Weeds.
Gaines sets his book, A Gathering of Old Men, in the 70's on the sugarcane plantations of Louisiana. It is about the conflicts between the whites and the blacks within an isolated parish. This story revolves around a young white woman, Candy, several older black men and the death of a Cajun, Beau, to whom they all confess to killing. Gaines" paints his story in a very vivid way by going into great detail to describe each character and his/her looks. Also within the story he expresses clearly the racial tensions and the oppression that the blacks were put under by the white people.
Beau and his family were the source of pain and hardship on the local black people. They had been used as their slaves up until the end of slavery but they were still looked down on and mistreated badly. The blacks were scared of the Boutan family and what it stood for. They had always been beaten down by them but things changed with the killing of one of the Boutan sons. The gathering of the men showed strength and determination to stand up finally after a lifetime of submission and suppression.
The suppression of the blacks is seen in the picture of the weeds used throughout the book. The weeds are mentioned on several occasions in the text; "The bushes and weeds grew so tall on either side of the road that the road seems no wider than a king-sized bed sheet (Gaines 59)." They can be a symbol of the Boutan's in that weeds, when grown up, take over wherever they are and that is what this family has down. They have taken control of the blacks and mistreated them over the years. The blacks look at the Boutan's as a source of pain and hardship.
Throughout the book, the over grown weeds are mentioned several times; "You had to walk in grass knee-high to reach some of the graves (45)." "The whole place was all sunked in, and you had weeds everywhere (46)." When Beau is killed he is found lying in weeds.
A Gathering of Old Men A Gathering of Old Men, by Ernest J. ... He has been killed in the yard of an old, black worker, named "Mathu". ... Mapes, is a white sheriff who traditionally deals with the black people by the use of intimidation and force, finds himself in a frustrating situation of having to deal with a group of old black men, each carrying a shotgun and each claiming that he shot Beau Boutan. ...
A Gathering of Old Men 1. ... The old men lingered at the graveyard so everyone could meet there. ... The cemetery represents a safe haven for all the old men. ... The only thing that Mapes is guilty of is hitting the old men. ... It's a fight between Luke Will, his boys, and all the old men. ...
A Gathering of Old Men 1. ... The old men lingered at the graveyard so everyone could meet there. ... The cemetery represents a safe haven for all the old men. ... The only thing that Mapes is guilty of is hitting the old men. ... It's a fight between Luke Will, his boys, and all the old men. ...
In the novel A Gathering of Old Men, Ernest J. ... The story illustrates two worlds, the inner world is the life in Marshall Quarters, the old black men and their family; the outer world being everything outside the Quarters, Fix, the Cajuns, and even the white people. ... Each of the old men tells a story of pain due to oppression by the white man. ... Candy refers to the old black men as her people, "I will protect my people" (19). ... When the black men narrate they speak with bad English, for example, Chimley says "Now, I ain't even stepped in the house 'fore that old woman st...
A Gathering of Old Men "Answers" 1. ... They have some say, but the men disregard them and treat them as slaves. ... The women seem to just be there for the men's needs. 3. ... The scene of the old men lingering in the graveyard has several important meanings. ... But, I also think that he realized he was an old man, and going to fight without his boys was like going to war without guns. ...
Gathering Blue Essay- by Lois Lowry The book I read was called Gathering Blue. ... What she says goes basically cause everyone fears her, even men. ... As they got older, people would add a syllable to their names. ... Annabella was a white haired old woman and she was very smart. Then there was Jo, she was a small, young tyke as they explained it, and she was to be the next singer of their village when she got older. ...
When he was seventeen years old he broke his apprenticeship agreement with his brother and ran away (Eberle 19-25). ... Ben addressed the sayings to young men who were poor, much like he had been. ... He had previously organized a club of young men called the Junto. They met once a week to discuss papers that the men had prepared on something that they had a genuine interest in (Fleming 28-29). ... In London, during the years just before the American Revolution, Franklin was busy gathering support for the colonies through the British press (Donovan 101). ...
12 Angry Men Paper The jury member I chose to do my paper on was Mr. ... Davis used was gathering information. ... Davis was a leader was when the group was discussing evidence, like the knife and the old man's testimony. ... Davis used task messages such as initiating and gathering information, making him effective as a communicator. ...
In the book A Gathering of Old Men, a perfect example of somebody snapping is a fifty-year-old man named Charlie. ... All my natural-born black life I took the busing and never hit back,"(A Gathering of Old Men 189) meaning that 50 years of being maltreated provoked him to shoot Beau. ... (A Gathering of Old Men 190) Charlie always mentioning that he's a man, tells Mapes that "you don't talk to a man like that sheriff, not when he reach half hundred." ... Chimley said (Gathering of Old Men 31). ... Advice on how to be a man and men don't run. ...
