In Ernest Gaines's "The Sky is Gray", James is the protagonist and main character. He is an eight-year-old African American, living in the south during the 1940's before the civil rights movement came into effect. He is the oldest of all the children. James lives with his other siblings, his auntie, and his mother. His father is not there due to the war. James is a very desirous young boy. He desires an education, financial stability, the ability to become a man, and to show and receive love. .
James desires an education and the ability to learn. While sitting in the dentist office, he watches a young college-aged man with books, who is talking sophisticatedly, and comments on how one day he wants to be like him: "When I grow up I want to be just like him. I want clothes like that and I want to a keep a book with me, too" (118). It is obvious James wants to be educated some day. He is extremely fascinated that this college boy has nice things such as a suit, and a book. James also desires an education because people will respect him more. They will look at him as an educated, and smart individual, and will treat him with more dignity.
James also desires financial stability. He and his entire family are extremely poor. They work tiresome days for very little money. They sometimes have no food and little clothing. At one point the family is so poor James's mamma made him kill a bird with a fork for food. James was very distraught by this action. He begged his mamma to not make him do this. "Please, Mama, I can't kill him," he says, "I"ll do anything, but don't make me do that" (112).
He went through such a traumatic moment because his family is poor. James does not want to live like this. He wants to have money so that he can either buy or grow his own food rather than .
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"The Sky is Gray" by Ernest Gaines, tells a story of a mother, her son, and their trip to get one of his teeth pulled. It takes the reader through their journey from their home, to the town and the dentist's office, then to get a meal and meet a shop owner couple. Racism is the most majo...
Gaines" The Sky is Gray, Gaines writes about a southern society in which every attempt possible is made to deny black men a sense of masculinity (49). ... Meyers explains: "The river is Gray. The sky is gray. From henceforth, James" own "long day" will be comprised of this struggle between "black blood" and "white blood" within a cerebal 'sky" of gray"(417). This is what the world is to James not black or white oriented but gray,for James is unable to understand why society is so against his kind. ...
O"Connor's "Revelation" and Gaines" "The Sky is Gray" both demonstrate that verbal altercations can cause disrespect and violent behavior in upper white class communities as well as in lower class black communities. ... In contrast, in Gaines" "The Sky is Gray" we see a young non-believing black, who evokes violent reactions from the older black spiritual person. ... Gaines "The Sky is Gray" brings also the reader into another waiting room, but this one is a dentist's office, filled with black people sitting everywhere, mostly poor. ... Whether white, black, rich, poor, old or young,...
The Sky Is Gray" Throughout history, racial prejudice has always been a factor in our everyday lives, either on the giving or receiving end. ... In the short story "The Sky is Gray" written by Ernest Gaines, the author tells a story about a boy being raised in a racist society and how he coped with it. In "The Sky is Gray", racial prejudice operates in the typically unfair and organized manner. ... It seems to me that the old white woman and her husband represent the "gray" area where there is no color; there is no black and white. ...
"The Sky Is Gray" Deals With Racism and Offers a Courageous Solution That Challenges The Rules of Society. ... Eight-year-old James from rural Louisiana travels with his mother to a white-dominated town, in order to visit the dentist: James narrates Ernest Gaines" story "The Sky Is Gray." ...
In a comparison and contrast of "The Sky Is Gray", by Ernest Gaines and " The Man Who Was Almost A Man", by Richard Wright we experience the hardships two adolescents face on the road to manhood. ... For instance, in the story of "The Sky Is Gray", the character James is an eight-year-old boy who has to provide for his family. ...
Crane used this color to often describe the sun, sky, or even the road. When Crane described the sky he quoted, "In an eastern sky there was a yellow patch like a rug laid for the feet of the incoming sun." ... He often used the color of red to describe blood or the sky. ... Another color that Stephen Crane often used was gray. ... The mood that often went along with the color gray was confusion. ...
There are a few clouds in the sky, they are dark but not threatening. ... The sky has the beauty of the actual sky as the last colors of the sunset fade over the horizon. The sky highest above the ocean is a very dark gray. ... Courbet uses black, gray, a blue gray, and scarlet. ... If you look more closely at how the sky above the horizon seemed to have a pink or purple cast, you will see that it is really a flat bluish-gray. ...
On October 8, 2003, the people of California, in a landslide decision, voted to recall Governor Gray Davis. Gray Davis was elected governor of California in a landslide election in 1998. Since then, his leadership in office has been put to the test by a major energy crisis, a growing budget deficit, sky-rocketing workers compensation costs, the loss of thousands of jobs to other states and a decline in the quality of education. ... Gray Davis, although reelected to office in November 2002, became the subject of a California's 32nd attempt to recall its governor. ... When all the votes...
