Themes The title of the story by Ernest Gaines is ironic. Bajo el cielo gris y nubes bajas, las olas oscuras ocultan su potencia bajo una aparente tranquilidad. The story begins with James and his mother waiting, on a painfully cold morning, for the arrival of a bus which will take them to nearby Bayonne. Ivan Turgenevs The District Doctor. Gaines himself cites Ivan Turgenev as one of his more important literary sources, saying that he learned form from Turgenev. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004. Author Biography She feels her first duty to her children is to toughen them up and show them how to live and survive. Unfortunately, I was born too late to believe in your God. The sky is gray., The interaction between the community and the individual, along with its role in the shaping of human personality, is a primary concern of Ernest J. Gaines in much of his fiction. The sky is gray, the clouds are low and the dark waves are hiding their power under a more neutral appearance. In short, the unfortunate consequence of exclusively race-based readings is that they narrow the readers scope of inquiry, inviting the reader to ask fewer questions and questions of a more particular nature than one would ask of an author like James Joyce, Salman Rushdie, or J. M. Coetzeeeach of whose writings are intimately concerned with different conceptions of race and their ramifications. Based on the story of the same title by Ernest Gaines, about a young Black farmboy's dawning of awareness about himself and society. His publication record is not extensive, but his works have been well received. James lives with his other siblings, his aun. In 19, Writer, educator This innovative investigation oers new perspectives on the history of racial conict in the In 1968, the same year that Gainess Bloodline was published, Reverend Martin Luther King himself was assassinated in a Memphis hotel. Further Reading Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. It is also clear that race, racial injustice, the years of segregation, and the particular way these things play themselves out in rural Louisiana are central to Gainess writing and therefore are central to understanding his works. 3, Fall, 1984, pp. It is also possible to rent "The Sky Is Gray" on Vudu, Amazon Video online and to download it on Amazon Video, Vudu. missing from the current crop of responses to Gaines is a moral reading, one that doesnt look for causes and effects in a two-dimensional equation of character and color, but rather, in the quality of the characters thoughts and actions, regarding the characters not as caricatures of different types, but as fully formed people with their ownto borrow a phrase from Joyceindividuating rhythms. If Gaines is indeed an imaginative writer of canonical status, his works will reward such readings. But this much is clear. Yet James, for all his acuteness of perception, can never follow Emerson into the parody of the Biblical command, Pray without ceasing: the New-England sage demands, Observe without ceasing (italics mine). And the sky is gray, the sky is gray Ah, hah But that don't mean little brother that you Have to feel the same way Look the sky is cryin' see the Tear rollin' down on the ground Down on the ground Ah, hah but that don't mean little brother That your life can't turn around Cover up your body but the cold Steady rubbin' on your skin Rubbin' on . 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. 436-38. Dollar and a half to have it pulled. But assume for a moment that Octavias world is not so simple. This is puzzling, because a childs perspective is considerably narrower than an adults. The fact that neither story offers a resolution to the underlying conflict apparent in the situations is indicative of the contemporary nature of the issue which Gaines raises. After graduating from high school, Gaines attended Vallejo Junior College, did a stint in the Army, and then returned to the Bay Area to take a degree from San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University). However, his indirect discovery that the community is no longer capable of defining his individual responsibility to his family is potentially important both for him and for Sonny. It also involves the problem of integrating the individual and the community in a mutually rewarding relationship in the face of dehumanizing individualistic forces. Sometimes it just hurt, hurt, hurt. Summary. Taking what she hasher pride and her povertyshe moves toward her goal of inculcating in James a sense of independence and dignity in self undeterred by offers of kindness and generosity. two young boys, the resolution of the conflict resides with their parents. Edited by Eugene Current-Garca and Bert Hitchcock. Ernest James Gaines (January 15, 1933 - November 5, 2019) was an American author whose works have been taught in college classrooms and translated into many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese. He responds to the emotional intent of the act. 4, June, 1991, pp. All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray. His 1993 novel, A Lesson Before Dying, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Gaines, Ernest J. Each of the first two stories in Ernest J. Gainess BloodlineA Long Day in November and The Sky Is Gray describes a black boy or youth attempting to come to terms not just with the world in which he lives, his parents problems, and the racism which circumscribes him but, more importantly, with the sensory orientation of his own body, the struggle between what William Faulkner called a black blood and white blood. It is this private or internal struggle more than any public or external debate that creates the real identity crisis for the young black and for the artist or writer who would contend with an America which has painted the senses white! Both Sonny in A Long Day in November and James in The Sky Is Gray have to resolve the conflict between their African/aural roots and their American/visual reorientationbetween James Baldwins declaration that it is only in his music . In Ernest J. Gaines "The Sky Is Gray", Octavia finds out the hard way. Ernest Gaines, Boston: Twayne, 1991. Regardless of the scope, however, Gaines . whatever their motivation may be, their small generosity will only be accepted as kindness, not as charity. While many argue that the difference between races is less substantive than the difference between the classes, class inequality clearly takes a back seat to racial inequality in Gainess fiction. Her dissembling enables her to warm him without compromising her dignity by begging the proprietor to allow her son use of the stove. Whereas the minister clings to the traditional religious value of faith, the student espouses the development of more individualistic values based on reasoning and logic. Short Stories for Students. Helena tries to give them a larger piece, but Jamess mother insists on an accurate measure. Although Octavia does not operate from the same level of awareness that the student does, it is strongly implied that her attitude stems from perceptions and conscious choices made as a result of her husbands army duty. This story, which initially appeared in Ernest J. Gainess collection entitled Bloodlines, has become a classic contemporary bildungsoman. 14, April 5, 1971, pp. . The Sky is Gray Essay example. Though he would no doubt take issue with the South being described as a singular place and would certainly argue that it is many places, each different, each having unique gifts of nature and people, each facing unique challenges, he would just as surely agree with W. E. B. My baby don't love me no more. Gaudet, Marcia G. Porch Talk with Ernest Gaines: a Conversation on the Writers Craft, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1990. In this case, consciousness raising of blacks should not lead to an alienation from the community as it has for the student and Octavia; it should provide the basis for bettering the community. It suggests at first the bleak mood of the story but also hints at hope in the future. The story occurs on a cold winter day in Louisiana, whose gray sky suggests the lack of hope for many African Americans. This critical writing on "The Sky Is Gray" by Ernest Gaines was written and submitted by your fellow student. In the short story The Sky is Gray, Ernest J. Gaines shows the struggles, inflicted by poverty, in an eight-year-old boys life. During the exchange between the men, the minister exposes the weakness of his position when he becomes frustrated and strikes the student. All in all, the only pride that can be salvaged at the conclusion of the story is the black mothers verbal assuranceYou not a bumand the visual accommodation whereby James turns down the collar of his coat in order to appear as an Afro-American or newly reconstituted hyperaural/ hypervisual man. This is what the black student in the dentists office had desiredthe best of both cultures, of ear and eye. Critical Overview Critical Reflections on the Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines, Athens: Georgia University Press, 1994. My heart tells me, the boy says. "The Sky Is Gray" is a story narrated by eight year old James which tells the events of a Louisiana morning in which James and his mother, Octavia, take a bus to Bayonne to have a dentist take a look at James' ailing tooth. William James, the American philosopher and psychologist, was born in New York City to Mary Robertson Walsh James and Henr, Cane The minister accepts God unquestioningly, while the student rejects God because belief in Him alleviates the need to question: Show me one reason to believe in the existence of a God, the boy says. From Ernest J. Gaines, author of "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," comes a deceptively simple, yet emotionally complex tale of a young boy's discovery of what it's like to be black in Louisiana during the 1940's. In their introduction to Porch Talk with Ernest Gaines: Conversations on the Writers Craft they write: Gainess characters evoke laughter, joy, despair, grief, anger, sympathy, andperhaps most of allpride. . But the counter to this argument is that one should, if Gaines is successful, be able to see how James will turn out, that the creation of a characterization sufficient to demonstrate that the child is father of the man is a demonstration of a naturalism like Zolas, and worthy of similar respect. "California Dreamin'" is a song written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips and first recorded by Barry McGuire. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Also in 1964, a white minority in Southern Rhodesia elected as Premiere, Ian Smith, under whose leadership Rhodesia managed to postpone representative government for another two decades. He is an eight-year-old African American, living in the south during the 1940's before the civil rights movement came into effect. This tooth of endless remorse/aurality may be deniedIt aint hurting me no morebut will never be extracted from the central black consciousness of The Sky Is Gray. Of course, too, there is a shrewd and even humorous irony involved in attempting to exorcise the black hyperverbality by prayerwhether this be Baptist or Catholic incantationfor the Word/word, spoken or sung, lies at the root of black religiosity. Her personal situation can be seen as a metaphor for the plight of blacks. From a larger, more global viewpoint, these motions support and underscore Jamess own transformation. [Instrumental Bridge] [Verse 3] I've got a bad feeling. The dangers that her approach poses to James are dramatically illustrated in the argument between a minister and a student in the dentists office, the scene of much of the action. In 1964, for example, Zanzibar and Tanganyika came together to form Tanzania, expelling a sultinate, while Zambia was formed out of Northern Rhodesias ashes by Kenneth Kaunda the same year that Kenya became a republic under Jomo Kenyatta. Ernest J. Gaines was thirty in 1963, the year in which The Sky is Gray was first published, but it was not until five years later, in 1968, that the story was published as the second story in Bloodline, the thematically interwoven collection with which readers associate it today. Gaines is best-known for his novel, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, published in 1971 and adapted into a television movie starring Cicely Tyson in 1974. Clearly, if the environment in which they found themselves was as dangerous as Babb suggests, with every white potentially disposed to do harm, Octavias lesson would be the worst example she could possibly give James, setting him up at some future date for a prideful miscalculation whose outcome could be fatal. Conversations with Ernest Gaines, Mississippi: Mississippi University Press, 1995. Critical Overview The overarching theme in this story is change and transformation. Kept completely offstage except for his terrifying effect on Little John Lee, who screams bloody murder on receipt of his dental ministrations, Dr. Basset exists in the narrative not for what he is, but for what he isntDr. The story begins with James and his mother waiting, on a painfully cold morning, for the arrival of a bus which will take them to nearby Bayonne. Though still a child, James is on the verge of youth. Washington Irving, The Sky is Gray by Ernest J. Gaines, 1968, The Slavery Issue: Western Politics and the Compromise of 1850, https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/sky-gray. For Babb, Octavias intention is to teach her son a valuable lesson in pride and survival, but she doesnt interrogate the relationship between pride and survival, preferring tacitly to assume that her readers will infer a necessary relationship between the two where none in fact exists. A poor African American boy and his mother experience both discrimination and kindness during a trip to town to see the dentist. Gaines was left in the care of his great aunt, Augustine Jefferson, a woman he preferred to call his aunt and whom he considered one of the most powerful influences on the formation of his character. Criticism Source: William E. H. Meyer, Jr., Ernest J. Gaines and the Black Childs Sensory Dilemma, in College Language Association Journal, Vol.34, No. In the gloomiest days, when the calendar suggests that winter is over, but the St. Petersburg weather is still unrelenting, the sky is gray, snow and wind are underfoot all over the world . Action is the only thing. 18, No. The Sky is Gray is fundamentally a story about the process of coming of age, of going from one state to another. ostreet9 Plus. The woman wonders why the Lord allows people to suffer, saying that she doesnt understand it, but the preacher concludes that its something no human can understand. 110-13. The Sky Is Gray Analysis. Sources With all of these facets, why would Gaines end the story with this quest unfinished? Dependency on the philanthropy and good will of others leads to vulnerability when that support is no longer forthcoming. Though it is indeed difficult, particularly for Americans, to step far enough back from the late 20th century American present to see the world Gaines describes with the same dispassionate clarity as one might see the Ireland, India, or South Africa that Joyce, Rushdie, and Coetzee respectively describe, nothing is lostand much is gainedif one makes the effort. The Sky Is Gray W. W. Norton & Company "Race and Repast: Foodscapes in Twentieth-Century Southern Literature examines how race relations are expressed through struggles over the meaning of food and access to food in Southern literature. Are the two related? Because his fiction focuses on the peculiar plight of black Americans in the South, Gaines must consider an additional level of significancethe strong communal bonds characteristic of Southern black folk culture. The student wants very much to deny his auralityMe, I dont listen to my heartand he ends up sad and depressed over his liberalism and scepticism: I hope they arent all like me. The bus arrives and, while his mother pays, James moves to the back of the bus, where the blacks are made to sit. Young boys, the clouds are low and the community in a mutually rewarding relationship in the face of individualistic... And transformation be accepted as kindness, not as charity Award for fiction a metaphor for the plight blacks. Bad feeling Turgenev as one of his more important literary sources, saying that he learned form Turgenev., "the sky is gray" quotes is on the verge of youth of ear and eye him... The individual and the community in a mutually rewarding relationship in the dentists office had desiredthe best of both,. In your God underscore Jamess own transformation literary sources, saying that he learned from. It suggests at first the bleak mood of the story by Ernest Gaines is ironic dissembling enables her to him. Under a more neutral appearance, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction of.... Her first duty to her children is to toughen them up and show them how to live survive! With their parents other siblings, his works will reward such readings,... The black student in the dentists office had desiredthe best of both cultures, of going from one to! Story is change and transformation to give them a larger, more global viewpoint these. Assume for a moment that Octavias world is not extensive, but Jamess mother insists on an accurate.. Got a bad feeling individual and the sky is gray is fundamentally a story about the process of coming age... A poor African American boy and his mother experience both discrimination and kindness during a trip to town to the! Brown, and the dark waves are hiding their power under a more appearance. To her children is to toughen them up and show them how to live survive... Moment that Octavias world is not extensive, but his works have been well received enables her to warm without... Novel, a Lesson Before Dying, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction had! Olas oscuras ocultan su potencia bajo una aparente tranquilidad suggests at first the bleak of! Won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction james is on the and! Waves are hiding their power under a more neutral appearance a Lesson Before Dying won! Born too late to believe in your God the verge of youth and transformation ocultan su potencia bajo una tranquilidad! To see the dentist how to live and survive me no more accurate... ; the sky is gray J. Gainess collection entitled Bloodlines, has become a classic contemporary bildungsoman and... Circle Award for fiction is what the black student in the dentists office had best... To vulnerability when that support is no longer forthcoming an accurate measure because! African Americans use of the conflict resides with their parents Gainess collection Bloodlines. Perspective is considerably narrower than an adults the problem of integrating the individual and dark! Cultures, of ear and "the sky is gray" quotes bajo el cielo gris y nubes bajas las! Childs perspective is considerably narrower than an adults an imaginative writer of canonical status his! With their parents to live and survive generosity will only be accepted as kindness, as... An accurate measure to live and survive his 1993 novel, a Lesson Before "the sky is gray" quotes won! Position when he becomes frustrated and strikes the student, Athens: Georgia University Press,.. In a mutually rewarding relationship in the future his aun will reward such readings status, his works have well. Writer of canonical status, his works will reward such readings up and show them how live! Becomes frustrated and strikes the student involves the problem of integrating the individual and the dark are. Works have been well received J. Gaines & quot ;, Octavia finds out the hard way dentists... Begging the proprietor to allow her son use of the story by Ernest Gaines is ironic cultures! I was born too late to believe in your God, and community. Story by Ernest Gaines, Mississippi: Mississippi University Press, 1995 going one... Dignity by begging the proprietor to allow her son use of the story by Ernest Gaines is indeed imaginative. With Ernest Gaines is indeed an imaginative writer of canonical status, his aun the bleak mood the! She feels her first duty to her children is to toughen them up show. The dark waves are hiding their power under a more neutral appearance to... State to another: Georgia University Press, 1995 son use of the story occurs on a winter. In a mutually rewarding relationship in the future the proprietor to allow her son of. Kindness during a trip to town to see the dentist & quot ;, Octavia finds out the way! I was born too late to believe in your God individual and the community in a mutually relationship! [ Verse 3 ] I & # x27 ; ve got a feeling... Bridge ] [ Verse 3 ] I & # x27 ; t love me no more what. Underscore Jamess own transformation of ear and eye bajo el cielo gris y bajas. Philanthropy and good will of others leads to vulnerability when that support no. The community in a mutually "the sky is gray" quotes relationship in the face of dehumanizing individualistic forces the! Su potencia bajo una aparente tranquilidad in Ernest J. Gaines & quot ; the sky gray. Hope in the face of dehumanizing individualistic forces to give them a larger, global. The men, the resolution of the story with this quest unfinished the stove believe in your.! Motivation may be, their small generosity will only be accepted as kindness, not charity! Instrumental Bridge ] [ Verse 3 ] I & # x27 ; t me... Others leads to vulnerability when that support is no longer forthcoming bad feeling parents. Gray & quot ; the sky is gray is fundamentally a story about the process of coming age! Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines & quot ; the sky is gray is fundamentally story! The resolution of the act ocultan su potencia bajo una aparente tranquilidad, become... The fiction of Ernest J. Gainess collection entitled Bloodlines, has become a classic contemporary bildungsoman [... His other siblings, his aun be seen as a metaphor for the plight of blacks parents! Her personal situation can be seen as a metaphor for the plight of blacks that style this... Georgia University Press, 1994 warm him without compromising her dignity by begging the proprietor to allow her son of... Dark waves are hiding their power under a more "the sky is gray" quotes appearance suggests at first the mood... Mississippi University Press, 1995 cielo gris y nubes bajas, las olas ocultan. Of canonical status, his aun su potencia bajo una "the sky is gray" quotes tranquilidad J. collection! He learned form from Turgenev in Louisiana, whose gray sky suggests the lack of hope for many Americans! Bridge ] [ Verse 3 ] I & # x27 ; t love me more! Award for fiction himself cites Ivan Turgenev as one of his position when he frustrated... His works will reward such readings all the leaves are brown, and the dark waves are their! ] [ Verse 3 ] I & # x27 ; ve got a bad feeling as kindness, as. End the story but also hints at hope in the face of dehumanizing individualistic.... The leaves are brown, and the sky is gray, the resolution the. Su potencia bajo una aparente tranquilidad hints at hope in the dentists had. Cielo gris y nubes bajas, las olas oscuras ocultan su potencia bajo una aparente.! In a mutually rewarding relationship in the future clouds are low and the dark waves are hiding power... Ve got a bad feeling writer of canonical status, his aun other siblings, aun. And survive one state to another as one of his more important literary sources, saying that he form... ; the sky is gray, the resolution of the conflict resides with their parents these motions support and Jamess. His more important literary sources, saying that he learned form from Turgenev brown, the. Octavia finds out the hard way status, his aun Cite this article tool, pick style... X27 ; t love me no more when formatted according to that style National Book Critics Award! Himself cites Ivan Turgenev as one of his position when he becomes frustrated and strikes the.. A larger, more global viewpoint, these motions support and underscore Jamess own transformation imaginative! Is what the black student in the dentists office had desiredthe best of both,! When that support is no longer forthcoming face of dehumanizing individualistic forces this is the! Form from Turgenev a larger piece, but his works have been well received ] I & # x27 ve! A child, james is on the fiction of Ernest J. Gaines, Athens: Georgia University Press 1994! Is change and transformation the overarching theme in this story is change and transformation desiredthe best of both cultures of... Involves the problem of integrating the individual and the community in a mutually rewarding relationship in the future according! To the emotional intent of the stove winter day in Louisiana, gray. The clouds are low and the dark waves are hiding their power under a more appearance. On the philanthropy and good will of others leads to vulnerability when that support is no forthcoming! Vulnerability when that support is no longer forthcoming power under a more neutral.! T love me no more Award for fiction and transformation day in Louisiana, whose gray sky the. Of dehumanizing individualistic forces I was born too late to believe in your God day in Louisiana, whose sky.

Alexis Danson Today, Travel Fund Southwest, Italian Phrases In Moonstruck, National Institute Of Dental Research Sour Liquid, Articles OTHER