Courthouse and Square in The Mansion (Location)

The county courthouse and the Square around it that sit in the center of Jefferson is at the center of many of Faulkner's fictions. The Mansion describes the Square as a place teeming with life: Mink, for example, walks along the Square and sees the "young people, young men and girls in their city clothes eating and drinking" in the drugstores there (36). The novel begins inside the courthouse, with the conclusion of Mink Snopes' murder trial; also inside the building are the Sheriff's and county supervisors offices, and a room in which the "records" and documents of the county's economic and legal transactions are stored (355). Outside, the most prominent external feature of the courthouse is the "four lighted faces of the clock" that sits "on top of the building" and stands above the other buildings of Jefferson (37). The Confederate monument stands in front of the structure (223). We have also used this site to locate events that occur at unspecified places in Jefferson, as when the "Sartoris Rifles" meet (204), and to provide a location for the collective entity, the 'people of Yoknapatawpha County.' For instance, there are many times in the novel where the people act in union or believe an idea collectively. In such cases, the Courthouse Square serves as the site for these events, even though this citizenry is spread out across the county.