Go Down, Moses "Was" Summary

Section 1

• The first lines of the story introduce Isaac McCaslin, 'Uncle Ike,' almost eighty, a childless widower.
• Before we can ease into this Isaac character, the narrator immediately says, "this was not something participated in or even seen by himself, but by his elder cousin, McCaslin 'Cass' Edmonds. 
• If you're saying, "This? This what? Himself? Who?" and feeling lightheaded, try to hold yourself together. This is Faulkner being a good modernist storyteller and withholding enough information to give us that head rush.
• So, um, "this" above refers to "this story you're about to read," and "himself" refers to Uncle Ike himself.
• You thought you'd next read "this," the story that the narrator just promised us, right? Wrong. First, Uncle Ike's life story, conveniently summarized for you in two paragraphs.
• Listen up now: Isaac is important, as in, the most important character in the book.
• We find out quite a few things about Isaac and his family in this summary:
• His "cousin" McCaslin Edmonds is actually his second cousin, and more specifically, his father's sister's grandson.
• Which means McCaslin is on the distaff, that is, the female, line of the family. Why does that matter? Well, the women's side of the family was usually entitled to a smaller inheritance in the antebellum (pre-Civil War) South. Plus, they inherited "weaker" blood.
• McCaslin Edmonds inherited and then passed along some land that some people thought rightfully belonged to Isaac.
• Isaac is anti-property ownership. He believes the earth, like light and air and water, belongs to everyone. We'll hear more about his politics later.
• On her deathbed, Isaac's wife left him a bungalow in Jefferson (the fictional town), where he lives in with his sister-in-law and her kids, but doesn't "own."
• McCaslin Edmonds is sixteen years his senior and like a father to him because Ike's father died when Ike was young.

Section 2

• Now that Isaac's life story is out of the way, we can get to "this," that is, the story the narrator introduces at the beginning.
• The narrator dives right into a paragraph-long sentence that starts with "When he [...]" (1.2.1). He who? Modernist Mr. Faulkner wants you to keep guessing, but we'll put you out of your misery now.
• "He" turns out to be McCaslin 'Cass' Edmonds, still a child in this story. Isaac wasn't born yet.
• Cass and Uncle Buck find out that Tomey's Turl, one of their slaves, has run away again. (The name Tomey's Turl means Turl's mother's name is Tomey.)
• They know where Tomey's Turl must be because he runs away about twice a year to the neighboring Beauchamp plantation to see his lover, Tennie, who's a slave there. 
• That plantation belongs to Hubert Beauchamp, a bachelor like Uncle Buck and Uncle Buddy.
• He has a sister, Miss Sophonsiba, or 'Sibbey.'
• Sibby thinks her brother's secretly the true Earl of Warwick, U.K., and that the Beauchamp plantation should be called "Warwick." (True fact: in 1258, a guy named de Beauchamp did become the Earl of Warwick and inherited a huge estate.)
• The McCaslins could buy Tennie, but Uncle Buck refuses to buy another slave, claiming they already have too many.
• And Mr. Hubert refuses to buy Tomey's Turl, who he calls "that damn white half-McCaslin."
• This paragraph packs quite a mighty punch for us: it's the first time we see the n-word, which will appear frequently in this book. 
• It's also the first time we hear of the family link between the McCaslins and their slaves.
• Uncle Buck and Cass set off on horseback to the Beauchamp plantation to get Tomey's Turl.
• We learn that Uncle Buck and Uncle Buddy are identical twins, sixty-year-old bachelors.
• Three miles from Mr. Hubert's, they spot Tomey's Turl riding a mule. They try to circle and ambush him, but he escapes.
• They come to Mr. Hubert's; he wants them to have a drink, relax, and eat dinner.
• Miss Sophonsiba joins them. She tries to charm Uncle Buck into marrying her.
• Uncle Buck seems incredibly uncomfortable with all this attention.
• Cass goes outside and sees Turl squatting right outside the door, not doing much escaping.
• Cass tells Turl the grownups will set the dogs loose to find him, and Turl responds that he has the "womenfolk's" protection now, so everything will work out. He's totally chill.
• Cass goes back to the house to find the adults well into their afternoon naps, snoring. 
• Soon they're up and drinking again. Before Cass knows it, the men are chasing Tomey's Turl. He escapes again.
• Mr. Hubert doesn't feel like chasing anymore, so he bets Uncle Buck $500 that all they need to do to catch Tomey's Turl is to walk up to Tennie's cabin after dark and call him.
• We're starting to wonder—why is Turl so laid-back about all this?
• On the way home, a little dog finds all the hounds locked up in a cabin, probably Turl's doing.
• They conclude that the hounds know Turl too well to find him, and instead set the little dog on Turl's trail. 
• He loses the trail at a stream, though, so they have to head home.
• At home, the dog goes crazy and runs straight to Tennie's cabin.
• Uncle Buck stands in front of the cabin's door, and sure enough, Tomey's Turl bursts out of it, knocks Uncle Buck down, and takes off.
• Uncle Buck turns out to be fine, but he's had enough.
• At night, Cass and Uncle Buck are late going to sleep, and they realize they don't know what room is their guest room.
• They take their boots off and start feeling around in the dark hall to find their way.
• They enter a room, undress and roll into bed.
• The next thing we know, Miss Sophonsiba is sitting up in that bed, screaming.
• Wrong room.

Section 3

• The following day, Cass has been sent back home to get Uncle Buddy to come the rescue. 
• Cass tells Uncle Buddy about the mistake with Sophonsiba's bed, and how Mr. Hubert now insists that Uncle Buck propose to Miss Sophonsiba. 
• Cass says Uncle Buck got Mr. Hubert to play a round of poker with him to settle matters about Miss Sophonsiba, Tomey's Turl and Tennie. 
• Uncle Buck lost. He'll have to propose to Sophonsiba now and buy Tennie from Hubert. 
• Cass and Uncle Buddy ride back to Mr. Hubert's. 
• Uncle Buddy challenges Mr. Hubert to a new game of poker over Miss Sophonsiba's dowry.
• Mr. Hubert loses the first round. They decide to play a second round with higher stakes. 
• If Mr. Hubert wins, Uncle Buck will take Sibby without dowry, and also Tomey's Turl and Tennie. 
• The rules get complicated, but the upshot is that Uncle Buck is free and Mr. Hubert has to give Tennie to Buck and Buddy, no charge.

Section 4

• Cass, Uncle Buddy, Uncle Buck, Tennie, and Tomey's Turl all go back to the McCaslin plantation.
• The hounds start circling a crated fox in the house.
• A dog called "Old Moses" goes into the crate with the fox, the fox escapes, and the dog starts running around with the crate around his neck.
• The fox tries to climb a tree, but slides down.
• Uncle Buddy yells at Uncle Buck for keeping a fox in the house. Uncle Buck tells Uncle Buddy to go start breakfast.