Major de Spain

Submitted by jbc@ku.edu on Mon, 2016-10-10 13:59
Text: 
"Lion"
Character Key: 
Major de Spain
Display Name: 
Major de Spain
Sort Name: 
De Spain, Major
AKA: 
Manfred de Spain
Race: 
White
Gender: 
Male
Class: 
Upper Class
Rank: 
Major
Vitality: 
Alive
Occupation: 
Administrative
Specific Job: 
Banker
First Mentioned: 
Fishing Camp|Hunting Camp in "Lion" (Location)
Other Texts: 
"A Bear Hunt"
"Shall Not Perish"
"The Bear"
The Mansion
The Reivers
The Town
Biography: 

Major de Spain here is the owner of the wilderness area in which most of "Lion" takes place, having bought the land and the camp on it from Thomas Sutpen. As the leader of the annual hunt on that land, he is a clear-sighted and disciplined hunter who sets the standards and the "orders of the day" for the other men at the camp, until after the final running of the bear, Old Ben, ends the pleasures of the wilderness experience for him. In Jefferson, he is a banker and community leader.

Note: 
JIM'S NOTE: The "Major de Spain" of "Lion" should not be confused with his father, who was an actual Confedeerate officer in the Civil War.. He also established the hunting camp that figures prominently in <em>Go Down, Moses</em> (1942),, <em> Big Woods </em> (1955),, and several associated stories. If we understand that Quentin [Compson] is present as a sixteen-year-old witness to the events, of "Lion," the "Major de Spain" of this story must be the man described in <em>Big Woods</em> as "his son, a banker, called Major in memory of his father and the rank and title which his father had learned and bore valiantly by 1865" (146) The "Major" of "Lion" should also be distinguished from Manfred de Spain, another son of the Confederate officer.ns, Manfred, figures as the long-time lover of Eula Varner Snopes in <em>The Town</em> (1957). Although Cassius and Manfred would be brothers of about the same age, and bankers, they are never mentioned together and are differentiated by their given names and their marital status, with Manfred being an ardent bachelor, while Cassius seems to have a conventional marriage.. BUT I don't see why Major de Spain (not his son with the courtesy title) couldn't be the de Spain in this story. Volpe and Brooks have it that way, so I changed the character to the father. SR
Individual or Group: 
Individual
Character changes class in this text: 

digyok:node/character/12290