A Gathering of Old Men
A Gathering of Old Men
A Gathering of Old Men, by Ernest J. Gaines, begins with the child narrator, ?Snookum?, who spreads the word that there has been a shooting on a Louisiana plantation. The person killed is a white, Cajun farmer, named Beau Boutan. He has been killed in the yard of an old, black worker, named ?Mathu?. Because of the ongoing conflict between Cajuns and blacks in South Louisiana, the fear of the black people is immediately felt. In South Louisiana, there is much bitterness between Cajuns, which are described as a white, French, traditionally poor, uneducated and an ethnic minority themselves, with a history of violence towards blacks, and the black people. There are fifteen different characters in this story, and all have an important role. Because there are so many suspects for the shooting, this really puts a lot of pressure on a character named ?Mapes?. Mapes, is a white sheriff who traditionally deals with the black people by the use of intimidation and force, finds himself in a frustrating situation of having to deal with a
mapes, black, white, shoot, old, because, shot, said, people, named, louisiana, way, traditionally, think, suspects, south, shooting, plantation, men, lou, killed, i?ll, gathering, each, described, cajuns, boutan, blacks, between, been, beau, back, young, yard, worker, word, woman, whose, we?ll, waiting, violence, uneducated, towards, together, throughout, themselves, stubborn, story, storm, spreads, snookum
