The Sky Is Gray

The Sky is Gray

The Sky is Gray , a story written by Ernest Gaines , features a young mind in the person of an eight-year-old black boy , James , who lives in rural Louisiana . As such a young age , James life revolves around the era of social upheaval , racial inequality , poverty , orientation and transformation from a boy to a man , and the emotional whirlwind too much for a child to deal with

The story is told entirely from James ' point of view , to limit the reader from what James sees and understands . The reader

is therefore confined to the mindset of an eight-year old boy for the reader to feel his emotions , his hunger , his confusion , his worries , and the simplicity of his thoughts

Early in the story is an anecdote where James and his brother set traps for owls and blackbirds , but the traps netted redbirds instead . James was horrified when his mother killed one of the redbirds because he believes them to be beautiful . He eventually killed the second bird when his mother beat him for refusing to kill it . He then basked in his family 's pride in him for providing this little piece of meat for their supper . Even at such a young age , James realized that his mother was preparing him for the hard ways of the world . ADDIN EN .CITE Parks20021 31320 (pbk . acid-free )American short stories since 1945New YorkOxford University Pressx , 886Short stories American .American fiction 20th century .United States Social life and customs 20th century Fiction .Parks , John G .Main Library 815 .083 A51

br AVAILABLE (Parks

In the first part of the story , James vividly recalls why he and his mother need to go a white-dominated town . James disguised his toothache because he knows that his family cannot afford the medications . But when the pain is too much for him to handle , they decided to go to the nearby Bayonne to visit the dentist . This is where he began to see the realities of life . An argument occurs in the dentist 's office between a preacher who believes that one must accept everything in life without questioning God 's will and a young black college student who believes that one must question everything . Every stripe . Every star . Every word spoken . Everything ' Using reasoning and education as support , the young black student made James realize the importance of asserting one 's belief , and expressing one 's opinion , by seeing the truthfulness of the student 's statement which says We don 't question is exactly our problem ' ADDIN EN .CITE Schechter (acid-free )Discoveries fifty stories of the quest2ndNew York OxfordOxford University Pressxiv , 652Short stories .Schechter HaroldSemeiks , Jonna GormelyMain Library 808 .831 D61 DUE 13-05-06OFF CAMPUSLathan1994 4124videorecordingThe Sky is grayCanoga Park , Calif Hong KongMonterey Home Video Artsberg distributor19941 videocassette (46 min : sd , col 1 /2 in .African American youth Drama .African Americans Drama .Short films .Television programs .Lathan StanGreen , WhitneyFuller CharlesFonda , HenryCole OliviaBond , JamesAvery MargaretGaines , Ernest J .Learning in Focus inc ,AV Reserve Coll...