Unnamed Aunt of Rider

This deeply devout and caring woman is a constant presence both in Rider's life and the story "Pantaloon in Black" in both its publications, as a short story and as a chapter in Go Down, Moses: "She was his aunt. She had raised him. He could not remember his parents at all" (238, 130). Several other characters, including her husband and members of Rider's mill gang, are referred to as her messengers, as she makes repeated efforts to rein in Rider's self-destructive bent by encouraging him to turn to family and to religion.