After a white landowner, renowned for his cruelty
to his black neighbors, is shot to death, eighteen elderly black men take up their
shotguns and congregate on the porch of their friend, Mathu, who has been accused
of the murder. All claim to have done the shooting themselves.
Gaines' tale presents a moving description of how people are capable of asserting
their independence after lifetimes of subservience in a racist community. He advances
his story by presenting successive monologues by 15 different individuals, both
black and white. In a unique voice, each describes the situation from a first
person perspective while reflecting on past injustices. This
novel about the changing racial
attitudes and realities of the South is set in rural Louisiana.
Librarian talk . . . About Getting Started!As you begin, narrow your topic to a size that you can manage. Consider keywords that will help you find the information you need. These can be names of people, literary works, events, or broader identifying terms. Use these keywords for locating information in the library catalog, electronic databases, and on the internet.
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Characters include:
Themes to Consider:
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Some of these print materials are also available in electronic format in the Literature Resource Center, a Lone Star College-Kingwood Library database:
REF PN3385 .N68
Novels for Students (vol. 16)
Excellent discussion
of the novel with plot summary, author biography, annotated list of characters,
analysis of themes, historical context, and selected literary
criticism.
REF PN 50.L574
1997 Literature and Its Times (vol. 5)
The entry on A Gathering of Old Men fixes it in the context of the
historical events at the time of the novel. REF PS261 .F54 Fifty
Southern Writers after 1900
Biographical and
analytical essay on Gaines and his writing.
REF PS261 .C55 The Companion to Southern
Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People, Movements, and
Motifs. See the essays on "Race Relations" (p. 712) and
"Racism" (p. 716) for comments about A Gathering of Old Men, as well as
other essays for a general understanding of literary themes in the literature of
the South.
REF PS153 .N5 M2645 Masterplots II: African
American Literature Series (vol. 1)
Discussion
of the novel, its characters, themes, and critical context.
REF PS153 .N5
A344 African American Writers (vol. 1)
Entry on Gaines includes a brief discussion of this novel, pp. 259-261.
Ernest J. Gaines was
born in 1933 on the River Lake Plantation in the small southern Louisiana town
of Oscar in Pointe Coupee Parish to parents who were
sharecroppers. Before he
moved to California at fifteen, he experienced life in segregated rural
Louisiana and soaked up the oral "storytelling" of his relatives and
neighbors. These tales
and his own observations inspire his fiction which is filled with Blacks,
Creoles, and Cajuns, and the struggles they faced in moving from the past to the
present.
He has
published eight books, including the acclaimed Autobiography of Miss Jane
Pittman, as well as numerous short stories. Today, Gaines is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette , after serving there many years as writer-in-residence.
Biographical Information in Reference Books
REF
PN41 .D5 Dictionary of Literary Biography (vols. 2, 33,
152)
This series explores both the life and works of an
author. Vols. 33 and 152 include analyses of A Gathering of Old
Men.
REF PS261 .S515 Encyclopedia of Southern Literature
Brief
biographical essay, pp. 119-125.
REF PS261 .C569 Contemporary
Southern Writers
Biographical and analytical essay on Gaines
and his writing.
REF PR883
.C64 2001 Contemporary Novelists
Brief
biography accompanied by a short critical examination of his works, pp.
349-350.
Additional biographical Information may be found in the database, Biography Reference Bank.
Librarian Talk . . . About Finding Journal and Newspaper Articles!Electronic databases are purchased by the libraries for your research use. To find articles in newspapers and journals, letters, reference books, illustrations, photographs and more, use your updated library card to login to the following databases. If you find an interesting article that is not full-text, please give the correct bibliographic information to our Reference Librarians and they will see that you get the article. They will need full bibliographic information - and your name and address. Send your phone number as well, so they can contact you if they need to. There is some overlap of articles in the following databases. However, we encourage you to use more than one. All are excellent sources for this topic. HINT: For a full list of article databases, go to http://Library.LoneStar.edu and use your library card for login. |
Full-text access to scholarly articles from more than 380 journals in the humanities and social sciences , including many literature journals. For best results use the advanced search.
Archives full-text articles from more than one thousand scholarly journals in humanities, social sciences, and sciences. For best results use the advanced search.
MLA International Bibliography
One of the oldest and most authoritative sources for citations to literary criticism, this index from the Modern Language Association will help you locate articles from scholarly literary journals. Use the Advanced search screen and limit searches to journal articles in English. This database has limited full-text articles, but our inter-library loan program may help you acquire needed articles from other libraries around the country. [Note: this service can take up to two weeks or more.]
Librarian Talk . . . About the Internet!The Internet will be a wonderful source of original documents. Browse the sites we have suggested below. Remember, you do want to find reputable sites. Look at:
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Librarian Talk about getting help!Support for a successful paper is more than finding the right resources. Putting it all together takes time and effort. Sometimes it takes additional help from the librarians or tutors. Please consider the following resources if you need additional help. Remember, the expert on the assignment is your professor; use the eCollege VISTA in-class email to contact her. |
Page by Charles Gillis, 08/10/04. Updated 05/08 cg
