Literary Onomastics Studies
Volume 8
Article 16
1981
The Name of the Snake: A Family of Snopes
Frederick M. Burelbach
The College at Brockport
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Recommended Citation
Burelbach, Frederick M. (1981) "The Name of the Snake: A Family of Snopes," Literary Onomastics Studies: Vol. 8, Article 16.
Available at: http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/los/vol8/iss1/16
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LO S
125
THE NA ME OF THE SNAKE: A FA MILY OF SNO PES
Fred erick M . Burelb ach
State Un i ver sity of N ew York
C ollege at Bro c kport
I n 1964,
.a.,t
a confe rence on compu.ter app�i c at i o ns to
humal;\ist i c �St�9i �s spOJ;lsored by I BM ,.. a former prof e s sor of
mine , D r . John A shme ad , sugg e sted that certain phoneme s
had se �an ti c co npotation s .
He d ubb ed thi s phenomenon
11phone stheme 11 and appl i ed . it parti pul�rly to the, ' Sn • ,pho­
neme as used in a gro up o f Willi am F aul kner ' s character s ,
the Snope s f amily .
"
""
D r . A shme ad po inted out that the ' Sn '
i
�
phoneme o c cur� mo st c o �monly i n word s with negat i v� c o �notat i on s--s noop , . sn arl •. sneer. snake . etc . --and ,th at the se
connota�ions .are .carried over to the name ,Sno pes and t�e
ch aracters who pe ar th at name .
In spi red by th i s id e ?-.• I
re asoned that .Lette r.s of the atphab et have shaP,e s as well
.
.
as soupd s ; and .c,o nsequently .i t should b e po s sibl e . t o spe ak.
i n teJlmS Of
II
e i d e s them .es t II ,semanti c ponnotation s as s oc i ated
w i t Q t�e sh apes of letter s .
In f act , I mad e C9mP.�ter­
as s i ste.d .stud ie s of Hawtho rne ' ..s The· Sc arl e t Letter and
W all ac e .S t
, e v;�ns ' 11T )'le qomed i an as the Letter C 11 to ;te st,
thi s th eory .
I as sumed that the ste eple sh ap! �f c apit�l
A would b e as so c i ated wi th the symb o l i sm surr.o u ;nd in&.that
letter . in Hawtho rne· ' .s novel .
Conse quently · , I tho ught , tne
_
i nci <:lerm ..of ,wo nsis b �ginn i ng with A might ;wel.J.. be hig l'\er in
The S c ar.let Letter than in Hawth o rne ' s other wo rks .
Thf:it
the o rl was d �s pro v,e 9 when my analy s �s sno wed th at A -word s
in T he S c arlet Letter d i d not exceed Hawtho rne ' s av erage
u s age .of such .wqrd s in h i s , .short stori e s � but l st i
. lJ, f �
, �l
that the ��.e id e stheme" id e a h�s s o me me r.i t .
A s ap_pl ied to
"The C omed i an as th e Letter C , " a poem in whi ch the c entral
LOS
126
character, named Crispin, is surrounded by a host �f words
containing the letter C, i� seemed that the embracing, en­
folding shape of the letter related directly to a central
theme of the poem.
Crispin embraces experience avidly, and
Stevens speaks in the poem of curvatures of life and vision.
As related to Snopes, the serpentine S shape, particularly
as augmented by the fang-likeN shape, reinforces the snaky
connotation of the beginning phoneme and the hissing •ps•
at th'e end.
It also interacts with a metaphor used by one
of Faulkner•� narrators to describe the Snopesesa
�
•
.
•
This
here seems to be a different kind of Snopes. like a cotton­
moutn is a different kind of snake,"1
The·name Snopes, therefore, becomes a kind of common
collective noun, ur even a verb (The Hamlet, p. i62),
coimoting' avaricious, unscrupulous, amoral. inhumanity.
Having no spec1fic meaning anterior to its denotat1on of
this group of characters, but infested with connotations
arising frofu phonestheaic and eidesthemic linkages with
unpleasah t ;words, concepts, and images, the nam� Snope's·
becomes· generj.c and meaningful, so that one can speak
Snopesism'as a trait in persons and societies.
·
of
Meanings�
accrete in the name by a kind of organic processa connota�
tions--our itnguistic heritage--lead us to expect certatn
meanings ih the name, and our experience uf the ch�racters,
·
as Faulkner gradua�ly unfolds them, both fulfills and·
modifies our expectations.
"To
fully d·etail how our experience witlt -each of the
more 'than two dozen 'identified Snopeses modifies our
understanding of Snopesism would be impossible in .this.
paper. N
' o"t only does each. in his or her ·uniquen'ess·, ·supply
additional nuances, but the characters�hemselves even change
from novel �o novel and story to story, as Faulkner himself
admitted,2 Besides, the subject has been treated extensivel�
127
LOS
by various critics. 3
My focus is on how the given names
of each member of the Snopes family contribute to our under­
standing of the Snopeses as a microcosm of fallen humanity,
evoking from the reader emotional responses tha� range from
disgust to. pity and grudging admiration.
An additional
co mplexity- to consider is that, although Faulkner, of course•
is ultimately responsible for all the names, the fact that
Snopes parents have given their children specific names is
equally significant.
Let us �egin with the earliest Snopes in the genealogical
line, Abner Sriopes, commonly known as A'Q.
We can qud.ckly
dismiss any comic associations with Al Capp's hill-_billy
character t'i'l Abner, since he post-dates Faulkner's
creation, although A b' is descended from the same Tennessee
hill-foJ:k that so many of Faulkner's characters are.
W�
can also dismiss any association with Abner. the captain
of Saul's forces. in 1 and 2 Samuel, since Ab shows little
of Abner's fortitude and faithfulness.
Ab Snopes i� seen
in The Unvanquished, at the time of the Civil War, as a
horse-thief an� mule-trader, an ·agent of Granny Millard,
Col. John· ·Sartoris' mother-in-law, in her attemp"ti tQ
secure sustenance- for the poor people of her ravaged cQm­
munity by stealing Yankee horses and selling them bac�
again.
In that no�el Ab is horse-whipped by Bayard Sartoris
in revenge for �he part played by Ab in getting Granny
involved with Grumby, the criminal who killed her.
Ab's
charact'er develops in other stor-ies and is seen most· ·fully
in The Hamlet
- , the first novel in the Snopes trilogy,
There
he is' krlown as ·a bar-n-burner who trades �n this menace to
get taken on ·as .a share-cropper.
As the first ·snopes to
enter Yoknapatawpha County and as the father of Ylem, the
ultimate Snopes,· Ab is the progenitor, in a way, of
Snopesism.
This gives us one association with his namea
Ab is not only the beginning of the alphabe� but could
LbS
128
also be
an
abbreviated form of Abraham.
In fact, in 1926
Faulkner started a story, soon abandoned but containing
material found in his lat·er work
�
entitled "Father Abraham. "4
The title, ironically taken from a Sherwood Anderson bio­
graphy of Abraham Lincoln, actually refers to Flam Snopes,
b¥ whose means all the later Snopeses were insinuated into
the Yoknapatawpha County communities of Frenchman's Bend
and Jefferson.
However, when Faulkner returned to the
Snopes material he seems to have transferred the Abraham­
role of father of the Snopes tribe to Ab, and named him
accordingly�
Obviously, any other parallels with Abraham
or Lincoil.n are purely ironic, since the. only God Ab serves
is his own
appetites, even though Ratliff., Faulkner's
'
astute commentator in the trilogy, says of him that he
is not naturally bad, just "soured" ( The Hamlet, p. 2 9).
Ratliff blames this
souring on the .whipping by Bayard, on
Ab's being shot in the heel by Col. John Sartoris "for
trying to s�eal his clay-bank riding stallion during the
war" (The Hamlet, p. 16), and on Ab'·s unsuccessful attempt
to outwit �he rtptorious Pat Stamper in hors�-trading
Hamlet, pp. 29�41).
(�
As a result o£ these various wounds,
Ab is �e�t with a permanent limp, a totally antisocial
attitude, 'andta fi�Dce pride that takes revenge at petty
irtjuries by burning the barns of his landlords.
The pride
and the limp .suggest another association wi�h Ab's name,
that of Ahab.
In many ways, Ab Snopes resembles �oth
Melville's character Captain Ahab and his bi�lical namesakea
he has turned �way from goodness and humanity to follow
false,go�s bf pride and revenge, and, the result is similarly
destructive.
Although we lose sight of Ab before his geath,
his behavior has loosed the disease of Snopesism .on the
world, just as captain Ahab doomed his ship and its cornpan�.
Besides Flein, Ab has three other childrenr a boy named
-
LOS
�29
C o lonel S arto r. i s ( ��'Sarty " } and two daughter s , N et 'arid Li zzy .
The daughters , wllo s e names seem to b e abbreviation s of the
fairly common na me s Annette and E li zab eth , n e ed not d etain
u s ; they ·are p i c tured , in both shape and inte lligenc e , a s
utterly bovi ne .
cant.
Sarty , on the other hand , i s more s i gni fi ­
He i s the first o f s everal Snopese s named after an
e mi nent man , Pr esumably partly out of her o -wor ship and
part ly i n h o pe that he w i ll e mulate h i s name sake and r i s e
in s o cial po s ition .
I roni cally , he d o e s emulate an a spect
of ·C o l . Sartori s , his aristo cratic sen s e of d e c e ncy and
fair play , and he con s e quent ly b ehav e s in a very un �snope s ­
li ke way .
I ri the story " Ba rn B u rning , " Sarty , a t . age ten ,
refu s e s to bear witness again st h i s father in c o urt on the
charge of barn- b
· u rni ng , and so Ab i s acqu i tted .
When Ab
d e termine s to bu rn a second ba rn , however , Sarty beg s h i m
not to , and then run s to warn the ba rn' s owner.
He i s
unsuc c e s sful on both c o unt s , and h i s adh �renc e t o honor
above the c laims of kin ship lead s him to run away ,
whereupo n he d isappears fro m the S n
: opes chron i c le a nd i s...
ment ioned i h T h e HamlBt only a s a me mory .
Sarty i s proo f
that not every character who bears the n ame o f Snope s i s
un scrupu lou s ; and y e t h i s a c qu i e s c ence in the lie o f A b ' s
inn o c en c e and hfs i na bi lity to prevent h i s father3s
d e structiv ene s s pu� him a mong fallen human ity .
The Col .
Sartori s a ft er whom he i s named i s almo st a s shrewd and
grasping a s a Snope s , and the va lue s o f so c ial eth i c s are
not enough to stamp out Snope s i s m.
Snope s i s m i s mo s t c learly d e fined and e xempli fi e d in
A b' s o ld e st son , F lem.
Having used h i s :fat her ' s fi re- bug
threat to get h i s start as a c lerk in Will Varner ' s 'St o r.e ,
F lem Snopes ste ad i ly c �i mbs the s o c i o - economi c ladd e r from
poor d irt- farme r to pre s i <!ent o f the ·bank ·fo und ed by. C o l.
J ohn Sarto ri s in J ef ferson .
In thi s a s c ent F lem u s es every
LOS
130
mean s ava ilable a hone st in dustry when ·that will s erve , cheat­
ing and stealing fro m any one. even his o wn kin , when it won ' t .
He take s a d vantage of Eula V a rner ' s pre gaancy by another man
to marry her an d give the child a name in e �change for a
han d so me settle men t fro m her father.
I mpotent himself , he
take s advantage of Eu la again by parlay ing her affair with
Ma j or d e Spain into further pro sperity for hims e lf .
I mmune
to the d e man d s o f kin sh ip , he turns again st his o wn fa mily
when the ir ·b ehavior threaten s his que st for �e curity .
Although
s everal peo ple try to oppo se him in the name o f human ity an d
morality , he outwit s the m a ll�
F inally , ho wever , his
ch ic kens co me . home to roo s t and , having lo st his wife through
su ic id e apd hav ing foun d his achievement s h o llo w , he is
kille d by his co u s in who m he had been in s$rumental in keeping
in jail.
F le m ' s mo st terrify ing and inhuman-a spect is the
r e lentle s s impa s s iv ity with wh ic h he che ws his �ay through
people ' s money an d s e lf-re spe ct.
Th is impa s s ivity is
sy mb o lize d in h is name an d appeal='anpe a "He spat.
a broad f lat fac e .
water .
He had
His eye s were the c o lor pf stagnant
He was soft in appearan c e •
• • "
(The Hamle t , p. 22) ... -
a thic k s quat soft man of no e stablishable age
betwe e n twenty an d thirty , with a broad st�ll fac e
containing a tight . s ea m o f mouth stain e d slightly
at the c o rne r s with tobacco ,
• • •
and pro j ecting
fro m a mong the o ther feature s- in start ling and
sud d en para d o x , a tiny pre datory no se like the
bea k of a s mall hawk.
I t wa s a s though the
o riginal no se had been left off by the , original
�e s igne r or craftsman and the u nfin ishe d j o b
ta ken over by s o me one o f a rad �cally d if f
, erent
s bhoo l or perhaps by s o me vic ious ly maniacal
humorist or perhaps by one who had had only t ime
to c lap into the c enter of the fac e . a frantic an d
d e sperate warning . ( T h e Hamlet , pp. 51 - 52 )
•
•
LOS
A dding to thi s �land appearanc e i s h i s s t i llne s s o �
1:31
mann erJ
he never r�i s e s -hi s ·Vo ice nor was tes a motion , a lmost h i s
only mo ve ment being the stea dy ; con stant grind·ing o f h i s ·
j a ws a s h e chews to bacco , punctua t e d n o w and then by an
In appearance , ·1lanner ,. and habi t of
unconC€rne d spit.
chewing h e' i s the epito me of the phl.egma1{;ic type , the least
appe t i �i ng o � the four humours .
F le m�i s re spon s i ble �or bringing the las ser Snope s e s
t o Yo knapa tawpha C o unty , in stalling them in pla c e s beneath
him as he �aca�es upwa Fd ,. and i t i s F lem again st whom all
the s e are to be measured.
A lthough attempt s have been mad e
to draw up a snope s genealogy , " they none o f them seemed to
bear any spe c i f i c ki nship to one another; they were iu st
-
Snope s e s , like co loni e s of rat s or t e rmites are jus t rats
and te rmi te s" �T he T o wn , p. 40-).
The :fi rs t o! the s e Qther
Snope s e s .w� �e et , although h e wears the Sn�pe s loo � o f low
cunn ing, ·and ha s 'a name , E c k ( short for ECklium�, that remind s
us o f F le tll , i s , ironically , not a true Snope s .. at a ll.
F le m i ns ta lls .h im in Frenchman ' s B end as a blac ksmith and
later mov e s h i ro, to�J e �ferson to take over the re staurant
j ob that he mov e s upward fro m , but not only is Eck &ncom­
pe tent at· e ve ty thing.he attempt s 9 he also beli ev e s in th e
" incredi ble and; inno Gent a s sumption that all people
practi s e - courage and hone sty for the s i mple reason that
if they ' didn ' t. everybo dy would be f:Fightened and c on fu s e d"
})).
( Th e T own , p�
In con �Fast to F le m ' s lac k o f c o nc e rn
for any one , even h i s o wn kin , Ec k suffe r,e d a bro ken n e c k
try ing to save
p . J2).
a
N egro in a lumber mild ac c i de nt ( The T o wn , ·
C ons-e qu ently , h e was "indu bita bly and indef�n s i bly
not a S nop e s s
• • •
who se mo.ther •
buc o lic 'Po�t .sa:i d , ·ca st
a:
• •
mu st have , a s the oJ_d
leglin girth •
• •
before s :tre marri e d -
whatever- Snopes wa s -E c k ' s t itular father " ( T he T o wn , . p. Jl)
•.
------- �---
LOS
--- -
132
Fired from the restaurant by Flem for qriticizing the food,
Eck is given a night 1Watchman job by WiJ:l Varner and the·
Masons so that :the· next Snopes in line will mov-e out of
Frenchman's Benu.
Eck has sever-al children, only two of whom are named
in the novels, �he boy� Wallstreet Panic (Wall �or short)
and Admiral Dewey.
The naming of the first of these throws
considera�le light on the Snopeses1
unable to understand
how a ten'-year-old boy could be named after an event that
had happened only a year or two ago, Ratliff asks Eck if
he has changed Wall's name.
Eck answers,
"It wasn't changed.
He never had n:o name to speak of until last year.
I left
him with .his grandma after ·my first wife died, while I was
getting ·settled down; I was �ust sixteen then.
him afte� nis grandpa,
She called
but he never had no actual name.
Then1last1yaar after I got settled down and sent for him,
I.
I thought maybe �e better have a name.
read about tftat �ne in the paper.
0.
H� figured
[a
]
cousin
if we named
him Wallstreet Panic it might make him get rich 'like the
folks that·run that Wallstreet pan&c�
(The Hamlet� p.
2p6).
Although we aren't told, Admiral Dewey·Snopes, six years
younger than his brother Wall. must have, gotten his na�e
by a similar. �rocess.
to some e�tent.
The ritual magic ,;apparently works
Not only does Wallstreex Panic see�,to
bear a charmed life--he emerges unscathed from the midst
of a s'tampede of wild horses that Ratliff likens
·
;to a herd,
of tigers--but ne al'So becomes wealthy•
effort,
By sheer hon�st
repUdiating and attempting to live down the S�opes
name ana�rep��ation, he establishes a ehain of self�service
grocery stor'es ,.1
His brother Admiral Dewey, also a non-Snopes
fram a noh�Snopes, as&ists him and prospers along with p�m.
'!
Both of these ch�racters are examples to prove that not only­
is the Snopes name not entirely synonymous with amoral avarice
LO S 133
( Sn o pe s �s are n ' t d ev i ls , merely fa�+en human be i ngs ) but &l�o
it i s po s �i ble to red e �m both ind �v idual Snope s �� an d the
Snope s name through mo ral effort.
Ir 0.
Snope&) who come s to Fre Dchman ' s �end at th�( same
t ime a,s E c k and Jf.o J,.low s him OJl to J effer son , i s , .bQ.weve i:,
pure Snop�s.
·W e never lea rn mo re of h i s name than ·the cryptic
tqo ugh mercant ile i nitials I . 0 . (one can ' t h e lp ad qing t he �. ) ,
but �we.. l e
, apl} ;n�ch _about h i s 9{laraqt er.
H i $ primar:'l( trait
i § an ine xhau stible §tl'gply o f trite maxims .and o l q saw s ,
utt e :r;ed inc E?.s sa11tLy . w� t:Rout r�gard to sen s e or occasion .
Thi s ·wi n.d ine s s . suit & h im admirably , accord ing tQ Ratl iff ,
for the po s it i qn of s ch qo lma ster in F renchman •� B en p , in
wh i ch hi s co usin F le m install s him , �nd the qemand s o f fthat
· pre serve
po s it ion ev�n ma ke him spend a couple of d o llar� -t o
th e Snqpe s nam_e , . wh i c h " ha s done held it s head . up t oo long
in t qis country to have no such reproache s a ga in s t it like
sto c k-d idd ling" ( The ,Ha mle t , p . 201).
How e ver , he is p�r­
f �gtly willing to chea� ��d connive almo s t as �u ch�a s F lem ,
and he be �rs the add ed s.t igma of baving �arried a.se c �nd w�t�
withou\ �ving bot �e red to d ivorce the f irst .
A s m}gh� be expe c t e q , thi s gi gam�st ha� n���ous pro geny ,
al], �s QGI.d .,a.s
.h�.
B eginning w.i. tl:l ::the y oung�st , about whom
we learft lea�t , there are h i s f ive sons
p�
his s.e cond w i fe a
S t . E lmo , the twin s Vardaman an d B i +bo , D o ri s �a �o �) ,. and
Claren qe E gg le stone .
St . E lmo i s �nly s e e � a s a little boy ,
greed ily ro bbing t.h e candy c o unter in V a rne r ' s s tQre , and
compared by Jo 9y Va�er with a rat or goat a " F irs.t t}J.ing
I
know , he ' Ll graze pn ba ck and work through that �ac e leatAer
and them h ame - str in �s an � lap-l�nks and r ing- bo lts and e �t
me a)fd you and him all thre e clef:ln out the bac k d oor" ( 'Dhe
Hamlet , p . 3J8).
The image of vora c �ou s , rat- li ke eat.ing
i s character�st�c o f Snope s i sm in gen eral .
S t � .Elmo Snope s
could ,po s sibly ,have gotten h is name from the patron s �i nt
of mariners , st. Erasmus ( c orrupted to E lmo ) , the martyr
who was k i ll ed in 303 A .D .
by
D io c let iarrs agents , allegedly
LO S 1 3 4
by hav i ng his inte stin e s wound out of h i s body o n a wind lass
(perhaps an iro nic referen ce to tne Snope se s' greed iness) .
S t . Elmo 's fire , the ele ctric d i scharg e s at the t ips o f masts
an d �pars just before a storm , ·i s suppo sed to be a sign that
the saint ha s tak en the ship und er"h i s prote ction . 5 The
sai n
' t•·s symbol is a windlass , a:-· kind o f pulley for ho i st ing
things l ike anchors, perhaps appropriate to Snope s ambition .
Another saint some time s called S t . Elmo be cause of h i s work
among Spani sn sailors i s S t . Peter Gon z al e z ( 1 1 90-1 246 ) , who
wa s confessor an d chaplain to King Ferd inand of Cast ile and
helped t o f oster cru sad e s against the Moo rs . 6 An unl ikely
asso ci at i on with Snope s , unl e ss a hin t of color pre jud ice
is i mpl�ed .
Mo re likely , gfven I. 0. Snope s's unend ing
supply ·o f
' ci
' i cllE:�d proverbs , i s a l i nk with the S t • . Elmo
Hote r , . on e of the old e st and mo st elegant at Chatauqua ,
the home ·of spe e che s , 'b o th secular and religiou s .
A still
more ·1rk ely and e ven more iron i c source f or the nam e ,
however, ·is :from th e ti tle o f Augusta Jane Evans•s extremely
popular'no ve r st . -Elmo , publ i shed i rt 1 867 .
The ti tle
character of this sen t imental tale is a di ssipat ed young
man,
S t . El m6 Murray , who reforms with the he lp o f the
g o od and �end er woman Edna Earl , whom he eventually marri e s.
After the pu'b l i cation of thi s novel , the name s S t • ·Elmo ,
Elmo , and E lmer gained new populari ty . ? We know ·that·
I.
o.
Snopes read s , al tho ugh h i s glasse s have no l en se s
( T he Hamle t , p . 2 00 ) , and· thi s i s exactly the k ind o f
story tha t would stir th1s shallow� so ciai-dl imbin g
sen �ime rital i st .
In
�h i s case , the name 'tells us mo re
a bou t the namer , I. 0., than a bout the boy .
Th
· e twi ns Vardaman and B i l bo e xpress their share in
Snopes meann e ss , as far as we know , .only by to rmenting
the ir " Grampaw , " old Ab, with cri e s that th ere are boy s
in h i s melon pat ch and th en laughing while he cnase s the
LO S
non- existent intrud ers (T he T own , pp. 129-131).
o f t Qe ir name s i s obv i ou s.
135
The sau.rce
Jame s K. Var daman was Gov e rnor
o f Mi ssi ssippi 1904-1908 and S enator 1913-1919; The.od ore G.
B il bo w�s.G pve rnor of Missi ssippi &916-19£0 and a power in
the state Qo th before and after that time . B oth o f the se
men appe al�d· pri mari ly to the small-time f armer or'"redneck , "
advocati ng programs that would d i stri bute rapre sentat i on,
and taxation more e £lu i tably and oppo sing the bank ers and
r ;;1ilraad i rttere st .s.
Their election re pre sented a change
in M�ssi ssi ppi pol iti c s , resulting from a shift f·r.€lm a sy.st em
of De mocratic qonventi on s that produced l ead ers from a small
c l i que to opan primar i e s that encouraged appeals to the
ma ss of voter s.
Si nce they ·were seen as champion s of the
little �an, i t is �a qy to se e why so c ial-Climbi ng ·peasants
l ike the Snope se s·would name children aft er. them.
Faulkner
se ems �lso to have been interpolating some ·mild pol i ti cal
satire bJ! ·mak i ng Vardaman and B ilbo intto S nope s twins.
T h e tw o ;were seen , e spec ially by their enemie s'� a s. pol i ti cal
twin s .
B o th were d emagogue s , both (espec ially B il b4>) were
asso c iated with spand al s , and Vard aman e spe c ially preached
race hatre d,
(He .onc e said that th e D e clarati on qf , Ind epen­
d en c e d id not apply t o "wild ani mal s and nigg ers . "}8 T o a.
l i beral on the bl ack que stion , such as Faul kner , 9 'th i s .would
h ave b e en .. od i o us , although in truth both Vard aman and B i l bo
accompl i shed signifi cant reforms , e spec ially in the a reas
of taxat ion and improvement of the penal a�d mental health
sy stems.
'An ir ony i s that Vardaman B und Fen , .a charac ter
in Faulkner1s As I Lay Dyin g , winds u p in one o f �he mental
h o spitals that Gov e rno r Vardaman found e d , )
D oris S,nopes , the "Qoy with the girl's name , "has
.:
the
mental �ty of a child and the �oral princ ipl e s o f a woiverine,n 1 0
H e i s�alrno st burned at the stake for teasing some wild Snope s
child ren.
H i s name , from Greek word s meaning e i th er "gi:f't"
or " sacrifi c ia l knife , " and n ormally f eminine , i s therefore
LOS
136
multipl y iron i c .
H i s brother , C laren c e E ggleston e , who
inst i gates th e teasin g , i s th e politic ian amon g th e Sno peses.
W h en he was con stable of Frenchman's Bend , hi s tend enc y to
enfo rc e th e law with the butt o f a gun l ed W ill Varner to
get him elec ted to th e state l egi slature to get him out of
the way .
Pure d ema go gue after the pattern of Vardaman ,
Bilbo , and Huey Long , Clarence had a good shot at'b ecoming
Governo r- b ut.h e wanted the S enate.
In fac t , h w was well
on hi s. way until Ratliff stopped him wi th the Rab ela i sian
tri ck o f sprinkl ing h i s trou sers with o dor of f emal e d o g ,
which attracted all th e mal e d o gs in the county to wet o n
h im .
Sheer embarrassment and rid icule ruin ed him pol itically ,
but he wa s st ill able to mak e money b y pimping in M emphi s •
•
Clarence get s his first name from the En glish Duchy ( t
. he
creati on of a·new Duk e of Clarence in 1 8 9 0 stimulated
interest in the name) , po ssibl y wi �h th e same i nt ention
that T wa in had in giv i ng the name to an eff ete , unh er.o i c
charac ter in A C onnec t i cut Yank ee in King Arthur ' s Oour t . 1 1
H i s mid d l e name , howev er , i s more si gnifi cant .
I ri th e late
1 8 00 's G en eral Beroth B. ( " Bu zzard ") E ggleston was prominent
in�i ssissippi politi c s i mmed iately gft er ·the C iv i l W ar
and dur ing th e R econstruction period .
A s a N orth ern
Carpetbagger-�h e was a nati ve of N ew York ·and had fought
in a F ed eral regiment from Ohio--who presid ed over ·the
" Black and T an" C onvention of 1 8 68 that passed many pro­
po sals a imed at replac in g white poli t i cal off i c er s with
black , E ggl eston ea rned for himself the und yin g hatred of
whi t e Mi ssi ssippian s . 1 2 A gain Faulkner is satiri zing
pol i ti cal venality.
I . 0 . Snopes ' s old est b o y , Mont gomety Ward Snopes , i s
the most v i c ious o f th e lot.
Having evad ed the d raft b y
arti fi cially i ndu c ing an irregular heart b eat , Monty went
to Franc e wi th th e Y . M . C . A . , where he sk immed prof i ts ,
LO S 1-37
acted a s
a
pimp , and came back to J efferson with a bat'ch
of d irty pictur es wi th whi ch he went· into ·busin ess operatin g
a peep sho w .
When the scandal b ecam'e so egregiou s that it
refl ected o :H. F l em Snopes•s r eputatlon , F l em helped to set
him up For ai:-rest .
B'u t F l em also had other f ish to fry , so
he planted moon shine on the premi ses so that Mon:tt;omery
Ward would gat sent to the state pri son at Parchman rather
th an �:the fed eral pri son in Atlanta .
T h i s f i gured into
F l em•s plans as a way of getting Monty ac cess to th e most
dan gerous S nopes, M ink , alread y i n j a il on a murd er con­
vict ion , irl ord er to persuad e Mink'to attempt ah escape ,
d o omed to fail and to add twenty more y ears to h i s sentenc e .
Flem has good rea son to fear M ink , who has vo wed re�en ge
wh en Flem fai led to help him at his trial and who - finally
carries out th � th�eat wi th a cheap pistol . ' Like h i s
cousin Watk ins Prod ucts Snopes, the fastid i ous carpenter
who renovates Flem•s mansion , Mont gomery Ward has a name
that si gn i f i es th e mercantile mental i ty of the Snopes
family.
I t sh ould al so b e ob served that th ese names are
o f retail merchand i sin g outlets that 'cater spec i f i c ally �·
to the l ower cla ss mass market , about wh ere Snopes -tastes
and aspiratrons would l i e .
S omeho� related t o th ese ot her Snopeses are W esl ey
Snopes and h i s two sons Byron and V i rgil .
W esley , o b
· viousl y
named after tne teli gi ous lead er J ohn W esl ey , i s d escrib ed
a s follo wsa
This 'wa s the ·ac tual Snopes schoolmaster .
-�
look ed l ike�a schoolmast er .
N o a he
N o a h e look ed l ike
John Bro wn with an inerad icabl e and unhidable flawa
a tall gaunt man in a so iled frock coat and string
(pro bably an al lusion
attire] , with cold
t i e and a wid e pol i t i c ian's hat
to G Gverno r Vardaman 's u sual
[r. J . . . but
furious eyes and the long chi n of a talk er a not�
that verbal d i arrhea of his cou sin
0
LOS 138
a k ind of unerring gift for a base and evil ratio­
c ination in arg�men t, and for correctly rea4ing the
people wi th whom he d ealt & a d em�gogue•s c�pac �ty
for us ing people to s �rve h i s o wn appe ti te s , all
cloud ed over wi th a veneer of c ulture and religionJ
th� very name s of his two son s , Byron and V irg il ,
were not onl y i ns tance s b ut wa rning s ( The T o wn , pp . 40-41).
H i s nephew :Montg?mery Ward imagine s him .. lead ing a !'tymn with
one hand and f umbl ing the skirt of an eleven-year-o ld infant
wi th tl).e other" ( The Man sion , p . 8 .3 ) .
Eventually W e sl e y
wa s caught wi th a fo urteen -year-old girl b y a " po s se of
enrage s:i father s" and "tarred and feathered " o ut of the
c o untry ( T he T o wn ,
p.
41).
V irgil Snope s i s ba s i cally a comic character.
S ent by
h i s cous in C laren c e tp Memphi s , he tak e s up residence in a
·brothel Wid er the I'}aive impr e s s i on that i t i s a re spe cta b- le
b o ard ing house unaccountably inhab �ted b y a large number of
attractiv e women.
Upon haying h i s e ye s opened , he learns
h i s real tal �nt , d e spite the cha ste cla s s i c i sm of h i s name ,
to b e the ab i lity to s.e �ually sati :;;f y two or thre e women in
s uc c e s s ion.
hi s stamina.
�i s co usin Clarence earns money by �etting o �
S e x and money are also the rna �� weakne s s e s of'
his appropriate!� named brother .
Byron ,Snope s become s
b o pkke epe r in the Sarto ris bank in J eff erson . He pays a
l itt�e b qY, to d el iver h i s ob scene letter s t 9 Narpis sa
Benbow ( later the wife of yo ung Bayard Sartori s ) , who i,s
far be yond hi s soc ial clas s .
She never ,l earns the author ,
even after h e sneak s into her home to re tri eve the letters ,
l i e f o t �n impa s s i oned moment on her bed , and steal one of
her Und ergarmen ts , b ut the letter s stop after he steal s
"
mone y from the bank and ab s �ond s to Mexi co.
There he
apparentl y t ;;tke s UP, wi th an Apache s qua w ,_ for , �orne year s
later , f o ur wild , half -Apache , namel e s s child re.n }ar�i �e in
J effer son on the train with a tag ad �re s s ing the � C . 0. D .
t o Flem Sno pe s from Byron Snopes.
T h e s e silent children
LO S 139
( they ,ca n ' t :t;alk ) 9-re so f epo c i o us a nd .. terrifyi ng that even
Flem ca n't hanql � them .
C o usi n C l �renc e co upl es them i n
l eashes ang uses th em l ike hunting d o gs. b ut after th ey �ry
to b urn Doris ?napes at the stak e, F l em puts them· back o n
the train and pays their far e o ne-way back to Mexico .
Lord
Byro n1 perhaps d eserved l y, h,ad a reputatio n f :o lli' pro fli gate
sensua�i t �, but , l ike everythi ng el se th ey to uch, S no peses
have perverted Byroni sm intp sQmethi ng ugly and hurtf ul .
A �ot �er c �apsi �al l y named S no pes , Prestes S no pes , i s
potentially murd �ro us b ut ult i �tel y comic .
After R es moves
i nto th� old C ompso n pla c e , o wned b y Flem, he anno ys h i s
nei ghbor Meaqo wfill b y allo wi ng h i s h o gs o nto Mead qwf ill ' s
pro perty.
The ne� ghbor respo nd s b y fil l i ng th e hogs with
b 'qck shot .
T h e feud p�ats u p over a pro perty sa re. , and
f i nally� R es sets up a booby trap so tb�t when Mead o wfill
o pens �is wi nd o w to §hoot a hog he i s,h i msel f peppered wi th
b uck shot.
E nraged , M eado wfill i s readJ( to use hi s .22 rifle,
as R es ho pes b ecause th en he c o uld i nvok e the ord i nanee
a ga i nst s� o �t i ng guns i nsid e th e town l imits and blackmai l
Mead o wfill i nto sel �i ng his pro pert y .
Gavi n Stev ensj
q o o, b y
ho wever , prevel')t s f urther sho o t i ng and " s�ll s" th e
tra p to R es in exchange for h i s giv i ng the qi sputed land
S i nce O r estes , th e so n of
to Mead o wfill ' s d aughter .
A gamemnpn, is a cl�ssi c exempl um of revenge , ther e is a
c ertai n a ppro p�iateness i n th e name o f thi s S no pes , b ut ,
like eve�yt�i ng asso c iated with the S no pes fam i ly , t he
r evenge mo t�f i s tr.iv�l i zed and d egrad ed i nto a petty
squabble ov�r hogs and pro perty l eases.
A nother S ryo �es with a fan cy name i s Launc elot S no pes ,
alias ;Lum p .
His mother,
a
schoolt eacher b efore· h er marria ge ,
with " a bel i ef that, there was honor and prid e and salvation
and ho pe too to b e found for man ' s example between the
pa ges o f b o ok s,
•
•
•
�o �e o ne child and na�ed i t Launc elot ,
fl i ngi ng th is quenchl ess d ef ianc e i nto the ver y jaws of th e
c l o si ng trap, and d i ed . 'Laun c elotl' Ratl iff cried
•
•
•
•
LOS 140
'Lump'!
Just th ink of hi s shame and horror when h e go t b i g
enough t o reali se what h i s m a had d o ne t o.. h i s family 's name
and pri d e so that he even had to take Lump ·for folk s to
call him in place of it!'" ( The Hamlet , p. 1 97 ) .
A ga in
Faulkner mak e s use o f heavy-hand ed iron y; Launcelot Snopes ,
far from b e i ng the "chevalier sans peur e t sans r e pro che"
o f hi s name sake ,. is perhaps the mo st d i sgust i ng member of
the famil y .
N ot onl y d o e s he per j ure himself in court to
pro tect his cou sin Flem ( who d o e sn't even bother to appear ) ,
but he takes ad vantage of h i s id iot cousin's ab errations
to make mone y .
T he cou sin , I saac or Ike, is e namored of
a co w and apparentl y en ga ge s in sexual interc 6urse with
it ( Faulkner i s d i screetly vague ) .
l
Lump Snope s has opened.
a peep-hol e in the oarn and encoura ge s the men of Frenchman's
Bend to watch the se perf o rmanc e s.
He i s thus several d e grees
wor se than even h i s porno grapher cousin Montgomery Ward .
Lump's gre ed i s d i splalYed al so at the expen se of another
cou sin .
.After Mink Snopes has murd ered Houston in revenge
for losing a d o llar to him in court over a stray c o w ,
Lump i s aston ished that M ink , who d o e sn 't h�ve even enou gh
mon e y to get.out o f the county, d i dn't rob the corpse .
He
forc e s M i nk to take him to the hidd en bod y to rob i t , and
as a r e sult Mink i s captured .
Lump'S two vic tims are among the mo st intere stin g and
l east Snopes-like members o f the famil y .
M i rtk Snope s , the
irasc ible l i ttle farmer , is poor but proud and d e termined .
A s alread y mentioned , he murd ers h i s wealtny·n e i ghbor over
a singl e d o llar , and when Flem fa i l s to help him during th e
trial , and a gain en gineers h i s aborted e scape , he waits
thirty- e i ght years , walks and hi tchhike s many' mil e s at �he
a ge of sixty-thre e , and work s j u st lon g enough to buy a gun
so he can ki ll Flem .
I f such pat i ence , intensi t y , and
sin gle-mind ed en ergy had been expended · o n worthwhile �oal s ,
LO S 141
Mink wo uld be a hero .
IR fa c t , Faulkner's voi c e s of reason
in the trilo gy , ·R atli ff and Gavin S teven s , vo i c e a hear· ·felt
e ulogy when they find Mink d ead , a eulogy more fi tting for
a d ead warri or th an for a vengef ul kill er.
The na me al so
i mpli e s some o f the paradoxs d e spite the great value o f i t s
fur , asso ciated with elegance , grac e , and wealth , the mink
i s a mean , vic i o u s rod ent , with the appetite o f a rat and
the te mper �f a wolverine .
When Ratl i ff meets Mink Snope s
fo r th e second t i me �d tri e s to r e call h i s na me , h e
th ink s " fox? cat? o h y e s mink" (Th e Hamlet , p . 89).
The
a sso c ia tion of both fo x and cat are appropriate , again , fo r
just low-d own , mean , untrustworth ine ss .
Final l y , Isaac Sno pe s i s both th e mo st and the l ea st
Snop e s-l ike o f al l .
H e i s l ike Mink in h i s c o mplete
un co ncern . abo ut money ; bo th o f the m have the un-Snopes­
l ik e trait o f l it e rally throwing it away , wh erea s th e o ther
Sno pese s will sto op to any low, d e vi o us d e vice to gain i t .
But whereas for Mink Sno pe s , money i s uni mportant compared
to the intensity o f' h i s hatred s , fo r I saac money i s unim­
portan t bo,th because , as an i d i o t , he d o e sn't know i t s
true value , . and be cau se it can not substitute fo � h ds real
love , that i s , the cow .
He i s the only member o f the
fa mily wi th any po si tive e mo t i ons; Fa ul kner d e scribes h is
idylli c elope m'ent with the cow in tend er , glowing terms ,
muc h a s h e surro und s· that other i d i o t , B en jy o f The Sound
and the Fury , wi th an a ura o f grace and the smell o f tree s.
On the other ha nd , as an i d i o t , Ike i s completely amoral
and think s no thing o f stealing both cow and feed,
He
is
al so a �ind o f to uchstone • o th er peopl e 's reactions to
h i m r e veal the ir moral worth .
T h e Snopese s tak e ad vantage
o f h im, but the h umane character s , like Ratl i ff and Mrs.
Li ttle john , seek to pro tect h i m .
In
a sen se he i s lik e
the y o ung Isaac o f the B ibl e s innocent and lo ving , he
t e sts the fai th fuln e ss o f o thers.
Like Faulkner ' s other
LOS 142
I saac , Ike McCasl in , the protagoni st o f " T he Bear , " he i s
entirely in tun e with h i s nat ural surround ings.
But for
·
I k e Snopes , thi s harmony results from the ab sen c e o f ratio ­
c ination rather than from a consc i o us abn egation of self,
H i s eyes " ha d open ed upon , b een vouchsaf ed a gl impse of , the
Gorgo n-fac e of that primal injustice which man was not
intend ed to look at fac e to fac e and had b een blasted
empty and cl ean forever o f any tho ught" ( T he Hamlet , p. 8 5 ) .
Ike Sno pes also lack s a l angua ge; h i s vocab ulary con si sts
onl y of moans and o f h i s nam e , whi ch he rend ers " Ik e H-mope. "
Unlik e the o ther snak y Snopeses , i t i s as if Ike i s trying
to d eclare his h umanity b y so und in g the initial H .
But
then h e falls
back into the unreason in g lethar gy impl i ed
I
b y the slang word " mo pe . "
Lo oked at as a group , the Snopeses are c ertainly an
unappet i zin g lot , but they are not an all·egori cal r-epresenta­
t ion of ab so la:tt e ev il .
Ab , th e pro gen i tor , contri,b ut eq to
th e ma intenanc e of peopl e rava ged by warfare and ea rned
youn g Ratl iff's respect b efore he went so ur .
Flem ' s quest
was simply for financ ial suc c ess and respectab ili tyi a
goal we c an sympath i ze wi th , altho ugh h i s method s wer e
ruthl ess and d ev i o us .
Mink had th e f i er c e d etermination
o f a hero , and oth er memb ers o f the family were in�ffectual
and comi c .
At lea st two memb ers o f th e famil y su c c eed ed
through sheer hon est effort , and Ike , in his simple innocenc e ,
remind s us that the core o f h uman i t y i s loving rutd gentl e .
What F aulkn er ha s d one with thi s fami l y , then , i s to
ill ustrat e how greed , unrestrain ed by either grac e or
moral effort , can warp the basi c go odness of human natur e
into something ugly and d estructive.
Faulkner warns us
that everyth in g and ev eryon e , no matter h o w noble and
r evered ( l ik e V ir gil and Laun c elot ) , no matter how brill iant
and reso l ute ( l ik e Byron and O restes ) , no matter how home­
spun and ut ilitarian ( lik e Mo ntgomery Ward and Watk ins
Prod uct s) , no matter how apparentl y harml ess and passi ve
�'
LO S 143
( lik e Mink and Flem ) , can b e corrupted by greed and can
In
spread the rot ·of mater ial i sm .
a
klnd of twentieth­
c entury dan s e macabre , in stead of pope s , k ing s , and peasants
b e ing led off to H ell by d e�th , we here have
all lev e l s and
'
l
•
type s o f human i ty b e ing j o ined by the common bond o f mean
amb i tion s , wrongfully attained , " for. now w_erf? all
P
tran sformed /Al ike ,. ,to serpent s .all" ( .arad i s e ·Lo st ,, X , 5 1 9 - 5 2 0 ) .
At the same time , however , by. the D icken s ian comedy of
th e name s , heav ily la c ed w ith irony , . Faulkner a ssur e s us
that , d e spite Ratl i ff ' s' v i s ion of F lem supplanting the
D evil as ruler -of Hell ( �he Hamlet , pp . 1 49 - 1 53 ) , the
threat of the Snope s e s :i:-s- contained ;by a larger v i s i on
still .
The comic 'v i s ion o ffers a happy end ing , the
ban i shment of evil and the renewal of hope , guard ed and
susta ined ·by active , humane moral ity .
T h i s i s the v i s ion
impl i c i t in Faulkner ' s N obel Pri z e Addre s s & " T he po et ' s
voice need not ·merely be th e record of man , i t can b e
on e
props , · the
bf'.
-the-prevail . " 13
)
pillar s t o he.lp him endure.. and·
..
F r ed e r i ck M .
B ur e l ba ch
Stat.e Un-i v e r &i ty
of N ew Y ork
C o l l ege at B rockport
LOS 1 44
Append ix
SNOPES GENEALOGI ES
,,
V yn i e 1 Ab Snope s Z Lenn fe
F l em
N et
II
I
C o l on e l Sartori s
Li z zi e
W e s l ey Snopes = ?
I
r-----By ron
Apa c h e
l
I
V irgil
f o ur ch i l d r en
,------
Wall s t r e e t Pan i c
.. gray - c o l o r e d woman ..
Montg omery
Ward
Ad d i t i onal Snop e s e s 1
E ckrum Sno pe s , = ?
I
Admira l p ewey
1 I. o . Snope s
I
child
�
Oth'er children
g i rl from Frenchman ' s
B end
J_
V ard aman
D or i s
C laren c e
and B ilbo
Egg l e s tone
I saac ( Ik e )
La un c el o t ( Lump )
M ink
Ore s t e s ( Re s )
Watk in s Pro d u c t s
st .
Elmo
LO S 145
NOTES
Ra-tl·if'f' --�peak ing 'O'f M ink Snop e s in W·i lliam· ·Faulkner ,
The Hamlet , ( N e'"w York e Rand om House
intage B o ok -· 1 956 ) ,
t
p. 91 .
�
€1
Fu�ther ref erenqe s to th�s wo rk , a s well a s to
•
j
•
The T own and The Man s ion , ,al so publ i shed by V inta;ge :J? opk s
'
in 1 95 7 and 1 9 6.5· re ectively , will be given parenth eti cally
in the paper .
�p
4 Fau lkner in the Un iv ersity & Cla s s C onf erences at the
"
University o f V irgirlia , 1957-58 , ed : :Fr4e rick .L . G�ynn and
I
'
'
J o seph L . B lo tner ( CJ1arlo:t;"te sville a -Uni � er.si ty o f V irginia
Pre s s , 1 959 ) , p . 1 08 ... ,
I
3 For exampl e , Warren Be e�, Man in Motion a Faulkner ' s
.
•'
Trilogy ( Mad i son a Universi�� of Wi,. �con sin Pre s s ,- ·1 9 6 1 ) and
Jame s Gray Wat son , The Snope.& D il emma & Faulkner ' s :Trilogy
... �
>
( C ora:J_ Gable s a Univ ersity o f ' Miami Pre s s , 1 968 ) .
4J o seph B lotner , Faulkner a A B i ography ( N ew Y o rk a Rand om
House , 1 9 74 ) , pp . 5 26-529 .
5 D onald Attwater , The Pengu in D i ctionary o f Sain t s
( B altimore , MD a Penguin B o ok s , 1 9 65 ) , s . v . St . Era smu s .
6
I bid .
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