Rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they cope with some harmful bugs inside their computer. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Contrary to what Octavia would have him believe, the choices that James must eventually make about the quality of his existence should not be between bum and man, or between adhering to the dictates of the head or heart as advocated by the student and the minister respectively. Print. Analysis: "The Sky Is Gray". Synopsis. The effect of the storys episodic discontinuity is to emphasize the particular moment James is living, whether he is reliving a memory or moving through present events, while de-emphasizing the storys overarching structure. Like the narrator in Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man, the student is profoundly alienated from his community. His father left his mother when Gaines was a small boy, forcing his mother to move to New Orleans to find work. Random Word. . . 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 . 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. 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). Set during a time of segregation and racial inequality, the story explores themes of poverty, family, identity, and the . Sometimes it just hurt, hurt, hurt. Short Stories for Students. 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. Based on the story of the same title by Ernest Gaines, about a young Black farmboy's dawning of awareness about himself and society. "The Sky is Gray The Sky is Gray is a heartbreaking story of James and his Mama. With the exception of Auntie and Mr. Bayonne, who attempt to explain his mothers cold, dispassionate treatment of him on one occasion, James is alienated in his effort to come to grips with both the social and personal forces governing his life. Four of his works were made into television movies. The Sky is Gray by Ernest J. Gaines is a short story set during World War 11 and is focused on a poor African American Family's struggles. of adulthood and of being a man in the course of the single day. 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. Source: William E. H. Meyer, Jr., Ernest J. Gaines and the Black Childs Sensory Dilemma, in College Language Association Journal, Vol.34, No. 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. Jamess mother talks at length about how much it will cost while James pretends to sleep. . For example, he believes that Catholic and non-Catholic prayers heal differently, but one suspects that the distinction between the two would be lost on the clergy of both Catholic and Protestant faiths. Lowe, John., editor. The Individual and the Community in Two Short Stories by Ernest J. Gaines, in Black American Literature Forum, Vol. 212, No. James instinctively knows that he would like to imitate the young man rather than the old preacher. James is sympathetic without being an object of sympathy; the reader feels his cold, his confusion, his hunger directly, authentically, without the intrusion of another character or narrators impressions or observations. Just as the clouds clear after a storm, James finds out on his trip to Bayonne that the stormy clouds that are his life are parting to let some sunshine through. 23 Feb. 2023 . 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). Put another way, if Gainess stories were set in the India of 1946, two years before partition, if the primary groups described were Muslim and Hindu, rather than black and white, would the stories still merit reading? but should you say the sky is gray well, it still looks blue to me i know the road is light and i've known this all along but should you say the sky is gray then i won't say that you're wrong [chorus] because today, i love everybody everybody i see today, i think that all folks are great and everybody here loves me ooh, today, i'd give . 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. Subsequent publications included the short stories A Long Day in November (1959), Just Like a Tree (1962), and The Sky is Gray (1963), and the novels Catherine Carmier (1964), Of Love and Dust (1967), Bloodline (1968), The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971), In My Fathers House (1978) A Gathering of Old Men (1983), and A Lesson Before Dying (1993). My students, of multi-ethnicities, enjoyed following along in . The title of the story by Ernest Gaines is ironic. . 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. The drawback to what Ill call, for lack of a better term, race-based readings may not be immediately obvious, but isnt terribly complicated. 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. songplace. All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray. And since his stories are set in the past, his African-American characters appear subservient and are not placed in the revolutionary poses favored by some of Gainess contemporaries such as James Baldwin, Ishmael Reed, John O. Killins, John Wideman, or David Bradley., In sum, while Gaines may not have had the wide recognition of other African-American writers early in his career, there is a broad critical consensus that he is an important writer, a good writer, and a writer who has perhaps been undervalued and may continue to gain increasing recognition in the years to come, in part because he was somewhat overshadowed by his contemporaries during his early years, in part because of the increasing importance of studies of masculinity in the literary canon. The Sky Is Gray portraits both the ugly and beautiful experiences that James and his mother get on their way to the dentist. Though the events in this story take place well before what is commonly called the Civil Rights era, one cannot read The Sky is Gray without a keen awareness that the writer is writing at the historical moment during which the Civil Rights movement exploded onto the national stage and that, surprisingly, given this context, the story somehow manages to describe but not to overplay the protagonists suffering in terms of prejudice and inequality. 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. With Olivia Cole, James Bond III, Margaret Avery, Cleavon Little. Ernest Gaines story, The Sky Is Grey, is a heartfelt story about James, a black youth living in Louisiana during the Second World War. Of course, the reader doesnt follow James all the way from childhood into adulthood, but the central premise of bildungsroman is that the reader watches the protagonist go from innocence to experiencein this case, from being a child whose primary interest is in staying warm and well-fed to a youth who has the first glimmerings of pride in himself and awareness of an important and external reality: that others will judge him not by what he is, but by how he appears to be. The Sky Is Gray has been added to your Cart . He looks at two contrasting ideas, the African/aural rootsthe idea that African Americans express themselves through their music and aural interpretationsand their American/visual reorientationthe idea that America is a country of visual stimulations, that as Emerson said the eye is final.. Where The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman gives us a grand, sweeping epic of a black woman and her slave community, "The Sky Is Gray" zeroes in on a moment in time, one crucial afternoon in a black child's development. 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') The story occurs on a cold winter day in Louisiana, whose gray sky suggests the lack of hope for many African Americans. In Gainess words, describing the type of person he depicts in the student to Carl Wooton in an interview reprinted in Porch Talk: you will have this rebellion against authority. They briefly duck into a hardware store to warm up, but must soon leave. 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. I went for a walk on a winter's day. In the following essay, Kippen explores the implications of a moral reading of Gainess The Sky is Gray., Though Gainess works invite a wide number of readings, almost all current criticism can be divided into one of two broad categories: race-centered criticism, concerned primarily with the storys instructive value about such things as prejudice and injustice, and structural criticism, which describes the parts of the story and their relation to the whole in formal, rather than thematic, terms. In the following essay, Meyer describes how The Sky is Gray is a coming of age story not just about coming to terms with growing up, but also dealing with the sensual orientation of ones body. James is on the cusp between youth and adolescence, trying to understand what is expected of him by his inscrutable mother as he enters this next phase of his life. While they wait for the dentist to reopen his office, Octavia must devise ways in which she can keep James from the cold and at the same time carefully adhere to strict rules of racial separation. Two of the stories in Bloodline, A Long Day in November and The Sky Is Gray, are particularly illustrative of the conflict between community perspective and individual needs. 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 scene in which Jamess mother is toldor discoversthat her son must go to the dentist is skipped over, but the familys poverty, and the comparatively huge cost of having the tooth pulled, is not. This is neither a subjective nor an unimportant question. Word Count: 1084. 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. Futhermore, he is forced to wash dishes at night to finance his education. 1. The narrator is James, an eight-year-old black boy living in rural Louisiana. After a long walk, they finally arrive at the dentists office, which is already full of people waiting to be treated. He is the oldest of all the children. The Sky is Gray is episodic in formthat is, the story is not told as a sequence of events, but as a sequence of events punctuated by narrative flashbacks and broken up into numbered segments. The title of the piece hints to the general dreariness which lingers throughout the story. "The Sky is Gray" should be a required literary experience for both adults and students who share Louisiana's educational complexity. It made me tear up mutiple times and shook me out of the comfort of privileges. Critical Overview 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. 545-58. The Sky Is Gray by Ernest J. Gaines is a poignant and thought-provoking short story about a young African American boy named James, who lives in rural Louisiana with his mother and grandmother during the mid-20th century. But if one takes a step back from the more obvious reading another, more subtle, reading begins to emerge. In response, later that year, 200,000 Americans, black and white, joined together in a freedom march on Washington to demonstrate. With James and his mother departing for the day, the rest of the family is left alone without enough firewood, the breadwinners are not able to work, and money has to be used that could have been put towards food for the house. James, the narrator, is a young boy in a poor African American family in Louisiana during World . The Sky is Gray Essay example. Only slightly less prominent than the theme of Civil Rights is class inequality. Pressure continues to mount on the government over a number of events that allegedly took place in Whitehall and Downing Street while COVID-19 restrictions were in force. 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. Sold by: Tidal Wave Group (2138 ratings) The force implicit in the story is Octavias individualism, which threatens to deprive James of membership in the human community. Young James (8 years old) mind is weighted down with guilt knowing his tooth has a big effect on the familythey might not be able to feed the family because of his tooth. "The Sky is Gray With James' toothache at the central point of the plot, the story takes us through the obstacles this black family faces in terms of safety . Critics have been kind to Gaines, but his reputation has not risen with such meteoric speed as have the reputations of some of the other contemporary black writers of his generation. What this suggests is that in the highly polarized world in which James is growing up, external appearance can be more significant that internal realityafter all, whether Jamess collar is up or down, hes clearly not a bum, but a boy, and even a man can be permitted, under conditions as cold as those James and Octavia find themselves in, to pull his collar up around his throat. Add a gift receipt for easy returns. If one reverts to the easiest sort of race-based reading, one will invariably decide to read the story as one about victimhood. 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 . Nor can the mothers demands for stoicism keep James from nearly succumbing to the piercing chill of the sleeting gray sky. At this point, almost by deus ex machina, the black youths deepest self reasserts itself in all its visceral aurality: My stomach growls and I suck it in to keep Mama from hearing it . She loves her children, but more important to her than any visible demonstrations of affection are the moral lessons she insists upon teaching James. "- [] And as long as you listen to what your heart tells you, you will have only what the white man gives you and nothing more. Whatever the narrative gains by being told through Jamess eyes would need to add a great deal to offset these drawbacks. [Instrumental Bridge] [Verse 3] I've got a bad feeling. Roll the dice and learn a new word now! 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. Jamess mother Octavia is a strong, proud, uncompromising woman largely based on Gainess own mother. This did not go unnoticed in the United States, particularly among black leaders who read with interest books like Jomo Kenyattas Facing Mount Kenya. As the argument between the student and minister in the dentists office clearly illustrates, there is a racial dimension present in the story. Though her presence in The Sky is Gray is minimal, Augustines presence in Gainess life can hardly be overstated: Unless you include her, he says, you cant write about me at all.. Due to the several barriers James and his mother, Octavia, encounter trying to get to the dentist, the theme of . 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. For example, the road in this story is very gray: "It's a long old road, and far's you can see you don't see nothing but gravel," as James put it. Moreover, while an adult may be judged on the basis of his or her thoughts and actions, a child is still too completely a product of his or her parents to evaluate as an independent being. But if one decides to read the story as a more complex critique, not of racial relations, but of the valueand the costof dignity, one sees that even as an eight-year-old James understands her, Octavia is an interesting, fully-realized character. Critical Reflections on the Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines, Athens: Georgia University Press, 1994. Here, James must learn to balance the words of his black heritage with the visions of white Americamust learn to observe his mothers sadness and poverty while at the same time controlling his words after the fashion of the stoic adult black male: I want put my arm round her and tell her. Only now, in the narrative present, as an almost eight year-old boy, can James understand why she forced him to do this. 4, June, 1976, pp. Summary. Being told that he must return after lunch, James goes with his mother out into the sleeting streets of Bayonne. He responds to the emotional intent of the act. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. But it was "The Sky Is Gray" that first drew me in and that still evokes a certain atmosphere in my mind. The experiences of his early years, particularly the experience of paternal abandonment, provided the bedrock on which his fiction would later be built. It is also possible to rent "The Sky Is Gray" on Vudu, Amazon Video online and to download it on Amazon Video, Vudu. Though the motivation for their careful charity is not described, it is ultimately accepted, the suggestion being that. (18421910) It is not possible, within the scope of this essay, to survey all of Gainess works, or to make more than a cursory pass through The Sky is Gray. It is also not possible, in a discussion of what Im calling moral readings, to avoid some necessary oversimplifications of the complex issues surrounding and clouding the idea of race. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Sometimes itd stop long enough to let me get little rest. With his degree in hand, Gaines won the Wallace Stegner Creative Writing Fellowship for Graduate Work which allowed him to begin work in Stanfords Creative Writing program, the first of many fellowships he has received. 28 terms. Introduction I was 17 when I thought I could write a novel and send it to New York and get it published, Ernest J. Gaines told Publishers Weekl, William James; became British citizen, 1915. The sky is gray, the clouds are low and the dark waves are hiding their power under a more neutral appearance. . This poor, Negro boy, James, lives with his mother and five other relatives while his father is away. 28 terms. . Education: The Richard Pulling Jenks School, New York; traveled with his family in Europe from an early, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Understanding The Sky is Gray requires that one not only understand something about the Louisiana of the 1930s and 1940s but also understand what was happening with regard to race in the United States during the 1960s, because the events of what later came to be called the Civil Rights era made a substantial and lasting impression on Gaines, one that can be seen not too far beneath the surface of The Sky is Gray in the person of the student and in the storys preoccupation with racial inequality. With James' toothache at the central point of the plot, the story takes us through the obstacles this black family faces in terms of safety, racism, hunger, cold and money. Bajo el cielo gris y nubes bajas, las olas oscuras ocultan su potencia bajo una aparente tranquilidad. But the question remains whether or not in this blending of black and white into The Sky Is Gray there still may be too great a personal pain and sense of loss or self-betrayal for black youth or artist ever to transcend Gunnar Myrdals penetrating observation: The colored peoples are excluded from assimilation.. 14, April 5, 1971, pp. You are free to use it for research . Publication date 1979 Topics Feature films, Feature films, Short Stories., Blacks. Because James is suffering a toothache, symbolic of the festering wounds of racism, he and his mother take the bus into Bayonne to see a dentist. "California Dreamin'" is a song written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips and first recorded by Barry McGuire. A strong offstage presence, Jamess father is most profound in his absence. The argument between the men focuses on the existence of God. 18, No. New York: Longman, 1997, 511530. acquire the the sky is gray ernest gaines pdf belong to that we provide here and check out . Babb would have Octavia read as a woman whose prideful dissembling and technique of masking, whatever that entails, are the necessary consequence of living in a dangerous world in which the whim of any white is empowered to affect their destiny. But this is a significant, even inexcusable oversimplification of Octavias motivations. The Sky Is Gray Thank you for downloading The Sky Is Gray . My heart tells me. Sure, My heart tells me. And as long as you listen to what your heart tells you, you will have only what the white man gives you and nothing more. Critical Overview Bryant, Jerry H. Politics and the Black Novel, in The Nation, Vol. Historical Context This critical writing on "The Sky Is Gray" by Ernest Gaines was written and submitted by your fellow student. (February 23, 2023). Houston Community College English 1301 Professor Hinchen-Bryan "The Sky is Gray" Discussion Questions Directions: Type your answer to the following questions on this sheet in a different color and submit it canvas by Saturday, October 30, 2021 by 11:59 p.m. 1. Yeah, the sky . [Chorus 2] 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) If I didn't tell her (If I didn't tell her) I could leave today (I could leave today) California dreamin' (California dreamin') On such a winter's day (California dreamin') On such a winter's day, (California . 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. The purpose of the heart is to pump blood throughout the body, and nothing else.. 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. . His narrative begins as he and his mother wait for a bus to take them to a dentists office where James is to have his tooth pulled and ends that same day, sometime shortly before (the reader presumes) that tooth is finally pulled. For me, the wind is pink, the grass is black.. 6th ed. If that is the reading one chooses, the more important, more striking, more interesting story disappears, while James and his mother become nothing more than sympathetic but uninteresting racial stereotypes about the lives of poor blacks long ago. 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. 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