From the opening passages of the novel the ghost of Colonel John Sartoris hangs oppressively in the background, representing past "greatness" that once existed but now is gone. Throughout the book, old man Falls invokes the past, idealizing it in war stories and providing mementos of the great Colonel Sartoris; but, when telling Old Bayard yet again of the Colonel's daring escape from a Yankee patrol, he also mentions the Colonel's subsequent disillusionment and suicide (of sorts) during the Reconstruction when he discovered that continued violence was the only hope to preserve the old southern class system: After gaining office, Colonel Sartoris is murdered by a political opponent; ironically, he seems to welcome his end. For the Colonel, the Reconstruction is just an extension of the Civil War, and he fought it just as zealously; but he came to the realization that change was imminent--the slaves were emancipated, his aristocratic brethren were either dead or pauperized--and the struggle against the future became too taxing for even him to continue.
The retelling of the stories is ingrained into the survivor's way of life. Old man Fall's role of glamorizer of the past is shared by Aunt Jenny. But the retellings lend a kind of superficial grace to the actions of the southern gentlemen during and after the Civil War. Superficial because in the end the cause of the South, the maintenance of an independent but immoral society, must be considered unjust—no matter how glamorous the Confederate soldiers are made to appear. But the later generations refuse to acknowledge the immorality of the old system, in fact, they attempt to perpetuate it. Aunt Jenny orders her Negro servants around as if they were still slaves, and curses the day when Negroes were allowed into the white army, "Who was the fool anyway, who thought of putting niggers into the same uniform as white men" (68). Aunt Jenny has lost none of her aristocratic tendencies, despite their untenable nature.