A Gathering of Old Men: the Characters in Gaines’ Novel

Race has always been an issue in lah. The characters in Gaines novel attempt to dissolve racial tension in the South. any of the black custody gather unitedly at the plantation so the lynching mob wont attempt to attack them. saltiness and Pepper, a black and a white football star, play together at LSU in the novel. This demonstrates racial cooperation. The novel takes place in Bayonne, lah on the Marshall Plantation. The plantations white boss, Beau, is found bump off at the start of the novel.Candy Marshall, trigger owner of the plantation, finds the body well(p) Mathus house. Mathu was somewhat of a foster parent to Candy. Candy gathers a crew of old men to the plantation with shotguns and empty shells to confess to the murder. She does this so the alleged killer, Mathu, wont be lynched. Lynching is how many racial crimes in Louisiana at this time were handled. The old men stand by at the plantation all day, not discerning who actually act the crime. Mapes, a white she riff, is depicted as a typical racialist.He uses aggression towards the men to try to solve the crime. This was the typical approach of Louisiana deputies towards blacks. Towards the end of the novel, Mapes shows that he has great respect for Mathu. In this novel Gaines shows the racial difficulties in Louisiana at this time. This is shown through the fear of the black community. They were terrified of being lynched for a crime they might not have committed. The men all gather together to take a stand against racist whites. He also shows that this was the beginning of racial equality.This is shown by the harmony amongst Salt and Pepper on and off of the football field. Gaines paints a ethical picture of the Louisiana animatenessstyle at this point in history. He shows the racial struggles in law enforcement, daily lifestyle, and sports. Being from Louisiana and knowing what I do about our historical culture I would regularise that in Gaines novel he describes very well what Lou isiana life was like at this time. I chose to do my report on this harbour because I believe that racism is a very large part of Louisiana history.