Unnamed Negro Yard Man|Chauffeur

This is the black man who works for Flem Snopes. In his narrative Ratliff calls him both the "yard boy" (172) and "the yard man" (173), "that Negro yard man" (182). Given Ratliff's dialect and the white Southern use of "boy" to keep black men in the place that segregation defines for them, it's safe to say this "boy" is really a "man." In addition to his work around and outside Flem's mansion, he drives Flem's car "now and then" (172), though Ratliff notes that "he never had no white coat and showfer's [i.e. chauffeur's] cap" (174).