A Summer Tragedy is a story about an elderly couple going throughout their day as if it were any other day, however it would be their last day. The couple certainly seemed very calm considering the turn that their lives was about to take. A Summer Tragedy exhibits the true meaning of hopelessness; and how one couple handles the situation that has confronted them. .
Jeff and Jennie were an elderly couple, age had taken over their bodies, leaving them unable to do a lot of things anymore. They worked for a white man they called old man Stevenson. They had been living on their farmland for at least 45 years. Jeff was a share farmer and seemed to adore his job and place in the world. They were very simple people, living a very simple farm life. Their debt to old man Stevenson had been building up, and Stevenson did not take to that well. As many farmers do, they relied solely on their crops, which in this case was cotton. Their ever-growing debt, along with their older growing bones has put them in a position where they have had to make a decision. Their decision may seem extreme to most. However, within the last 2 years they had lost all 5 of their fully grown children. That alone, would give anyone a sense of hopelessness, add on the escalating debt they had, and these were ingredients to a very tragic story.
As their day went on, they started to get themselves ready as if they were going to church or to a funeral. For a part of the beginning of the story, the reader could have possibly conceived that they were going to court for some debt or something that they may have owed to someone. They put on their best outfits; the best they had at the time. I am sure that tons of things were going through their minds at this point. They knew what they had to do, and they had already made up their minds that they were going to proceed with their plan. Both were getting very nervous, Jeff pulled up the car and Jennie got in.
