Lena Kanty Character Analysis

Lena Kanty, Joe’s wife and Spunk’s lover, is “a small pretty woman.” She is introduced when walking through the village “clinging lovingly” to Spunk. Joe and Spunk compete for Lena throughout the story, but her voice is markedly absent throughout. Lena’s only line of dialogue is reported through Elijah Mosley, who recounts an altercation between Lena, Joe, and Spunk the week before. According to Elijah, when Joe pleaded Lena to return home to him, she “looked at him real disgusted,” until Spunk grabbed her by the arm and declared, “Lena, youse mine.” Lena is remarkably passive until she “speaks up” to explain that she wants to at least remain in her house because it was passed down to her by her father. Lena’s autonomy and agency is immediately undermined, however, when Spunk warns her that, although she can keep her house, “when youse inside don’t forgit youse mine.” Elijah reports that Lena looked at Spunk with “eyes so full of love that they wuz runnin’ over,” but it’s possible that Lena’s tears symbolize the fear she feels under Spunk’s controlling demands. Lena’s body is not only a site of desire and control for Joe and Spunk, but also a battleground for them to assert their competing masculinities.