A Formalist and Historical approach
A Formalist and Historical-Biographical Literary Analysis on
Ernest J. Gaines “The Sky is Gray”
Submitted to:
Dr. Mark Anthony Moyano
Submitted by:
Jackie Lou O. Tomas
BSEd 3-3
I. SUMMARY
James was an 8 year old child, who was teaching his mother to become a breadwinner of the family because his father was left.
The story begins, James and his mother, Octavia waiting a bus that will carry them to Bayonne, a place in the city where the dentist can be found. The weather is cold; James knows that his mother worried about her family because the woods are lack to keep them warm until her return. Her mother is also worried about other things because James is not there to assume the man’s role in her absence. As they are waiting, James wanted to hug her mother, but he restrains himself not to do, because he knows that his mother regards that display of affection as weakness.
James has been silently suffering for some time with a toothache, but this suffering was not told to anybody in their house because he knew that there was no money for the dentist. James’s aunt, who first became aware that he was in pain, but James pleases his aunt not to tell. James’s aunt then sends James for Monsieur Bayonne, a folk healer, to treat the tooth but his remedies were ineffective. The pain became so unbearable that it could no longer be kept secret from James’s mother, so now they on their way to have it removed. They only have money enough to go there and get back. Dollar and a half to have it pulled and fifty cents to buy a “little piece of salt meat.”
While they are waiting for the bus, James recalls the time before his father went off to the war, when things were better for the family. He also recall the time when his mother made him kill two birds caught in the traps that he and his brother set for owls and then demanded that he kill the other for the food of the family. James refused to do this, so his mother beat him until he gave in. As they are eating, James
Ernest J. Gaines “The Sky is Gray”
Submitted to:
Dr. Mark Anthony Moyano
Submitted by:
Jackie Lou O. Tomas
BSEd 3-3
I. SUMMARY
James was an 8 year old child, who was teaching his mother to become a breadwinner of the family because his father was left.
The story begins, James and his mother, Octavia waiting a bus that will carry them to Bayonne, a place in the city where the dentist can be found. The weather is cold; James knows that his mother worried about her family because the woods are lack to keep them warm until her return. Her mother is also worried about other things because James is not there to assume the man’s role in her absence. As they are waiting, James wanted to hug her mother, but he restrains himself not to do, because he knows that his mother regards that display of affection as weakness.
James has been silently suffering for some time with a toothache, but this suffering was not told to anybody in their house because he knew that there was no money for the dentist. James’s aunt, who first became aware that he was in pain, but James pleases his aunt not to tell. James’s aunt then sends James for Monsieur Bayonne, a folk healer, to treat the tooth but his remedies were ineffective. The pain became so unbearable that it could no longer be kept secret from James’s mother, so now they on their way to have it removed. They only have money enough to go there and get back. Dollar and a half to have it pulled and fifty cents to buy a “little piece of salt meat.”
While they are waiting for the bus, James recalls the time before his father went off to the war, when things were better for the family. He also recall the time when his mother made him kill two birds caught in the traps that he and his brother set for owls and then demanded that he kill the other for the food of the family. James refused to do this, so his mother beat him until he gave in. As they are eating, James
References: http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-2695200024/sky-gray.html http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gai0bio-1 http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/l/a-lesson-before-dying/ernest-j-gaines-biography