Mannie Hait

Mannie Hait first appears in "Mule in the Yard," and then returns in her role as widow and adversary of mules and I.O. Snopes when Faulkner re-tells the story in The Town. In both texts she staunchly defends her house against both adversaries, but is defeated by her own carelessness. In the end, however, despite the loss of her house, she manages to get even with one mule and one Snopes. Her strength as a woman seems to be indicated both by her first name and by the clothes she wears: not just her dead husband's "man's felt hat" but also "the man's shoes" that she bought for herself after his death (250).