Ike

i have read most of William Faulkner’s novels twice.

i have read “The Bear” in Go Down, Moses at least fifty, if not 100 times. i may sit down this afternoon and read it again.

i named my buddy of all time, the officially yellow but gold of coat Labrador with a white star on his chest “Cass” with the formal tag of “McCaslin” after Isaac (Ike) McCaslin, which was what i planned to name a son if i had one and my wife at the time would not let me name the son the Third.

i have two wonderful daughters. Neither has a name that is connected to Ike McCaslin.

Sometime in antiquity, i forgot all of the reasons i was so captured by Ike. i finally decided it was because i loved the character in “The Bear.”

But in looking up good ole Ike when i was considering names for a couple of fiction items i’ve been writing, i found this in “Smoop,” a website apparently created to help students in their…well, their studies:

https://www.shmoop.com/go-down-moses/ike-mccaslin.html

Faulkner and Robert Penn Warren are my all time favorite writers although the competition for top spot is filled with many favorites. i think Faulkner wins out for me, if for no other reason he created Ike McCaslin.​ Ike, throughout Faulkner’s literature is a wonderful character.

i would like to be like Ike. No not that general, president guy: Ike McCaslin.

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