Theme of Racial Tension in A Gathering of Old Men A Gathering of Old Men begins with a child narrator who relates the report that there has been a shooting on a Louisiana plantation, and a white, Cajun farmer, Beau Boutan, is dead. He has been killed in the yard of an old, black worker, Mathu. Because of the conflict between Cajuns and blacks in South Louisiana, the tension in the situation and the fear of the black people is immediately felt. The Cajuns were the greatest competitor of the black people in Louisiana, but the Cajuns had the advantage of race in a segregated society. The author, Ernest J. Gaines, uses fifteen narrators (white, black, young, and old) to deal with the changing relations between the Cajuns and the blacks in Louisiana in the late 1970’s.
Shannon Wynne Advanced Placement Literature Dr. Power 14 December 2011 Achieving Manhood through Literature, Not Violence Louisiana in the 1970’s was a hard place to live for African Americans due to the lingering racism and black codes that were still prominent in society. During this time, blacks only had a few options on how to respond to the black codes. They could either accept the codes or passively react to the white men or they could reject the codes and either escape from the south and racist communities or die at the hands of the white men (Mallon). The characters in A Gathering of Old Men had to choose between these two options for most of their lives. The novel describes the day that they reject passivity and embrace bravery and courage through Ernest Gaines, who grew up in a situation similar to one in
Had every man, woman, and child in the United States read the book when the book was published, things certainly could have been different. The prejudice that is still around even today might be significantly less had the slaveholders realized that the slaves were people, not property. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was an important work, and also gave much insight into the character of one of the most famous slaves to
This book includes a bibliography and was written in a cluttered chronological manner which covers the time prior to the murder of young Emmitt in 1955 up to the repercussions in 1956 along with various recollections throughout the passage. This passage covers the story of a young black boy named Emmett Till who, from the north, visits his uncle and cousins in the south. During the visit he most certainly surpassed his boundaries when he whistled, the two note wolfs whistle, and made some remarks directed at a white woman. In turn the boy was brutally beaten and murdered by two white men, the white woman’s husband and his half-brother, who found the events that just took place to be completely atrocious and worthy of murder. Shortly after his mangled body was exhumed from the Tallahatchie River and was nothing less than a shock to the community as a whole.
The film offers increased racial tension among blacks themselves by allowing the murder to be committed by, Peterson, who is a black soldier. It is through many flashbacks that Sergeant Waters’s character is conveyed as unfair, racist and ambitious. These flashbacks during Capt. Davenport’s, who has been sent down from Washington to find the killer, investigation also evokes the central theme of the story which is drama filled and very intense battle within the black military. Overall the story is a wartime story in which military and New South serves as backdrops and where black troops were unable to go to war because of the beliefs of their incapability to fight and
The cruelty and brutality of slave life is common knowledge of most Americans, even in the 1850’s. However, Fitzhugh didn’t get that memo. His article is almost comedic in how inaccurately it depicts slavery. For example his first line of the article is, “The negro slaves of the South are the happiest, and in some sense, the freest people in the world.” As racist, and inaccurate as it is, the paper provides a creepy insight to the way that the people of the South, justified slavery. Fitzhugh’s view on slavery is quite opposite that of Olmsted.
While both these men were both great in their own rights, Dubois had things that Washington didn’t. The three most important things that Dubois had that Washington did not were that he was vocal, an accomplished writer, and a very educated man during this time. Through these things Dubois was able to express his views about segregation. While Booker T. Washington’s theories were accepted by some blacks, W.E.B. Dubois’ approach towards segregation and Jim Crow Laws were more effective in the black community.
This is mainly due to low poverty levels. Some people commit crimes as a survival method. They use it for protection or as a means to provide for themselves. Whatever the reason, it is a sure way to land yourself in prison. According to an online article by Mother Jones Magazine, most southern states have high African American incarceration rates even though the overall populations of blacks were low (States and Black Incarceration in America.
During 1964, there were many events that occur in America. Many people in America were still shocked from the death of President John F. Kennedy. There was a dedication of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway that occurred. President Lyndon Johnson’s commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was a part of President Kennedy’s assassination. Even more so, 1964 was a time where Africans-Americans were strongly discriminated by whites.
Erskine Caldwell "Daughter" Analysis Erskine Preston Caldwell (December 17, 1903 - April 11, 1987) was an American author. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native South like the novels Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre won him critical acclaim, but they also made him controversial among fellow Southerners of the time who felt he was deprecating the people of the region. We also meet the problem of the racism in his short story "Daughter". This story touches post slavery period and describes us conditions of life of poor black people of that time. We noticed that the story under analysis narrated from the third person.