Will Varner

Father of Eula Varner Snopes, but never really present as a character, Will Varner is nonetheless a major figure in the background of The Town. "Mr Will Varner . . . just about owned the whole settlement and district called Frenchman's Bend about twenty miles from Jefferson" (5). He lets his son Jody rent "a farm so poor and small and already wornout that only the most trifling farmer would undertake it" (5) to Ab Snopes - without realizing that he is also mortgaging a part of his life to Ab's son Flem. Irascible and impatient, Will was quick to marry off Eula to Flem when she became pregnant by another man; he himself has had three Negro mistresses with whom he has had a number of illegitimate children. Although he rarely appears directly in this novel, he plays an important role in several of its financial crises, especially when Manfred De Spain leaves Jefferson and Flem becomes president of the bank.