2 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
culinity in Gaines’s fiction included in the volumes by Keith Clark, Karen
Carmean, or David C. Estes, students might develop an analysis of defini-
tions of African American manhood in A Gathering of Old Men. Questions
to consider include: How do racial stereotypes undercut African American
masculinity? Which of Mathu’s characteristics lead others to describe him
as a “man”? As the elderly men transform, which of Mathu’s characteristics
do they emulate? How does the humorous treatment of stereotypical mas-
culine traits (or lack of them as in Lou Dimes’s inability to influence or
control Candy) help undermine stereotypical images of manhood? Students
might also consider the universal nature of this theme, how the search for
manhood serves as a metaphor for what Gaines has described as “the impor-
tance of standing.”
- The events of A Gathering of Old Men take place in 1973, highlighting
challenges that continue to divide communities despite the Civil Rights
Movement. Not just older but younger generations of white supremacists,
represented respectively by Fix Boutan and Luke Will, echo outdated notions
of race. Vigilantism in the rural South is still expected and acceptable by some
during this time. Gaines, however, complicates descriptions of racism as merely
something whites do to blacks, noting racial and ethnic divisions within both
the African and Anglo American communities. He also notes the way class
and gender affect relationships between and within ethnic and racial commu-
nities. Gaines addresses issues related to race in Michael Sartisky’s “Writing
about Race in Difficult Times: An Interview with Ernest J. Gaines” (in John
Lowe, pp. 253–275). This could be a starting point for an examination of
connections between attitudes about race and divisions within and between
communities.
- As the elderly men tell their stories and “work out their gall,” to use Sheriff
Mapes’s description, they describe threats to their rural values and way of
life while revealing their commitment to the land. Even Bea, descendant
of the white landowning class, says: “The land has not been the same since
they brought those tractors here.” In “Of Machines and Men: Pastoralism in
Gaines’s Fiction” (in Estes, pp. 12–29) Frank W. Shelton discusses Gaines’s
use of pastoral elements. Students could use this essay as a point of departure
for exploring how characters define themselves, their community, and the past
through a relationship to the land. Alternatively, students might consider how
Gaines challenges the dual exploitation of rural environments and African
Americans and explores the role shared land use might play in bridging differ-
ences between different cultural groups.
- In “A Breed Between: Racial Mediation in the Fiction of Ernest Gaines”
Maria Hebert-Leiter traces the historical relationships of Louisiana’s unique
racial and ethnic groups, which include African Americans, Cajuns, and Cre-
oles. Students might wish to use this historical context to examine the con-
nections and mutual dependence between black and white communities in A
Gathering of Old Men. A consideration of cross-racial relationships within and
across generations could reveal historical variations in attitudes about race or
ways to challenge racism. These relationships include those that cross genera-
