Character Analysis
Turl is the son of old Carothers McCaslin by the slave girl Tomey, who's Carothers McCaslin's daughter by Eunice, making him old Carothers's son and grandson. The shocking thing about Turl's character is that he's three-quarters white, but still a slave. While his father never openly acknowledges Turl, he leaves Turl a $1000 inheritance, to be claimed on his twenty-first birthday. Turl, however, never claims this inheritance. We never find out why. On old Carothers's death, he becomes the property of Buck and Buddy.
In "Was," Turl's in love with Tennie, a slave woman on the Beauchamp plantation, and he keeps running away from the McCaslin plantation to visit her. He eventually surrenders, and Buddy McCaslin wins Tennie in a poker game. Happy ending (sort of): Tennie moves to the McCaslin plantation. Turl and Tennie get married. Later, in the other stories, we find out that they had three children: James, Fonsiba and Lucas. We don't know much about Turl's character, but he's sure persistent in pursuing Tennie. He's a slave, but his children grow up free.