Bayard Sartoris

Bayard Sartoris is the narrator of The Unvanquished. At the beginning of the plot he is twelve-year-old although he is telling the story retrospectively some years later. The son of a prominent planter who is now a colonel in the Confederate army, Bayard looks up to and admires his father, Colonel John Sartoris. At the beginning of the novel, the hardships and realities of the Civil War have not reached him or his friend, Ringo, who is both black and a slave on the Sartoris plantation but despite that is treated as a member of the family in most respects. The two boys' innocence and naivete are highlighted, in small ways as well as large. The boys misunderstand what is meant by the fall of Vicksburg, for instance, and later, after overhearing Loosh talk about emancipation, both boys are fearful that General Sherman will set them "free." These comical failures to understand the reality of war reaches its head when they shoot at a "Yankee" and then believe, at first, that they killed him. Bayard is being looked after by his grandmother, Rosa Millard, during his father's absence and accompanies her on the trip to Alabama. He and his companion, Ringo, help Rosa fulfill her quest. Bayard is still an impressionable teenager and in awe of his cousin Drusilla, but he gradually matures throughout the narrative as he confronts the realities of war. In this Bildungsroman, Bayard becomes increasingly independent as he sets out with Ringo to chase the marauders who took their mules, later seeks vengeance for the murder of his grandmother Rosa Millard and finally bravely restores his families name. His inexperience is often displayed, but the eventual outcomes can be seen steps in his growth toward manhood. Bayard Sartoris is a frequent character in other Faulkner texts, including the short stories in the series that were revised to form the novel The Unvanquished. He is a major character in Flags in the Dust, and he is referred to in several other stories such as "A Rose for Emily."