The Sky is Gray by Earnest Gaines

Source Evaluation- literary criticism There wasn’t any criticism on this story but here is a literary analysis: "The Sky is Gray" is an eye-opening story. It depicts how life was for many poor African Americans in the 1940's South. Everyday they had to face racism, and yet try to possess some semblance of pride. The story uses the life of a young boy coming-of-age to portray a life when everything was "gray," when everything was supposed to be unquestionably one way.” http://voices.yahoo.com/the-sky-gray-analysis-236265.html?cat=37 http://export.easybib.com/1391463780fd5bb589-4ed4-4d2b-b54d- 8db673a2b9d5__2014020316450578817.rtf

Conflict and Theme Conflict: the conflict is a young 8 year old african american boy named James who goes through poverty and has to be the “man of the house” because of his father’s absence. “Auntie wanted to tell my mama, but I told her, “uh-uh.” ‘Cause I knowed we didn’t have any money, and it was just go’n make her mad again.” James isn’t allowed to complain or else his mom gets mad at him because they didn;t have any money to fix his tooth and he isn’t supposed to show any signs of weakness. Theme: “One of the themes of the story is that it is important for African Americans to act rationally, not emotionally, if they wish to get ahead. It is the lesson that Octavia tries to teach her oldest son at every opportunity. It is a lesson that is nothing short of painful. At one point, Octavia demands that James kill the two redbirds he had caught and kept as pets. When he refuses, she slaps him and then whips him until he stabs the poor bird with a fork. “ The theme is you must be tough to get things done and go further. “I love my mama and I want to put my arm around her and tell her. But I’m not supposed to do that.” James isn’t supposed to act emotional to anyone because he is the head of the house and has to be the strong one.

Summary “The Sky is Gray” is in the point of you of an 8 year old African American boy named James in the early 1900’s. With his dad being off at war, he is forced to be the “man of the house” with his aunt, mother, brother and cousins. Being held at a higher standard to be the strong one, James isn’t allowed to complain or show any emotion really. Especially when he has a bad toothache and can’t complain about it because his mom does not have the money to be able to fix it. James is forced to kill 2 of his pet birds for food, when he begs his mother not to, she beats him repeatedly until he finally does. Throughout the story, James must learn and obey all his mother’s rules of being a man at 8 years old.

Biographical Information: Earnest Gaines Earnest Gaines grew up in Louisiana on a plantation in which his enslaved ancestors also grew up on. Gaines’ parents divorced when he was only 8, so his great Aunt did all that she could with her born cripple body, to ensure Gaines and his six brothers and sisters a happy childhood. Story telling was an important activity during his time of growing up, especially in his family. After many years of him absorbing stories from his friends, family and neighbors, he began attending the lone African American Public School in his hometown. Since his school only ran for half a year, he worked on plantations with others his age. During his teenage years, High School was not offered so he began attending St. Augustine's School, which was a segregated Catholic school in a few towns over from him. Like many families from the south after WWII, Gaines and his mother and stepfather moved away from the racist south to California. There, Gaines discovers that there was no African American literature or stories about the lives of african americans in the rural south, so he began writing stories of his own, about his experiences. After serving in the Army, Gaines attended San Francisco State University where he began writing and publishing his short stories including his first novel, Catherine Carmier. In his story The Sky is Gray, he portrays the role he played as a young, African American boy. He explains how he had to be strong for his family and play a father-type role in the household to help out his siblings and Aunt. Gaines was a very strong and courageous man growing up in a difficult time. He overcame many struggles as young man and he expressed his feelings and experiences through his writings and he is still recognized today for his amazing works.

Biographical Info continued: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM9UWK k-PvY In this interview of Mr. Gaines, He says “The soul is always here and you write where the soul is.” Through these words, it shows he is very passionate about his writings and african American literature because he is older than 80 years old and he continues to keep his creativity and beauty going through his writings. He is lucky enough to now be living on the plantation that he once grew up and worked on as a little boy. Gaines has a way of turning his not so good up bringing to a positive, beautiful experience through his writings.

Biographical Info Source evaluation Earnest Gaines grew up in louisiana with his Great aunt and his 6 siblings. his parents got divorced, so to give the Gaines children a semi-healthy lifestyle, his great aunt took all of the children under her wings and took care of them the beat that they could. Earnest felt that as the oldest of 7 children, he needed to take on the role of a father figure for his siblings and help his aunt out. He worked on the plantations while he attended an african american public school for only half a year. His family and friends told many stories and had fun sharing their daily activities. As Earnest got older, he and his mother moved away from the rural south to start a better life in California. There, he attended college and began his career with writing stories about his upbringing and African American experiences. As time went on, he began publishing some of his writings and shared his experiences with the world through his literature. This is a strong and reliable source because it was last edited less than 5 years ago and the information that i used from this website, i also found on other websites. This source gives a detailed description of Earnest Gaines life from when he was a little boy to his elderly years. The author of this site used specific dates and information such as the year he published his first novel, Catherine Carmier in 1964. The creator of this website did not write this biography from a biased point of view, they used all facts which makes it a reliable source.

work cited page literary criticism http://export.easybib.com/1391463780fd5bb589-4ed4-4d2b-b54d- 8db673a2b9d5__2014020316582611926.rtf theme and conflict http://export.easybib.com/1391463780fd5bb589-4ed4-4d2b-b54d- 8db673a2b9d5__2014020316450578817.rtf Biographical information "Ernest Gaines Biography." -- Academy of Achievement. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2014 http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gai0bio-1 "Interview with Ernest Gaines." YouTube. YouTube, 04 May 2012. Web. 03 Feb. 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM9UWKk-PvY