Wash Jones Character Analysis

Wash Jones is a squatter whom Sutpen allows to live in the shed at the abandoned fishing camp on Sutpen’s Hundred. He’s embittered about his low status, especially following the emancipation of enslaved Black people after the South’s loss of the Civil War. He resents Clytie for not allowing him inside Sutpen’s mansion, an insult that mirrors the humiliation incident that propelled Sutpen’s ambitious quest to carry out his “design” years before. After Sutpen’s son Henry rejects his birthright and runs away, Sutpen initiates a sexual relationship with Wash Jones’s granddaughter, Milly, hoping to bear a male heir with her and continue his dynasty. However, after Wash overhears Sutpen insult Milly for giving birth to a girl, he murders Sutpen with a scythe before turning the blade on Milly, the newborn, and finally himself.