Disposing of a dead mouse is just one of the numerous tasks Jasper would have performed during his nearly fifty years of employment with the artist’s family. By the 1980s unemployment in the Mississippi Delta was nearly three times the national average, and its African American majority population was hit the hardest. This photograph not only depicts an unpleasant task; it also reveals the deferential relationship between subject and artist. The artist asked Jasper to pose for this image while disposing of the mouse and he has obliged her, as he has many times over the years. Jasper jokingly nicknamed the artist “Moody,” referring not only to the artist’s personality during her youth, but also the unique pronunciation of her first name, Maude. While traditionally pronounced “Mawd,” the artist’s family pronounces her name “Mawdy.”