A Gathering of Old Men Unit of Study
Gaines as a Writer and the Literature of Protest Lesson Plan
By Marshall Surratt

Reading assignment

Students should have finished reading A Gathering of Old Men.

Overview

Ernest Gaines has resisted efforts of others to classify him as only a black writer writing literature of protest or as simply a southern writer. In this post-reading lesson, students will engage in discussion about Gaines as a writer and his place in the literature canon. Students also will compare Gaines' sense of tragedy with classical Greek tragedy.

The Lesson

Anticipatory Set

1. Pose the question, "How should we consider Gaines' writing?" to the class.


2. Point out to students that Gaines attended university at a time when the works of African-American writers did not receive as much attention as they do today. Gaines has said that he was particularly drawn to the works of Turgunev and Tolstoy, writers who, as Gaines later would, examined a feudal culture.


3. Tell students that some critics have drawn parallels between Gaines and Faulkner. A possible comparison is Gaines' Cajuns and Faulkner's Snopses. In Gaines' works, the Cajuns have less education and fine tradition than do other whites, but they are taking over the agriculture with the help of machinery. In Faulkner's works, the Snopses are the uneducated class of whites, increasingly displaced in the new South. Both writers wrote about a specific region in the South, but they sought to convey themes that were mythic and universal, too.


4. Explain that indeed, in A Gathering of Old Men, Gaines has created a story of mythic proportions. In some ways, it follows the conventions of Greek tragedy. Aristotle had said that drama should be unified in time, place, and action. Accordingly, in A Gathering of Old Men, most of the action unfolds over the course of a day in a single place, "the quarters."

   In other ways, though, the book does not follow the traditional concept of tragedy. Aristotle had also said that a good tragedy has as a protagonist a person of higher birth (whom the audience would be expected to care about). It is this person that has a character flaw, usually stubborn pride (hubris) mixed with anger. (Because of that flaw, he or she makes mistakes that bring about a terrible reversal of fortune. Subsequently, the principal character recognizes what he or she has done. Finally, the tragedy provides a cathartic example for the audience.)



5. You can review with the class changes in the traditional concept of tragedy in modern literature. For example, as in Death of a Salesman, the central character might act nobly but be of "common" birth.

Questions for Discussion

1. Compare the work of Gaines with that of other prominent African-American writers, such as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, or James Baldwin. How does each address injustices against African Americans, particularly African-American males? Do you find more powerful the more overtly angry and political fiction of Wright, Ellison, and Baldwin or that of Gaines? Where is the anger felt in A Gathering of Old Men? A Lesson Before Dying? The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman? Do you think literature of protest can have as large an impact for change as do demonstrations and marches?


2. At the same time, Gaines has also spoken of his debt to non-African-American writers, such as Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and William Faulkner. Where does Gaines stand in this tradition that uses oral tradition and local color? What specific techniques does Gaines use to convey a specific place and people?


3. Which main characters, in fact, are not used as narrators, and why? [Candy and Mathu are not. For sake of plot, Mathu cannot be allowed to say what he knows until near the end of the book. Not having Candy as a narrator forces readers to work themselves to see the conflicting motivations for her actions.]

1. Examine the traditional concept of tragedy, as well as changes in the pattern since the time of Aristotle. In what way does A Gathering of Old Men fit into this notion of tragic heroes with fatal flaws? Examine the nobility in the central characters--the old men. How do they act nobly? By contrast, does the Bouton family (with the exception of Gil) represent a past nobility that has fallen because of a sense of hubris? Is there hubris associated with racism and paternalistic attitudes?


2. All of Gaines' works are set in rural St. Raphael Parish, Louisiana. In what ways is his locale different from Faulkner's Yoknopatawpha County? As an African-American writer, what themes are different to Gaines' place? Compare the use of multiple narrators in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying with Gaines' use of the same technique.

   Note: Here is a partial answer for teachers. As I Lay Dying is one of Faulkner's early stories. He was trying for a spare (thus marketable) but experimental novel (the latter, in part, to make a name for himself). He also was depicting a rural, uneducated white family with some of the Southern Gothic touches more commonly associated with Flannery O' Connor. Gaines does not show the same Southern Gothic touches. It could be argued that Gaines' characters have more capacity for growth and dignity.]



3. In writing An Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman, Gaines researched the history a 110-year-old woman would have experienced from before the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement. Prepare a timeline of important events over those years. What would the events have meant to African Americans?


4. Imagine that you were going to write a fiction book or, for advanced classes, an actual short story about someone living over the past two or three decades. What events would the writer need to research? How would you depict that person? What resources for research would you use?

Possible Resources

Blassingame, John W., Ed. Slave Testimony: Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and Autobiographies. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: LSU Press, 1977.

Gates, Henry Louis Jr., Ed. The Classic Slave Narratives. Rpt. New York: Signet, 2000.

Yetman, Norman R., Ed. Voices from Slavery: 100 Authentic Slave Narratives. Mineola, New York: Dover, 2000.

American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/wpa/wpahome.html

Been Here So Long: Selections from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) American Slave Narratives: http://newdeal.feri.org/asn

Documenting the American South: North American Slave Narratives: http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/texts.html

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