Unnamed Aunt of Herman Basket

The unnamed aunt whom Herman Basket and his sister live with in "A Courtship" seems to be their surrogate parent; the other Chickasaw often hear her voice when it is raised to scold her niece's laziness. She is also actively involved in her niece's courtship. It is to ingratiate himself and his cause with her that Ikkemotubbe sends a pony and his gamecocks as gifts, and when the suitors won't behave she does not hesitate to threaten them with a shotgun. She feels that her family is superior to "Issetibbeha's whole family" (365). What role she may play in her niece's ultimate choice, however, is not revealed.