A Gathering Of Old Men Character Analysis

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Author Unknown ENG 101 Patrick Green December 13, 2012 Minor Characters with Major Roles There are many minor characters in the novel, A Gathering of Old Men. Each of the minor characters has a significant role. Minor characters such as Janey, Cherry, Rufe, Miss Merle and Rooster also play as narrators to the novel. Not every narrator was a minor character like Candy, Snookum and Lou Dimes and not every minor character was narrators. Some of the minor characters in the story were barely mentioned or not present thorough the story. Beau Bauton, the character that was killed before the story began, plays a very symbolic role. He represents the white community as a whole and how they treated the blacks. His character also represents…show more content…
Charlie was hiding throughout the story because of his cowardly ways. He represents the lack of manhood the blacks had in the past. On that day, just as the old men gathered to gain back their pride, Charlie stood up for himself and gained respect from those in the community. The old black men in the community lacked manhood all in the same way. They all never stood up for themselves until that day. That day they represented the new black men for the future black men to look up to. Mathu is one of the minor characters in the novel who did not narrate a chapter, but yet stood for a lot and felt strongly for what he believed in, Unlike the rest of the black men that gathered at his house that day, Mathu was the strongest of all the old men and stood up for his pride against the Cajun’s. He looked at himself as different from everybody around him because his skin was darker than all the other old men around him. Even though all the old men were black, in Mathu’s eyes they were not equal to his skin tone therefore they were not equal to him. With Mathu’s attitude toward the old men, he was being no different than the white people that looked down on him because of his skin. His role in the novel was a major to understanding the distinction in the story even between skin tones. His role proves how in the old South you were judged by everything and you were put into a certain grouping by everything from your social class, to your skin tone and from your skin tone to your age. Mathu even looked as himself as differ from the other because he was stronger than the other old men. Mathu was the role model for all the old men to stand up for their pride or to die a
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