Dilsey Gibson
Dilsey is the mother of Versh, T.P., and Frony, the wife of Roskus Gibson, and a servant of the Compson household. She has been said by some to be a reflection of Mammy Callie, an ex-slave and servant to Faulkner's family who did not leave them even after she was freed. Because Caroline Compson often found herself unable to raise her children, Dilsey often did so for her, even going to far as to aid in the raising of Caddy's child Quentin, though she was very old. The Compson Appendix says of her simply that “They endured,” but Frony's entry implies that both she and Dilsey eventually end up in Memphis (348).
Dilsey is often verbally abused; Jason refers to her as “an old half dead nigger,” and though she protects Quentin from Jason, she, much like Jason, still calls her an “old nigger” (185).
The final section of The Sound and the Fury is not narrated by Dilsey, but it largely concerns itself with her, leading some to refer to it as “Dilsey's section.”
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