Not wanting to be a crybaby and knowing well that his mother cannot afford a trip to the dentist, James recalls his efforts to disguise his pain from the rest of his family. She feels her first duty to her children is to toughen them up and show them how to live and survive. It's been an unusually cold and cloudy winter and, while I'm grateful for the accompanying moisture, I'm also ready for some green in the world. Roll the dice and learn a new word now! On one side is a heretical young black student who has not only renounced his religious beliefs but argues that words like Freedom, Liberty, God, White, Colored are meaningless. Currently you are able to watch "The Sky Is Gray" streaming on Hoopla, Fandor Amazon Channel or for free with ads on Tubi TV, Crackle. The only way that James can truly understand his world is by authoritarian explanationthe tongue and ear forming the eye: Auntie and Monsieur Bayonne talked to me and made me see (italics mine). Estes, David C., editor. The force implicit in the story is Octavias individualism, which threatens to deprive James of membership in the human community. Babb, Valerie Melissa. Ernest J. Gaines was born on River Lake Plantation in Oscar, a hamlet of Pointe Coupee Parish in rural Louisiana. Regardless of the scope, however, Gaines . She has cut herself completely off from the community which conceivably could have provided her with support while her husband does his tour of duty in the army. Observing his mother manipulate their environment moves James closer to what will be his particular entry into manhood, the psychic freedom that comes from emotional self-mastery. 212, No. In Ernest Gaines's "The Sky is Gray", James is the protagonist and main character. Indeed, the tooth with the aching root here is Jamess own Afro-American tongue and earthe dilemma of finding that his deepest roots are at odds with hypervisual America. Try refreshing this page.If the problem persists, contact our support contact our support A black boy comes of age in Louisiana during the 1940's and learns of racism and poverty firsthand. Being told that he must return after lunch, James goes with his mother out into the sleeting streets of Bayonne. Source: David Y. Kippen, An Overview of The Sky is Gray, in Short Stories for Students, The Gale Group, 1999. Monsieur Bayonne at the storys beginning is the superstitious complement to the preacher in the middle section. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Ernest Gaines has written a non-fictional story that has three major characters apart from him as the narrator. The advantages of episodic form, when relating the experiences of a young boy, are obvious, and have been used with great success in works as different as Mark Twains Huckleberry Finn and Rudyard Kiplings Kim. However, the date of retrieval is often important. From a larger, more global viewpoint . This innovative investigation oers new perspectives on the history of racial conict in the This is neither a subjective nor an unimportant question. Gainess story is meant as more than an entertainment; it is meant as a critique of the racial injustice he experienced as a boy made vivid again by a visit to Louisiana in 1968. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. To project an image of invulnerability for James, she alienates herself from the community and deals with her world on an individualistic level. 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. 29 terms. Octavia overcomes the hardships of segregation and poverty while doing so. 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. Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/sky-gray. Helena tries to give them a larger piece, but Jamess mother insists on an accurate measure. Sold by: Tidal Wave Group . . Gaines creates these moments with sufficient force and clarity both to explain his protagonists past and to anticipate his future. In both cases, the situation is presented as a puzzle to the young who must attempt to resolve the conflicts that come about as a result of this realization. I went for a walk on a winter's day. i love Gaines' use of symbols senses in this story it is one of hope I think. James lives with his other siblings, his aun. Here, hiding her true feelings and motives, she makes use of the technique of masking and teaches her son a valuable lesson in pride and survival. The title of the story by Ernest Gaines is ironic. You have these kids, you know: Ill stick a goddamned needle in my arm, Ill sniff coke, to hell with anybody telling me what to do. James seems like anything but a childhood, his mind is plagued with worries and concerns that often belong in the adult realm. Such readings all share a serious, albeit unintentional, flaw; they suggest that one must understand all actions and most events as direct or indirect consequences of race, rather than individual choice. Criticism In physical terms, there is motion from one pole to its opposite: from warm, to cold, to warm again; from beyond the outskirts of Bayonne to the city and back again; from the doctor's office to the street, and to the office again, and so on. The sky is Gray. In thematic terms, two of the most important sections in the storysections seven and eightexplore the relationship between God, religion, knowledge, and ignorance. ostreet9 Plus "Angel Levine" by Bernard Malamud. Lessons of Tough Love in The Sky is Gray Ernest Gaines' short story, The Sky is Gray, was published in 1963, towards the end of the Civil Rights Movement. It is important to recall that the Civil Rights era coincided with the casting off of imperial control by a series of African countries. James, the narrator in Ernest Gaines' "The Sky is Gray" is an eight-year-old African American male who is still a child but being the oldest male in the household he faces more responsibility than a normal young boy would. In 1948, at the age of fifteen, Gaines moved to Vallejo, California, to join his mother and stepfather, because there were no high schools for blacks near his home. ostreet9 Plus. Her dissembling enables her to warm him without compromising her dignity by begging the proprietor to allow her son use of the stove. . My students, of multi-ethnicities, enjoyed following along in . On the other hand, James in The Sky Is Gray will never know the values of communal bonds if Octavia has her way. James has an advantage over the young man, however: The young man has lost both his parents, whereas James has a mother who teaches him the qualities of manliness, courage, self-confidence, integrity, and self-respect. 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. Mama tries to teach James that he is the man of the family now. The storys protagonist, or main character, James is a young boy of about eight who lives with his mother, aunt, and their immediate family in the outskirts of Bayonne, Louisiana. Ernest J. Gaines is best known for his third novel, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971), which recounts her latter-day observations of living in a racially torn Louisiana through the century between the War between the States and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Examples of this are shown in the episode of the dentist offices with the poor treatment received to the patients, also in the kindness given to James and his mother by the old couple. Gaines, Ernest J. The great fear here is not the capriciousness of white townfolk, but of being beholden, as a result of their poverty, to anyone. I think the message it sends about how people treat each other is important. [Chorus 1: Barry McQuire, The Mamas & The Papas] All the leaves are brown (All the leaves are brown) And the sky is gray (And the sky is gray) I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk) On a winter's day (On a winter's day) I'd be safe and warm (I'd be safe and warm) If I was in L.A (If I was in L.A.) California dreamin' (California dreamin') On such a winter's day [Verse: Barry McQuire, The . with superstition. Can I live here tomorrow? Introduction It also involves the problem of integrating the individual and the community in a mutually rewarding relationship in the face of dehumanizing individualistic forces. What exemplifies the American national narrative in the story "The Sky is Gray" by Ernest J. Gaines? James's mother accompanies her son to town to see about the boy's nagging toothache, and his journey soon becomes an eye-opening odyssey. Analysis: "The Sky Is Gray". 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. Short Stories for Students. . Later, the whole family is at hand when Octavia and Jamess aunt count out the cost of a trip to the dentist: She say: enough to get there and get back. Why did Jamess mother think it was important for him to kill the songbirds? The first volume contains stories about.- A lonely woman who works part-time, and who has crippling social anxiety that leads to misunderstandings.- Home American Literature Analysis of Ernest J. Gainess The Sky Is Gray. Historical Context Theirs is an odyssey or journey that encompasses the major dilemmas blacks faced in this eraincluding a debate between a black preacher who embraces the Christian doctrine of suffering and acceptance and an angry young black man who advocates questioning and action. Education: The Richard Pulling Jenks School, New York; traveled with his family in Europe from an early, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. As they wait, his mother thinks about homeabout his aunt, the other children, the farm animals and the weatherthe narrative follows Jamess thoughts back to the origins of his toothache. Consequently, his feelings of isolation cause him to alienate himself from the emotional support and comfort of the members of his community, whom he, in turn, deprives of the benefits of his education. In both A Long Day in November and The Sky Is Gray, Gaines involves the reader in the dilemma faced by individuals who find traditional folk values inadequate to meet their needs. It made my poor heart skip a beat. Mama tries to teach James that he is the man of the family now. Dependency on the philanthropy and good will of others leads to vulnerability when that support is no longer forthcoming. With Olivia Cole, James Bond III, Margaret Avery, Cleavon Little. Plot Summary The trip to town on the bus marked White and Colored represents the real rite de passage for the black youth in white Americathe blurring of his sensibilities into gray: The river is gray. The story occurs on a cold winter day in Louisiana, whose gray sky suggests the lack of hope for many African Americans. For Eddie in A Long Day in November, the ability to solve the enigma created by Amys decision to leave him is compounded by his already established communal world view. And by the end of the story, the reader does indeed sense that there has been some change to who James is in that short span, a sense reinforced by his mothers assertion that he is not a bum, but a man. The greatest advantage of an episodic form is that it allows the author to follow the protagonist, or main character, from one important event to another without recording all the unimportant events in between. In this transformation, as he puts his collar down, the reader has taken a small but important step with James from childhood to adulthood. 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. To see gray merely as the integration of black and white on a literal level, and as a metaphor for racial integration on a symbolic level is, I think, to misunderstand Gainess real intent in the story. A&P Quiz. A young boy named James comes of age in 1940s Louisiana and grapples with what it means to be black during a time of racism and poverty. More examples. The boy dont answer her no more. A woman tries to engage Jamess mother in conversation, but a man James takes to be a preacher joins in instead. The Sky Is Gray portraits both the ugly and beautiful experiences that James and his mother get on their way to the dentist. "The Sky is Gray"contains many of the themes and images Gaines returns to again and again in his work: themes of personal responsibility, grace under pressure, and moral behavior; images of strong mothers, mysteriously absent fathers, and families in which love is expressed more often in harsh words or silence than in overt praise or affection. Her alternative, however, creates an atmosphere which, for James, is potentially equal in the dangers it poses. It suggests at first the bleak mood of the story but also hints at hope in the future. He is the oldest of all the children. whatever their motivation may be, their small generosity will only be accepted as kindness, not as charity. While the prejudice James and his mother encounter is real and unarguable, the response of Jamess mother presages the essence of Martin Luther Kings message that salvation begins in the person of the oppressed, not the oppressor. Yeah, the sky . Characters But she is important for another reason besides her human decency: it is paradoxically her kind gesture that represents the greatest potential threat to Jamess manhood, at least in his mothers eyes. Alnests wife, Helena is the storys other sympathetic white figure. Du Boiss famous observation, in the Forethought of The Souls of Black Folk, that the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line, for it is this color line in all of its manifestations that his work so carefully documents. Octavias skepticism and self-imposed isolation place her in a similarly antagonistic stance toward the community. Whatever the narrative gains by being told through Jamess eyes would need to add a great deal to offset these drawbacks. Although the point is never explicitly stated, it is apparent that Octavia finds the values of her community inadequate to make James the kind of man that she feels he must become. Reading Gaines first, foremost, always, and only as a black author, an author of race and race issues, rather than primarily as an imaginative author, an author of ideas, delimits the kinds of questions one can ask about his works and necessarily diminishes the readers appreciation of the imaginative sphere in which he works. 28 terms. [Instrumental Bridge] [Verse 3] I've got a bad feeling. It is a testimony to Gaines's skill as a writer and storyteller that many people believe Jane Pittman was a real person. The sky is gray. From henceforth, Jamess own long day will be comprised of this struggle between black blood and white blood within a cerebral sky of graya terrifying and chilling confrontation with ones own senses and sensibilities. Awesome bookit wraps within the narrative so many layers of the black's struggle in America, their historymakes the reader think and feel for the characters, as such engaged with their livesgave me goosebumps!! (February 23, 2023). This time the trial is so severe that the verbal command is ineffectual: Mama tells me keep my eyes in front where they belong, but I cant helpfrom seeing (italics mine). . Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. That work, like the five stories constituting Bloodline (1968) before it . Not surprisingly, the lions share of critiques fall into the first camp, and even the structural readings include didactic (instructive) digressions in almost every case. The narrator, James, has developed a toothache resulting in him needing to go to the dentist. But the conflict goes much deeper than that. New & Pre-owned (11) from $4.90 + $3.99 shipping. In these stories, black folk culture, with its emphasis on community-defined values and behaviors, shows signs of deterioration, while Western individualism and the development of more personally-defined values appear as catalysts in the demise of the black . William James, the American philosopher and psychologist, was born in New York City to Mary Robertson Walsh James and Henr, Cane My baby don't love me no more. As the day progresses, James shows us events from the past--from the time his mother whipped him because he could not kill . The purpose of the heart is to pump blood throughout the body, and nothing else.. The sky is gray, the clouds are low and the dark waves are hiding their power under a more neutral appearance. A poor African American boy and his mother experience both discrimination and kindness during a trip to town to see the dentist. Futhermore, he is forced to wash dishes at night to finance his education. Jamess mother Octavia is a strong, proud, uncompromising woman largely based on Gainess own mother. Four of his works were made into television movies. (55) 7.4 46min 1980 13+. Consequently, the reader is limited to what James observes and understands. Add to Cart . Critical Overview The action in The Sky is Gray is broken up into thirteen short sections which describe a half day or so in the life of James, an eight-year-old black boy in the rural South of the late 1930s. But if one takes a step back from the more obvious reading another, more subtle, reading begins to emerge. A more neutral appearance of others leads to vulnerability when that support is no longer forthcoming futhermore, is... 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