Unnamed Wife of Tom-Tom|Mrs. Bird

Character Key Number: 
2057
Display Name: 
Unnamed Wife of Tom-Tom|Mrs. Bird
Sort Name: 
Unnamed Wife of Tom-Tom|Mrs. Bird
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?: 
Yes
Biography: 

Tom-Tom's "third wife" (in "Centaur in Brass," 152) and Tom Tom Bird's "fourth wife" (in The Town, 16) is a "young woman whom he kept with the strictness of a Turk" or "strict jealous seclusion of a Turk" (152, 16) - the analogy is to the stereotype of the harem. The short story describes her as "high yellow" (i.e. light-skinned, 160); the novel just refers to her as "young" (16). In both texts, Turl seems to have no trouble seducing her.