Judge Gowan
Character Key Number:
400
Display Name:
Judge Gowan
Sort Name:
Gowan, Judge
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?:
Yes
Biography:
Judge Gowan is the judge in "A Point of Law" and again in Go Down, Moses who quickly and informally finds a common-sense way to dispose of the case against Lucas and George. Although he only appears in this one episode, Faulkner gives him a long history in Yoknapatawpha when, in the short story, Lucas recognizes him as the gentleman who, "thirty and forty years ago," used to stay with "Old Zach Edmonds" on the plantation during quail hunting season (222). The novel lengthens this pedigree: there Lucas remembers him from "old Cass' time forty and fifty years ago" (71).