# Mary — You Can’t Win character guide

> Mary in You Can’t Win by Jack Black.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Salt Chunk Mary

**First appearance:** 0006-iv

## Snapshot

Salt Chunk Mary, a fence and friend of bums, feeds the hungry road with beans and salt pork while ruling her girls and her business with an iron hand.

## Who they are

Mary, known as Salt Chunk Mary, runs a dingy two-story house on the outskirts of Pocatello where she sells wine, women, and song to railroad men and gamblers, and where her first question is always whether you've eaten. She once broke open a town jail to free the narrator when no man would lift a hand, yet when he later greets her she denies ever knowing him, burying her old life in the far North. Her fierce generosity and her ruthless finality make her one of the road's most memorable and contradictory figures.

## Relationships

### [Gold Tooth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/gold_tooth)

_romantic_

Gold Tooth is deeply in love with Mary and pursues her with romantic devotion.

### [Johnnie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/johnnie)

_romantic_

Johnnie and Mary are lovers, with Johnnie deeply devoted to Mary despite obstacles.

### [Rebel George](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/rebel_george)

_rivalry_

Mary and Rebel George are at odds, with Rebel George opposing Mary's influence over Johnnie.

### [Johnnie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/johnnie)

_romantic_

Johnnie and Mary are lovers, with Johnnie deeply devoted to Mary despite obstacles.

### [Rebel George](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/rebel_george)

_rivalry_

Mary and Rebel George are at odds, with Rebel George opposing Mary's influence over Johnnie.

### [Gold Tooth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/gold_tooth)

_romantic_

Gold Tooth is deeply in love with Mary and pursues her with romantic devotion.

### [Rebel George](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/rebel_george)

_rivalry_

Mary and Rebel George are at odds, with Rebel George opposing Mary's influence over Johnnie.

## In the story

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/vii)

Salt Chunk Mary, a fence and friend to bums and thieves, who buys the stolen watches and provides a meal.

### [The Four-Thousand-Dollar Haul and the Yegg Convention](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/x)

Salt Chunk Mary hosts the crew in Pocatello, provides food and loans, and inquires about Foot-and-a-Half George.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/xi)

Referred to as Salt Chunk Mary, she is the trusted fence Sanc intends to sell the stolen gems to, described as 'righter than a golden guinea'.

### [Chapter XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/xv)

Helps Jack and George after their arrest in Pocatello by arranging a fix with the judge. She later writes about the Sanctimonious Kid's arrest.

### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/xvi)

Salt Chunk Mary is referenced as someone the narrator could have written to for money, but he chose not to.

### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/xix)

Jack Black returns to Pocatello seeking Salt Chunk Mary, but learns she sold her place and disappeared over three years ago.

### [XXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/xxiv)

Salt Chunk Mary is reported to have disappeared into the Far North.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/mary
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters