Character Analysis
Freddie is the town crier, the messenger, and the man who gives Milkman his official nickname. Freddie can’t keep a secret, often bends the truth, but always reports the news with incredible punctuality. He has gold teeth, and his mother went into labor with him after being attacked by the ghost of a charging white bull. When she saw her baby upon just giving birth to him, she dropped dead right then and there.
Freddie gets into an argument at the barbershop over (Emmitt) Till, the young man from the North who was murdered for whistling at a white woman in the South. Freddie argues that Till should have known better than to act like a northerner in the South. He gets attacked by some of the other men for making this statement.
Freddie tells Milkman one night that he should believe in ghosts, and that there are some strange things happening in the world of Southside, particularly to Guitar. Freddie moves the news along, but he perpetuates the spiritual world as well.