Hello and welcome to the Discourse. William Faulkner is one of the only four writers who won two Pulitzer Prizes for fiction. The first one he got in 1954 for A Fable and the second was in 1963 for The Reivers which was published in 1962. It is the last novel by William Faulkner based in the fictional Yoknapatwapah county. Faulkner was known for writing serious Southern gothic novels with complex literary styles and structures. However, The Reivers is comparatively straightforward and lighthearted. The Reivers is a Picaresque Novel. A Picaresque novel deals with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero and in this case, he is Lucius Priest. Eleven-year-old Lucius Priest is persuaded by Boon Hogganbeck, one of his family’s retainers, to steal his grandfather’s car and make a trip to Memphis. The Priests’ black coachman, Ned McCaslin, stows away, and the three of them are off on a heroic odyssey, for which they are all ill-equipped, that ends at Miss Reba’s bordello in Memphis. From there a series of wild misadventures ensues—involving horse smuggling, trainmen, sheriffs’ deputies, and jail. Throughout his journey, Lucius learns much of the world, including the consequences of non-Virtue, as well as the power of racism, sexism, prejudice, and greed. However, through Ned's gentle guidance and Boon's opposite actions, Lucius also learns of honor, Virtue, glory, and humility.
Characters:
Lucius Priest is an eleven-year-old boy whose grandfather Boss Priest is a successful banker of Jefferson, Mississippi. Boon Hogganbeck is a family friend and male servant of Priests. He is young, strong, dimwitted, and very fond of Lucius Priest. Hogganbeck loves a woman named Corrie (or Everbe Corinthia) who is a prostitute. Hogganbeck wants to marry her. Ned McCaslin is a black servant of Priests who works with Hogganbeck at their stable. He is also a blood cousin of Priests. Otis is a nephew of Corrie of the same age as Lucius. Miss Reba is a brothel owner where Corrie lives with Otis. Sam is a railway worker at Prasham and Butch is a corrupt local lawman of Prasham. Coppermine is a stolen horse that Ned trades and Lucius rides in horseraces.
Summary:
The novel begins as Lucius Priest invites the readers to listen to one of his past stories that happened in 1905 when he was just 11 years old. The story is set in 1905 and it tells about three people of Jefferson, Mississippi who decide to travel to Memphis. Boon Hogganbeck is the family friend and servant of Lucius Priest’s grandfather. He is strong but dimwitted and is like a friend to Lucius. Lucius’s grandfather is a rich banker who bought one of the first cars in Yoknapatawpah county. His other grandfather recently died in St. Louis and his parents and grandfather went to his funeral. Back at Jefferson, Boon wants to visit Memphis as soon as possible so that he may meet and convince Corrie, a prostitute, to marry him. He has been a regular client of hers.
Since Hogganbeck has no way of getting to Memphis, He steals the car of Boss Priest and he and Lucius drive away to Memphis. Lucius is a young boy who never visited Memphis and non-virtue tempts him to be with Hogganbeck.
Soon they find out that Ned McCaslin, another servant of Priests and a back blood cousin of Lucius has stowed away with them. Ned is related to Lucius’s grandfather but since he is half-black, he has no share in his wealth. Hogganbeck is not very happy with the presence of Ned during the journey but he reluctantly allows Ned to travel to Memphis along with them.
As they travel further, they find out that the road is not in good condition and their speed is too slow. They are forced to stop at Miss Ballenbaugh’s, a store with lodging facilities. The next morning, they set off once again and reach Hell Creek bottom which is the deepest mud hole in the whole area. The car gets stuck in the mud and there is no way it can be freed. The trio tries their best and then gives up in exasperation. A local man sees the opportunity and offers them help in getting their car out of the mud with the help of his horses.
As their car gets out of Hell Creek, they begin their journey to Memphis again. Hagganbeck couldn’t wait to meet Corrie any longer so he decides to go directly to Miss Reba’s brothel along with Lucius and Ned. Miss Reba, the brothel owner, and Corrie both are disturbed after seeing an eleven-year-old boy at the brothel. Corrie is already sheltering her nephew Ottis at the brothel who is of the same age and another child appears to be troublesome at such a place. Anyhow, they settle the three visitors for a period. Ottis is an ill-mannered boy. In the evening, he tells that Corrie used to engage in prostitution in their old town and he used to charge men to watch her entertaining her clients through a peephole and thus make some money. Lucius gets angry and he fights Ottis. Ottis is stronger and he has a pocketknife with which he cuts Lucius’s hand. Hagganbeck breaks up the fight. Corrie sees this all and she is moved by the chivalry of Lucius. She tenders his wound and determines that she will leave prostitution and will lead a better life. The same night, Ned goes out and acts like a reckless gambler and trades the borrowed car to a stolen racehorse never known to have won any race.
Hagganbeck and Lucius get furious at Ned but they have no way to go to Mississippi and face Lucius’s grandfather without his car. Ned persuades Lucius and Lucius has no way but to accept to ride the stolen horse in a race in the hope of winning back his grandfather’s car. Ned convinces them that he knows a secret way to make any horse run and win any race. Ned tells them about a horserace going to be held soon in a nearby town Prasham. Miss Reba, Corrie, Ned, Hagganbeck, and Lucius hatch a plan to take the horse by rail to Prasham. Ned says that the other horse in the same race has defeated their horse Copper mine twice and thus, everyone will bet against their horse. However, he knows a secret way to make their horse run and win the race. Thus, Ned says that they can win enough money to buy back their car. Corrie uses the connection of one of her clients named Sam who works in railways to help them reach Prasham through a night train. However, Butch, a local lawman of Prasham finds them out and tries to force Corrie to sexually gratify him. However, Miss Reba threatens him that if he doesn’t let them go away, she will reveal to the public that he ordered two prostitutes to come to him and this will anger the public in his constituency.
Lucius rides Coppermine on the day of the race and as they planned, the horse loses the first round. As they prepare for the second round which they expected to win, Butch arrives and arrests Hagganbeck for stealing the horse. Lucius and one of Ned’s friends somehow take the horse to safety. Hagganbeck is released as Corrie supposedly agreed to sexually gratify Butch. The race resumes the next day and as they planned, Coppermine surprisingly wins the second heat. However, they couldn’t celebrate the win much as Boss Priest arrives at the racing track at the same time.
Boss Priest scolds them all and then Ned reveals his plan. He says that his cousin Bobo was in a difficult situation as he accrued a huge gambling debt to a white man. To repay the debt, Bobo agreed to steal a racing horse. Ned helped him in stealing the horse but when he saw the horse, he recognized some spirit in the horse that he once saw in a mule that he made to win a race. He thus decided to trade the car for the horse so that he could win the race. Through that money, he had planned to get back the car but Boss Priest’s arrival has ruined his plan.
Boss Priest listens to him carefully and agrees to let him use his trick to make Coppermine win the third heat of the race (Ned’s secret was to entice the horse with sardine.) Boss Priest agrees to bet the race. If they win, Boss Priest will pay $500 for the car and legally take the horse to Mississippi. If they lose, Boss Priest will pay $500 and will not be required to take the horse along with him. Anyhow, Bobo gets rid of his debt while Boss Priest will pay for the car.
Ned intentionally throws the race and Coppermine loses as he knows that Coppermine is a worthless horse. Boss Priest pays $500 and they all come back to Jefferson. At home, Lucius’s grandfather saves him from getting any punishment from his parents as he knows that the ordeal he has faced during his journey was enough punishment for him. Hagganbeck marries Corrie and after some time, Corrie gives birth to his child whom they name Lucius Priest Hagganbeck.
The Reiver is the only novel by William Faulkner with a happy ending in which the romantic hero (Hagganbeck) marries his lover. Unlike his other novels, it is a light-hearted story. This is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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