Uncle Billy Varner

Unlike Uncle Gavin, Uncle Billy Varner is not related to the narrator - or to anyone else in this story, except as he is "distantly kin by marriage" to Clarence Snopes (88). (The story of the Varner family, however, is a major narrative element in the larger Snopes trilogy.) "Uncle" is a kind of title, signifying his power as the "patriarch and undisputed chief" of the "whole section" known as Frenchman's Bend (88). He owns land and businesses there, and also controls local politics. He launches Clarence Snopes' public career when he orders "the local J.P." to make him a constable (89), and he brings Snopes' public career to a close after the events at "the annual Varner's Mill picnic" (88). In both cases he seems to be looking out for both Frenchman's Bend and himself. (He appears or is mentioned in 10 Yoknapatawpha fictions, in 2 of them as "Uncle Billy," in 7 as "Will," and once as the unnamed father of Flem Snopes' wife.)