Unnamed Negro Inmates 5
Character Key Number:
2947
Display Name:
Unnamed Negro Inmates 5
Sort Name:
Unnamed Negro Inmates 5
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?:
Yes
Biography:
When Sheriff Hampton goes out to investigate Vinson Gowrie's grave in Intruder in the Dust, he takes along two Negro prisoners from the jail to do the digging. Both are dressed in "blue jumpers and the soiled black-ringed convict pants which the street gangs wore" (136; in this context "street gangs" are chain gangs or convict work gangs). The narrative makes no effort to distinguish these "two Negroes," as they are repeatedly called (154, 156, 157, etc.). Both are equally anxious about their task, especially when Vinson's father appears.