Uncle Parsham Hood

If there is something demeaning about the way so many characters refer to him as "Uncle Possum," Parsham Hood is one of Faulkner's more impressive black characters. His clothes and facial hair make him look like a white planter or a southern "colonel": upon first meeting him Lucius describes him as "an old man very dark in a white shirt and galluses and a planter's hat, with perfectly white moustaches and an imperial [beard]" (164). At another point Lucius says his appearance is "even regal" (218). He is both very dignified and also very nurturing toward Lucius, even allowing him to share his bed. His "gold toothpick" and table manners remind Lucius of his Grandfather (241), but the character whom readers are most likely to associate him with is Lucas Beauchamp in Go Down, Moses and Intruder in the Dust; he even has "a smolder of fire on the hearth" in his room, although it's May (244).