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Hurston uses Lena, the story’s only named female character, as a means of showcasing Spunk and Joe’s conflict of masculinity. As the two men compete, they treat Lena as a piece of property they are fighting to possess. Lena’s actions throughout this conflict dictate which man has the upper hand. Lena is also the subject of much gossip and speculation from the rest of the town, principally voiced through Elijah, Walter, and the other loungers. At the beginning of the story, Lena hangs on Spunk’s every word and follows him willingly, very much in love according to the narrator, an indication of his dominant position in his conflict with Joe. In contrast, the disgust she shows her husband Joe proves that he is losing the competition for her attention and love. The loungers see her behavior as an affirmation of Spunk’s dominance at this point in the story. Although Lena is frightened when Spunk murders Joe, she stays with him, illustrating his continued power. However, after the appearance of the black bobcat ghost, the loungers attribute Spunk’s willingness to marry Lena as a sign of Joe’s growing power as they speculate that Joe’s ghost had come to intimidate Spunk into marriage.

After Spunk’s death, the loungers and the village in general speculate as who will be Lena’s next man, showing that her very personhood is less important than her potential value as a trophy, and that her identity is tied to her relationships with men. Throughout the story, Lena has only one line of dialogue, which is delivered through Elijah, reinforcing the idea that Lena’s lack of agency and voice cast her as a pawn in Spunk and Joe’s battle for masculine dominance over one another.

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