Ernest J. Gaines uses the device of multiple narrators most famously used by William Faulkner in As I Lay Dying to tell a story largely through the points of view of a segment of the southern population that Faulkner depicted only from the distant vantage point of the old white aristocracy—impoverished African Americans sharecropping white landowners’ plantations, in this case the Louisiana bayou country in the 1970’s. The setting is further south than Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County and the time is a half century or more later, but the living conditions are not radically different.A black man has killed a white landowner, supposedly in self-defense, but the whole truth and nothing but the truth is known by no one, allowing racial tensions to escalate into almost certain violence. Candy, the heir to the landowner on whose property the incident occurred, is determined to do whatever is necessary to protect the old servant Matthu, whom she loves as a surrogate father, that the evidence incriminates. This drastic action entails spreading the word for all the old African American men in the area to congregate at the scene of the crime with shotguns filled with blank shells; all of them confess to the killing. A unified field of old men with guns, all confessing the murder, will most certainly challenge the orderly execution of the sheriff’s duty, as they take a stand against all the wrongs they have suffered for decades.I must confess that I felt compelled to suspend disbelief that this many men could form a brave, unified front as a call to action without one voice of dissent other than the old preacher, whom one would expect to advocate non-violence. Casting that aside, this is a pressure cooker situation where parties on all sides react and overreact and fall at various points on the spectrum between pacifism and militant action. The most extreme tendencies of the white racist vigilantes are expressed by Luke Will, a redneck ripe for recruitment in Bull Conner’s riot control police force and on the side of the black men by the Black Panther-like Johnny Paul.A dramatic crisis of this magnitude inevitably elicits epiphanies from almost everyone that is affected by it and forces them to question assumptions held for a lifetime. In general, Gaines is successful in depicting a variety of points of view from a wide range of characters, black and white, and the dialogue feels accurate with just a few exceptions where it sounds like it was lifted from a weekly TV drama. Not everyone escapes caricature but Gaines’ confidence that he is telling a story that is worth telling propels the story and supplies accelerating momentum, largely transcending the weaknesses. I don’t know enough detail about race relations in the bayou country at that time but if Gaines’ novel is realistic, then it successfully describes a period after the civil rights movement of the sixties when regressive behavior that attempted to turn the clock back no longer happened so easily.
Ernest J. Gaines’s A Gathering of Old Men relates the story of a white Cajun murdered by a black man in the Louisiana bayou during the late 1970’s. The entire story is narrated through the first-person point of view of fifteen different characters, each with his own chapter, but some narrators sharing their viewpoint in more than one chapter. This first person point of view allows readers to develop some intimacy with each of these narrators, lending a sense of credibility to the story. I find it interesting, however, that none of the main characters (Beau Boutan, Candy Marshall, Mathu, Sheriff Mapes, and Charlie Biggs) have a point of view chapter. Perhaps Gaines wanted to give the impression of misjudgment—outsiders opining on a situation about which they understand little or none of the truth. tRacism is the main theme of this story, evidenced even within the oppressed blacks of Marshall Quarters. This pointed distinction within the black race again reveals misjudgment, this time based on skin color alone. Gaines use of multiple narrators is particularly effective in this sense, as it allows us to see each of these old men just as they see each other, and it also reveals their own complexities as we see what it is they find important enough to relate (such as the subtleties of skin shade). In addition to the prevalent theme of racism, Gaines cleverly touches upon other topics, such as sexism, ageism, and classism. Here again, the viewpoints of multiple narrators help the reader to see different sides to the same story, to walk in the shoes of more than one character, and thus better understand the complexity of the tension that has built throughout the narrative. tAs a lover of regional dialect and its conveyance from oral speech patterns into written word, I was particularly pleased not only with the way Gaines wrote dialogue, but also with the way the writing in each chapter maintained each narrator’s voice. Even though Gaines uses the Cajun-Creole-French-Louisiana regional dialect with a heavy hand, he allows his narrators to speak with full knowledge of their own experience. They never appear ignorant because of their colloquial voice patterns, just different. This is a subtle reminder to the reader not to pass judgment on these characters based on their speech patterns, but to listen to what they are saying beyond their mispronunciations. A Gathering of Old Men does an excellent job of relating the intricacies and complications of not only culture clashes, but of personality clashes in the deep South. He reminds readers of the need for acceptance—and if not acceptance, then tolerance and understanding—through fiction, in essence, through storytelling, by using the authentic voices of a wide variety of characters. Recommended!
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I used to love teaching Ernest Gaines' short stories with freshmen and seniors years ago.This book popped out at me at the library. Cover art is remarkable. The novel's key characters on the cover. Beautiful.The use of multiple narrators gives the story its fierce solidity.Set in sugarcane Louisiana in the 1970s, years of simmering tensions between black and white, man and woman, man and man, over the murder of a horrific Cajun white man (Beau Boutan), supposedly committed by Mathu, black father-figure to white woman Candy, finds a host of elderly black men standing tall, claiming (along with Candy) that each and all had committed murder... it's simply amazing. They stand together to finally become men instead of "niggers." The novel ends on a hopeful note. Justice is served and hope - albeit meager - remains.Just a great older book whose time ain't gone.
—Susan Emmet
The Short of It:A short but powerful read.The Rest of It:Borrowed from Goodreads: Set on a Louisiana sugarcane plantation in the 1970s, A Gathering of Old Men is a powerful depiction of racial tensions arising over the death of a Cajun farmer at the hands of a black man.If you’ve been watching the news lately, racial tension is at an all-time high. How fitting that our book club chose A Gathering of Old Men for this month’s meeting. Of course, we picked the book back in January so we had no idea how it would mesh with current events but mesh, it certainly does.The story is told very simply and perhaps that is what makes it so powerful. The book opens with the death of a Cajun farmer and in order to protect the person who did it, Candy, a white woman, confesses to the crime. Realizing that many will not believe her story, she gathers a group of elderly black men, all with shotguns, thinking that it will be impossible to investigate the crime if she and others come forward and take responsibility for what happened.This story has many narrators, all of them distinct. With so many narrators, sometimes it’s hard to follow a story through but I enjoyed the different points of view. This is a book that you should take some time reading. It’s short but there is a lot to digest and think about. And when these men come together to stand-up for what they believe in, the outcome is somewhat unexpected.My book club will be discussing this book during the holiday gathering that we have every year so I hope we actually get to discuss the book. I’m curious to hear everyone’s thoughts.For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter.
—Ti
I’m going to start off by stating that A Gathering Of Old Men is the best book that I have read so far in 2013. Though it is a short novel, barely 200 pages, it packs a powerful punch as it portrays the need of a few elderly black men to finally stand up to the injustices that they felt living with Jim Crow. The raw emotion and dignity that is felt as one by one they tell their stories about the horror of being black in the deep south during the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s is gut-wrenching. There are so many lessons in this book - letting go of fears, standing up to injustice, when does something wrong become something right? that I found myself pausing to rethink what I know about history especially racism in the late 1970's. Gaines does an amazing job capturing the essence of the people living in a small parish in Louisiana who will all make choices that will shape the direction of their lives. Highly recommend.
—Jayme
