Unnamed College Widow

Herbert Head mentions "a little widow over in town" when he is trying to ingratiate himself with Quentin (110). The "town" is presumably Boston, "over" the river from Harvard. Although it has been suggested that Head is talking about a prostitute, the idea of 'the college widow' as an unmarried woman who dates a succession of students over the years was proverbial in both 1910 (when the conversation takes place) and 1929 (when the novel was published).