Bloodline: Five Stories

published	1997 by Vintage
binding	Paperback
isbn	067978165X (isbn13: 9780679781653)
pages	256
description	In these five stories, Gaines returns to the cane fields, sharecroppers' shacks, and decaying plantation houses of Louisiana, the terrain of his great...more [close] In these five stories, Gaines returns to the cane fields, sharecroppers' shacks, and decaying plantation houses of Louisiana, the terrain of his great novels A Gathering of Old Men and A Lesson Before Dying. As rendered by Gaines, this country becomes as familiar, and as haunted by cruelty, suffering, and courage, as Ralph Ellison's Harlem or Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County. STORIES INCLUDE: A Long Day in November The Sky Is Gray Three Men Bloodline Just Like a Tree [close]
date added	02-13-07 edit book

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Christy rated it:

01/23/08

bookshelves: african-american-lit, readinglist1, short-fiction

Read in January, 2008

The five stories in Ernest Gaines' Bloodline explore various stages of life from the perspective of poor African Americans in the early 20th century. The first two stories are told from the perspective of a child, the second from the perspective of a 19-year-old, the fourth from the perspective of a 70-year-old, and the final from a variety of quickly shifting perspectives.

From these very different perspectives, Gaines is able to provide an in-depth analysis of racism, poverty, and...more The five stories in Ernest Gaines' Bloodline explore various stages of life from the perspective of poor African Americans in the early 20th century. The first two stories are told from the perspective of a child, the second from the perspective of a 19-year-old, the fourth from the perspective of a 70-year-old, and the final from a variety of quickly shifting perspectives.

From these very different perspectives, Gaines is able to provide an in-depth analysis of racism, poverty, and masculinity among black people in the South (most stories seem to be set in Louisiana). The final story does not focus on masculinity, but the other four do. They raise questions of what responsibilities a man has toward his family ("A Long Day in November"), what kind of pride and self-reliance a man (or, really, any responsible person--the lesson learned here is not specifically for males, but the child who learns it is a young boy) ought to have ("The Sky Is Gray"), what social pressures and attitudes work to create a certain class of black man and destroy the manhood that the first two stories show characters trying to develop ("Three Men"), and what a man who is willing to stand up for himself and demand his rights looks like ("Bloodline"). Interestingly, in these four stories, the actions that transform these men into real men or that represent true manhood are coded as insane. One man burns his nice car up to save his marriage, a mother teaches her son to turn aside even minor assistance, a young man determines to go to prison rather than get bailed out by a white man, and a mulatto man returns to his white father's plantation to demand his birthright. To some degree, all of these actions counter received ideas about what is sane or normal, but these actions are necessary to establish manhood, responsibility, personal dignity. The fact that they are or can be read as insane says a great deal about the culture in which these people must live and that culture's response to them.

As a secondary theme, religion is repeatedly set aside by these stories. Sometimes the preacher figure simply lets down a character where a hoodoo woman is able to help, other times characters speak out against religion explicitly, but in no case is Christianity a real solution to the problems inherent in society or in individual's lives. In fact, the characters who rely on God to answer their problems are shown to be weak or deluded. As Copper says, in "Bloodline," "I used to pray once. . . . I used to pray and pray and pray. But the same God I was praying to was created by the same ones I was praying against. And Gods only listen to the people who create them. So I quite my praying--there would have to be another way" (214).

Of the five stories, I would definitely teach "The Sky Is Gray," "Three Men," or "Bloodline." Each of these stories develops an intriguing central character and raises important questions for discussion. ...less

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Bloodline: Five Stories

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