Samson 1

There is a Frenchman's Bend character named "Samson" in both As I Lay Dying, where he narrates a section of the narrative, and Light in August, where only his name appears. In the first novel, he lets the Bundren family spend a night in his barn on their trek to Jefferson. The barn suggests he is farmer, but when his section begins he is sitting with a group of men at "the store" (112), which may mean he also owns a country store. The reference to "Samson's" in the second novel - according to Lena Grove "that somebody down at Samson's told her there is a fellow named Burch or something working at the planing mill in Jefferson" (16) - more clearly implies a store. These two Samson's may be different men, but we believe there's enough evidence to consider this as a single character. In the earlier novel his narrative as well as his behavior toward both the Bundrens and his wife make it easier to know who "Samson" himself is: a kind man who knows when to keep silent.