Doctor Alford
Character Key Number:
352
Display Name:
Doctor Alford
Sort Name:
Alford, Doctor
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?:
Yes
Biography:
Doctor Alford appears in Flags in the Dust as a "newcomer" to Jefferson in his "thirties" (93). He shares offices with Dr. Peabody but expresses impatience and often contempt for Peabody's traditional ideas about the practice of medicine. He is courting Narcissa Benbow, but without arousing much interest in her. He is mentioned in As I Lay Dying when MacGowan tells Jody to send Dewey Dell "upstairs to Alford's office" when she asks "to see the doctor that works" there (241). In this novel it's not clear that "Alford's office" has any connection with Peabody, who does appear in it.