character/7072