Aunt Rachel
Text:
Character Key:
Display Name:
Aunt Rachel
Sort Name:
Rachel, Aunt
Race:
Black
Gender:
Female
Class:
Free Black
Rank:
Minor
Vitality:
Alive
First Mentioned:
Real?:
No
Biography:
Aunt Rachel never directly appears in the story. Quentin says she is "old," and lives in a cabin "by herself" near Nancy, smoking "a pipe in the door, all day long" (294). The "Aunt" in her name is clearly conventional, part of the way the Jim Crow culture stereotypes Negroes, but it's not clear whether she is "Jesus' mother": "Sometimes she said she was and sometimes she said she wasn't any kin to Jesus" (294). Quentin's father suggests Nancy could "go to Aunt Rachel's" for safety, but that doesn't happen (306).
Individual or Group:
Individual
Character changes class in this text:
digyok:node/character/2216