A gathering of old men by ernest j gaines. Review of “A Gathering of Old Men” by Ernest J. Gaines 2019-01-13

SparkNotes: A Gathering of Old Men: Context

The suspect in the killing is Matthu, the only black man to ever stand up to Fix Boutan and beat him in a fair fight. There are so many lessons in this book - letting go of fears, standing up to injustice, when does something wrong become something right? He discovered he didn't care for other Southern novelists. Gradually the reader learns more about the past hurts and cruelties suffered by the Old Men and also learns about the views of the family of the deceased. It fully captures the flavor of Gaines' use of multiple narrators. The sheriff was not ready to intervene before the fight but Mathu stuck to his guns. In the meantime, they wait for a lynch mob that the dead man's father--like the son, a notorious brute--is sure to launch.

Ernest Gaines, Author Info, Published Books, Bio, Photo, Video, and More

At the age of nine he was picking cotton in the plantation fields; the black quarter's school held classes only five or six months a year. We do not guarantee that these techniques will work for you or not. But this is a primary tension of the legacies of the 1960s, isn't it? Each tells the story behind the reason they are there this particular day. Gaines achieves both the immediacy and intimacy of folk storytelling and the complexity of the indirect approach. She plans to protect him. This is the second novel by Gaines I read this month, ever. Abrahams says that one undertakes the effect of a literary work because there is something within such a work which has excited the reader into investing some of his own energy in the reading of the work.

Notes: Ernst J. Gaines' “A Gathering of Old Men”

I also consider him to lack the recognition he deserves as an American writer. Metaphors Tractor Tractors are a symbol of change in the agricultural environment of the South. When each man arrives on the porch, gun in hand, they await the sheriff and the local near do wells who will seek revenge. Even a California library had no books by black authors. In the beginning of the novel, Gaines openly shares with his readers that defiance is necessary in the face of racial inequality and lingering ideals of slavery, as long as the situation has a clear motive. In addition, there were social tensions that included a form of violence, either implicitly ideological, or explicitly physical.

A Gathering of Old Men

He thinks that whites are superior for their color and blacks can be killed, raped and bullied. Gaines became Professor Gaines, the writer in residence at The University of Louisiana at Lafayette. When the meanest white cracker in the Parish is shot dead on a sugar plantation, the sheriff is summoned. Charlie had been hiding in the swamp all this while; but now he wants to accept his guilt. I finally met Professor Gaines late in October, 2014. Nothing will break their story. In the novel, social inequality is displayed mainly in the form of racism, but the attitudes of characters show how injustice was present in a way not only within racial discrimination but also beyond it.

[PDF] A Gathering of Old Men Book by Ernest J. Gaines (1992) ePub Download

It is set in the late 70s in that far south part of Louisiana where sugar cane grows on the dry spots and Cajuns fish in all the bayous. This was the second or third time that I have used this book in a reading class, and with each read it reveals more to me and increases my appreciation of Ernest Gaines' writing. I think in my immediate family there were tremendous storytellers or liars or whatever you want to call them. He began to devour novels. She wants Snookum to carry out her errand.

Gaines' Fifteen Narrators: Narrative Styles and Storytelling Technique in A Gathering of Old Men

I consider him the most significant writer I have ever met. Miss Merle is just another of those racists who pass judgment on the blacks. Nothing will break their story. Being a native born Southerner, growing up in Alabama, and white, Gaines opened a world to me to which I return again and again. Their lives need not be defined by the enemies they imagine. But people like Ernest Gaines are a lot more important than anyone has fully recognized.

Analysis of A Gathering of Old Men

By using these personalized tales, Gaines seeks to record their previously unrecorded experiences. Gaines uses fifteen narrators, that are cajun and black, to tell the two opposing sides of racism still present on the Marshall Plantation. The story involves a twenty one year old protagonist with a bit of mental disability, Jefferson, who is involved in an unfortunate crime that has led himself in a sentencing to death. No black child attended a school where white children were allowed to go. Meanwhile, at the plantation, the sheriff is still in a quandary. Gil does not believe in lynching as a form of crude justice. Gaines to my list of favourite authors.

A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines

He finds a white woman and eighteen old black men with shotguns. That was the very prideful violence which led Luke Will to rise up against Charlie, the real murdered of Beau. After high school, Gaines enrolled in Vallejo Junior College and also served for two years in the army. The old men who gather at the plantation have spent most of their lives running away from trouble. As the hours tick by, though, these men as well as the would-be lynch mob learn--reluctantly and with a considerable fight--that times have changed, that being a man requires something other than beating down someone else. Gaines' works are set in and around Bayonne, Louisiana.

A Gathering Of Old Men By Ernest J. Gaines

Set on a 1970s farm, the novel addresses and a bond that cannot be usurped. After multiple reads, this novel takes the lead for me. Just like little bedbugs, I told myself. This was also a good reminder that it is possible to read in color not just because of the race stuff - Gaines uses colors as adjectives in a very precise and informative way that perfectly compliments the mood. I like how Gaines's books highlight the connections between people who are supposed to be unconnected, according to Southern traditions: redneck sheriffs and poor black men, white patriarchs and white rabble, light-skinned and dark-skinned black men, white women and black men, and, of course, blacks and whites generally. I'm not sure that so many viewpoints were necessary and will agree with other reviewers who have pointed out that many of the voices sounded identical. Overall, this had many things I appreciate in a book: good writing, convincing and interesting characters, and a deep and meaningful theme that prompts me to see an issue in a new or slightly different light.