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Social Tensions In Ernest J. Gaines A Gathering Of Old Men

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Novels are often used to exploit the political and social issues that regularly plague society as a whole. This is exemplified in the book A Gathering of Old Men. In this book, author Ernest J. Gaines illustrates the social tensions between African Americans and the white population in the Deep South during the 1970's. In his story, a white Cajun man is shot in the front yard of an African American man on a plantation. When the sheriff gets there, he finds eighteen old African American men all with the same caliber shotgun and empty shells. The sheriff has to figure out who did it before a man named Fix comes up and tries to lynch one, or possibly more, of the old men. He uses many literary elements to explore the issue, which is essential …show more content…

He gives an insight to the minds of multiple African Americans who live on the plantation as well as the minds of a few white residents, including those sympathetic to the situation, and those who were not. In one chapter, he has the character Lou Dimes think, “I turned from her to look at those old fools around me. I didn’t know who I felt the most pity for. I knew she hadn’t done it, and she would get out of it. But somebody had to pay for Beau’s lying there.” This statement gives us an idea of how some white southerners, who sympathized with the African Americans, felt about the racial tensions at that …show more content…

The reader gets to look through the eyes of Lou, Candy's boyfriend, and see how an average white citizen might feel at that time. He does sympathize with them, but he would rather save his own skin then try to help them in a situation involving a murder. The reader also gets to see into the family of Fix, a southerner who was known for lynching African Americans. The murder was done to his son by this group of African Americans, and yet he doesn't attack them. This is because of the view of his son. He says that his father’s way of handling African Americans was a way of the past and that people didn't do that anymore. This gives the views of the generation, and how they often viewed racism towards African Americans. All these views from white citizens give the reader a second side to see and a way to understand how people felt about the racial tensions of that time and what contributed to

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