Mrs. Downs
Character Key Number:
2892
Display Name:
Mrs. Downs
Sort Name:
Downs, Mrs.
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?:
Yes
Biography:
In Intruder in the Dust Mrs. Downs is "an old white woman who lived alone in a small filthy shoebox of a house . . . in a settlement of Negro houses," and makes her living telling fortunes, curing hexes and finding lost objects for African American customers (69). She is perhaps the same as, or is at least very similar to the "half-crazed" woman who appears in Sanctuary.