Sydney Herbert Head

grdenton@memphis.edu's picture
Submitted by grdenton@memphis.edu on Tue, 2014-03-25 18:36
Text: 
The Sound and the Fury
Character Key: 
Herbert Head
Display Name: 
Sydney Herbert Head
Sort Name: 
Head, Sydney Herbert
Race: 
White
Gender: 
Male
Class: 
Upper Class
Rank: 
Secondary
Vitality: 
Alive
Family: 
Compson
Family (new): 
CompsonsInSF
Occupation: 
Administrative
Specific Job: 
Banker
First Mentioned: 
Jefferson Railroad Station in The Sound and the Fury (Location)
Home: 
Indiana in The Sound and the Fury (Location)
Origin: 
Indiana
Biography: 

Herbert is from South Bend, Indiana. He meets Caddy Compson when Mrs. Compson takes her to the fashionable resort of French Lick specifically to find a husband for her. In April 1910 he and Caddy are married. Mrs. Compson calls Herbert "My Harvard boy" (93). Herbert flirts with her, promises Jason a job in the family bank, and tries to bribe Quentin to keep him from telling Caddy about his expulsion from Harvard for cheating. Quentin describes him with the adjectives "hearty" and "celluloid," and notes a "face full of teeth white but not smiling" (93). Quentin calls him "that blackguard" (111); he tries to stop the marriage and fantasizes about "shooting" Herbert (211-12). The marriage does not last a year. Herbert disowns her when he discovers Caddy was already pregnant with someone else's child at the time of their wedding.

Property Status: 
owns house
Financial Status: 
controls substantial wealth
Social Status: 
has influential social contacts (family, business, political)
Individual or Group: 
Individual
Character changes class in this text: 

digyok:node/character/3906