Will Mayes

Submitted by garrettm@u.nort... on Sat, 2012-06-09 13:41
Text: 
"Dry September"
Character Key: 
Will Mayes
Display Name: 
Will Mayes
Sort Name: 
Mayes, Will
Race: 
Black
Gender: 
Male
Class: 
Free Black
Rank: 
Secondary
Vitality: 
Dies
Occupation: 
Production
Specific Job: 
Night Watchman
First Mentioned: 
Ice Plant in "Dry September" (Location)
Origin: 
Jefferson
Cause of Death: 
Murder
Real?: 
No
Biography: 

A Negro who works as the night watchman at the local ice plant, Will Mayes is ambiguously accused by a white woman named Minnie Cooper of assault and lynched by a mob of Jefferson men. The lynching is not narrated. Although the barber says repeatedly that "I know Will Mayes" (169), and believes he is innocent, the narrative refers to him mostly as "the Negro" and does not describe him - his age or physical experience - extensively. Nor does story ever say what, if anything, happened between Will and Minnie. Will himself says repeatedly but to no avail that "I aint done nothing" (177, 178).

Individual or Group: 
Individual
Character changes class in this text: 

digyok:node/character/1720