Character Analysis
At the beginning of "Was," we encounter Tennie as the lover of Tomey's Turl. She lives on the Beauchamp plantation. Turl gets into trouble when he runs away from the McCaslin plantation to visit Tennie. Buddy McCaslin "wins" Tennie from Hubert Beauchamp in a poker game, and she ends up moving to the McCaslin plantation and marrying Tomey's Turl. In later stories, we learn that she and Turl have three children: James, Sophonsiba and Lucas. We see Tennie watch quietly when Sibbey Beauchamp sends away her brother's black girlfriend, but we're only left to imagine what she's thinking.