The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

Context

Ernest J. Gaines was born on January 15, 1933 on the River Lake Plantation in Oscar,Louisiana. His parents, Manuel and Adrienne Gaines, worked on the plantation ,and Ernest alsostarted working there he was just eight. By the time he was nine, he was digging potatoes forfifty cents a day. He is the oldest of eight brothers and three sisters. A major influence in hisearly life was his Aunt Augusteen, to whom The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman ispartially dedicated. She was disabled, having no legs, so she took care of the children while theother adults worked. Her strength and determination influenced the young Ernest, and, as aresult, strong older black women, such as Jane Pittman, have frequently played an importantrole in his fiction.

In 1948 at the age of fifteen, Gaines moved with his family to Vallejo, California. In California,Gaines was able to receive a more thorough education than had been possible in the south. Hebegan to read extensively, feeling particularly drawn to the Russian novelists, Turgenev,Tolstoy, and Gogol, whom he felt taught him to write about rural people. After high school,Gaines enrolled in Vallejo Junior College and also served for two years in the army. Hepublished his first story in 1956 in a small San Francisco magazine, Transfer. He graduatedfrom San Francisco State College in 1957. In the same year, he won a Wallace StegnerFellowship to study creative writing at Stanford during the academic year of 19581959.

Since graduating from Stanford, Gaines has devoted himself fully to the craft of writing. Hesays that he writes "five hours a day, five days a week." His dedication has paid off. Gainespublished his first novel Catherine Carmier in 1964. Seven other novels have followed: OfLove and Dust (1967); Bloodline (1968); A Long Day in November (1971); The Autobiographyof Miss Jane Pittman (1973); In My Father's House (1978); A Gathering of Old Men (1983);and A Lesson Before Dying (1993). The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, A Lesson BeforeDying, and A Gathering of Old Men were also made into television movies, therebypopularizing Gaines's work. Gaines currently is a professor at the University of SouthwesternLouisiana.

Ernest Gaines's work is best categorized as Southern fiction and African- American fiction.Gaines's novels and short stories focus on the people, folklore, and dialects of rural Louisiana.The setting of his novels is always Bayonne, Louisiana: a mythical region that embodies theLouisianan culture, much in the way that Faulkner's mythical county of Yoknapatawpha did forMississippi. Many textual references to Faulkner can be seen in Gaines's writing such as thecommon first person narration and the use of Southern dialects. Gaines does acknowledge thatFaulkner heavily influenced his work and also has cited the influence of another great Southernstylist, Hemingway.

Earnest Gaines originally wanted to write The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman as a folkbiography, with a "group of people telling of this one person's life" for over 100 years ofhistory. Gaines attempted the tale in that manner but found that it seemed "untrue," so heproceeded to write the novel from her point of view. Miss Jane's oral story falls into the

tradition of the slave narrative, which is a pattern common to the African-American tradition,since the days of slavery. Slave narratives essentially were stories of enslavement, suffering,endurance, and escape. Some of the most famous slave narratives are Frederick Douglass'sautobiography and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. By using apersonalized narrative, Gaines is able to describe one hundred years of African-Americanhistory, as experienced by Miss Jane. Miss Jane's history offers a broader version of Americanhistory than the ones often included in textbooks, since the personal experiences of blacks haveoften been ignored. The oral form of Miss Jane's tale also allows him to explore the textualrealm of Southern dialects and the often circular nature of the oral style itself. The novel alsobrings up several themes common to Gaines's other work, such as the struggle for blackmanhood, the violent legacy of slavery, and the difficult of freeing oneself from one's history.

Plot Overview

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman begins with a note from the editor, who is a localschoolteacher near the plantation where Jane Pittman lives. He has long been trying to hear herstory, and, beginning in the summer of 1962, she finally tells it to him. When her memorylapses, her acquaintances help fill in the spaces. The recorded tale, with editing, then becomesThe Autobiography of Miss Jane.

Jane Pittman is born into slavery on a plantation somewhere in Louisiana. Jane is called"Ticey" during her days as a slave and has no parents; her mother died as a result of a beatingwhen Jane was a child, and Jane did not know her father. Until she is around nine, Jane works inthe Big House caring for the white children. One day toward the end of the war, some fleeingconfederate soldiers arrive, followed soon after by some union soldiers. While being servedwater by Jane, one Union soldier named Corporal Brown tells Jane that she will soon be freeand can then visit him in Ohio. He tells her to change her name and offers her that of hisdaughter, Jane Brown. After the soldiers leave, Jane refuses to answer when her mistress callsher "Ticey." The mistress later beats Jane until she bleeds, but Jane insists that her name is nowJane Brown. Because of her obstinacy, Jane is sent to work in the fields.

On the day of the Emancipation Proclamation, Jane's master frees them all. On the same day,Jane leaves the plantation with a group of ex-slaves. They have no idea where they are going,but a woman named Big Laura leads the way. Jane wants to go to Ohio to find Corporal Brown.The first morning away, a group of "Patrollers," local white trash who used to hunt slaves,comes upon them and kills everyone but Jane and a very young boy Ned, whom they did notfind. Jane and Ned then continue on their own, still headed for Ohio. They meet manycharacters on their trip, all of whom tell Jane that Ohio is too far and that she should go back toher plantation. Jane's obstinacy persists for a few weeks until she and Ned are completelyexhausted from walking. Finally they catch a ride with a poor white man named Job who letsthem sleep at his house and takes them the next day to a plantation run by Mr. Bone. Mr. Boneoffers Jane a job, but only pays her the reduced rate of six dollars a month (minus fifty centsfor Ned's schooling) because she is so young. Jane and Ned get a cabin and after one month onthe job, Mr. Bone raises her pay to ten dollars because she is doing as much work as the otherwomen.

Life on Mr. Bone's plantation initially is good with a colored schoolteacher and a politicalscene still monitored by Republicans from the north. Then the original owner of the plantation,Colonel Dye, buys it back (with money borrowed from Yankees). Life reverts back to almosthow it was before slavery, with segregation and violence against blacks who step out of line.The blacks start fleeing north because of the worsening conditions. Initially the whites do notcare, but soon they try to stop the flight. Ned, who is now almost seventeen, joins a committeethat helps blacks leave. Colonel Dye warns Jane that Ned must stop, but when he will not, KuKlux Klan members arrive at Jane's house. Ned is not home when they come and is able to fleethe plantation later that night. Jane does not want to leave her secure life, so they separate withsadness. Ned goes to Kansas, gets an education, and eventually joins the U.S. Army to fight inCuba. Jane soon marries Joe Pittman (without an official ceremony). Despite Colonel Dye's

attempts to keep them, Joe and Jane soon move to a ranch near the Texas-Louisiana borderwhere Joe has found a job breaking horses.

Joe and Jane live at the new ranch for many years, but as they age Jane becomes increasinglyworried about Joe getting hurt in his work. One of her recurring dreams depicts him beingthrown from a horse. Soon after, Jane sees a black stallion in a corral that is the horse from herdream. She tries to get Joe not to ride it, even consulting a Creole voodoo woman, but after thehorse escapes (because Jane frees it), Joe is killed trying to recapture it. After a few more years,Jane moves to another part of Louisiana with a fisherman, who suddenly leaves, and she is leftall alone.

Ned soon moves back to where Jane is, and he brings his wife, Vivian, and three youngchildren. He buys a house and starts building a school. At the school, he teaches ideas about thepolitical rights of blacks as well as basic subjects. The local whites fear Ned's rhetoric, andtherefore they hire a Cajun that Jane knows, Albert Cluveau, to shoot Ned, which Cluveau does.After Ned's death, Jane tells Cluveau that the chariot of hell will come for him and Cluveaulater dies a fearful, painful death.

Jane then goes to live on the Samson plantation. Robert Samson runs the plantation with hiswife, Miss Amma Dean. They have one son, Tee Bob, although Robert Samson had another son,Timmy, with a black woman on the plantation, Verda. Timmy looks and acts more like Robertthan does Tee Bob, and the two boys are close friends even though Robert and Miss AmmaDean still expect Timmy to be subservient to his brother since Timmy is black. After the whiteoverseer, Tom Joe, severely beats Timmy in response to Timmy's obstinacy, Robert Samsongives Timmy money and tells him to leave the plantation.

Later in life, Tee Bob falls in love with the Creole schoolteacher, Mary Agnes LeFarbre, whoappears almost white. His friends and family remind him that a white man cannot love a blackwoman, but one night he goes to her house and asks her to marry him anyhow. After she tellshim that he is not thinking straight, he returns home and commits suicide. Tee Bob's stepfatherintervenes after the suicide so that Mary Agnes is not imprisoned or killed in revenge for TeeBob's death. In a conversation with Jane, he describes that they all killed Tee Bob because oftheir adherence to racial regulations beyond which Tee Bob could see.

In the final chapter of the book, Jane describes a boy named Jimmy Aaron, whom the wholeplantation hopes will become the "one" who will save them all. Eventually, Jimmy getsinvolved in the civil rights movement. After several years away from the plantation, he returnshome and plans an act of civil disobedience followed by a protest at the courthouse. First ayoung girl is arrested for drinking from a white water fountain. On the day that they all are tomarch to the courthouse in protest, however, Jimmy is shot dead. The crowd who was planningto march had already gathered when they hear the news. With the assistance of one young blackman, Jane bravely encourages the people to march and takes the lead even though Jimmy isalready dead.

Character List

Miss Jane Pittman - The protagonist of the novel. She is a spunky woman who has alwaysfought her way through the world and stood up for herself. She represents courage, fortitude,and determination. From the very beginning of the novel to the very end, Jane attempts to makeherself as emotionally and physically free as possible. She is a physically strong woman whobecomes a community leader because of her strength, insight, and character.

Read an in-depth analysis of Miss Jane Pittman.

Ned Douglass - Jane Pittman's adopted son. Ned represents insight, strength, and youth. He isa bright young man who desires change in the society and boldly makes an effort to help hispeople by building a school. He is well aware that he might be killed for his actions, as he is,but he insists on doing it anyhow. His bravery makes him a savior within his community.Joe Pittman - Jane's husband. Joe is kind, likable, and tough. His toughness gave him thecourage to leave Colonel Dye's plantation after finding another job. Joe's desire to break horsesshows his forceful personality and yearning for true manhood. Joe's excellence at his workindicates his status as a truly strong man. Unfortunately, Joe's desire to constantly demonstratehis manhood will lead to his death as he refuses to retire even though he is aging. Joe's deathwhen trying to capture the black stallion can be seen as his final attempt to claim themasculinity that whites had long denied him.

Read an in-depth analysis of Joe Pittman.

Robert Samson - The Master of the Samson Plantation and the father of Tee Bob. RobertSamson represents the old southern social order. He governs his plantation almost as men didduring slavery. He seduces a black woman and fathers a child, Timmy, but he refuses to acceptthis son as his own because he is black. Timmy lives on the plantation and resembles him morethan Samson's white son, but for Samson the color barrier between them is larger than theirblood connection. Samson's inability to see beyond the old southern order leads to his rejectionof Timmy and the death of his other son, Tee Bob. Because of his archaic beliefs, his legacy isruined.Miss Amma Dean Samson - The wife and mistress of the Samson plantation. Miss AmmaDean maintains the racial social order on the plantation. Her dislike of Robert Samson's blackson Timmy most obviously indicates how she expects the traditional decorum of blacks. Still,her harsh treatment of Timmy also relates to her dismay at her husband's infidelity. Heraffection for her own son and her extreme grief at his suicide also makes her a sympatheticcharacter. Gaines makes Miss Amma Dean a sympathetic character who demonstrates the waythat the strict patriarchy pushed women in the old southern realm aside.Albert Cluveau - An old Cajun man who fishes near Jane's cabin each day and who shoots NedDouglass. Initially Cluveau is a friendly character, even though he speaks frequently aboutkilling people. He and Jane are even friends. Cluveau's willingness to shoot Ned shows him as acoward. Cluveau is a poor white Cajun who will follow the orders of the higher-ranking whitesin order to get their acceptance. After Cluveau believes that Jane has cursed him, his status as aweak coward becomes more obvious since he fears going to hell so much that he beats hisinnocent daughter. Cluveau is so afraid of death that he screams for days before it comes. This

cowardice toward the end of his life contrasts strongly with the bravery showed by NedDouglass, the man he shot.Tee Bob - The son of Robert Samson, the owner of the Sampson Plantation. Tee Bob is a tragicfigure who kills himself during the book because he cannot accept the social mores of theSouth. Tee Bob's first disappointment with the Southern order comes when his father forces hishalf-brother, Timmy, off the plantation. Tee Bob cannot understand why Timmy has to leavebecause the white overseer beat him. Tee Bob's later love for Mary Agnes again steps outsideof the rules proscribed by their culture. No one, not even Mary Agnes, supports Tee Bob's loveof her. When she turns him down, he sees that the world is too harsh for him, and he killshimself. Tee Bob's love for his brother and for Mary Agnes is pure, and he cannot understandwhy anything can be wrong with them. Tee Bob in many ways still maintains a sense of racialsuperiority because he is white, but the kind nature of his heart makes him willing to stepoutside the rules. And it is his willingness that leads to his dismay and suicide.

Read an in-depth analysis of Tee Bob.

Timmy - Timmy is the unrecognized son of Robert Samson. Timmy looks and acts just likeRobert Samson, but because Timmy is the son of a black woman he cannot claim RobertSamson's name. Timmy's knowledge of who is father is makes him slightly more obstinate thanother blacks. Timmy is not entirely a likeable character because he is so hardheaded andmischievous, but he is a sympathetic one. His father exiles him from the plantation eventuallybecause Timmy's attitude is not becoming of a black man. Timmy yearns to be the man that heis, but despite his heritage, his black race still requires that he cower in a white man's world.Timmy's presence is a testament to the widespread existence of black children of white menand the longtime rejection of them by their fathers both during and after slavery.Mary Agnes LeFarbre - The Creole schoolteacher that comes to live on the Samsonplantation and with whom Tee Bob falls in love. Mary Agnes came to the plantation in an effortto make amends for her family's slaveholding past. Most of the plantation, however, believesher to be slightly uppity, because of her background. Her desire to be with dark skinned peopleis equally as racist as her Creole family's desire to only be with whites. Mary Agnes issomewhat of a coquette, as she continues to befriend Tee Bob but navely assumes that nothingwill come of it. She never considered the relationship between them serious. Her attitude, to agreat extent, leads to his death.Jules Raynard - A good friend of the Samsons who is also Tee Bob's godfather, or Parrain.Jules Raynard is a true gentleman who refuses to let violence against Mary Agnes follow TeeBob's death. Raynard's wisdom leads to Mary Agnes's flight and his speech about how all ofthem killed Tee Bob, especially by supporting the culture that wore him down. Jules Raynard isan exceptional white man who seeks understanding in a time of prejudice and segregation.Jimmy Aaron - A boy born in the plantation whom everyone believes is going to be the "one".Jimmy Aaron is a messiah-like figure who will return to help mobilize the community towardaction. The elders on the plantation want Jimmy to become a religious leader, but because ofthe changes in Civil Rights he becomes more interested in politics. Jimmy Aaron'scommitment and the final sacrifice of his life truly saves the other people from the fear that hasgoverned them all their life.Jimmy Caya - Tee Bob's best friend, whom he met at Louisiana State University in BatonRouge. Jimmy Caya is not from the high landowning class like the Samsons, and Jules Raynard

looks down on him for that reason. Jimmy Caya is young, like Tee Bob, but Jimmy Cayamaintains the classic southern ideas on race. Any meaningful relationship between Tee Bob anda black woman is unthinkable in his eyes, as it is for most white men. After he learns of TeeBob's death, he responds in the classic southern white way: he wants to blame the girl that TeeBob loved and have her killed. He serves as a contrast to Tee Bob, who was willing to stretchthe confining social limitations that society placed upon him. Caya's character articulates theracist status quo, while simultaneously demonstrating the classicism within the white southernsphere.Colonel Dye - The man who reclaims the plantation where Jane first lived after slavery.Colonel Dye fought with the Confederate Army and represents the old southern landowningorder. Colonel Dye supports restrictions and possibly violence against his blacks if necessary,such as when he sent the Ku Klux Klan to get Ned. He also is slightly dishonest in the way hetries to keep Joe on the plantation by saying that Joe owes him money and by adding interestafter Joe gets the cash.Madame Gautier - A Creole "hoodoo" woman whom Jane consults. Madame Gautier movedto a country town from New Orleans because of the competition in the city. Madame Gautierspeaks with a funny accent in order to affect a spiritual tone. In many ways, she is a comedicfigure because her affectations suggest that she is just a plain black woman dressed up andacting like a sorceress for financial gain.Mr. Bone - The man who originally owns and runs the plantation on which Jane Pittman staysafter slavery. He is a Republican who is willing to run the plantation with relative fairness forall the blacks. He employs a black schoolteacher and pays everyone fairly. Mr. Bone is arelatively good white man who suggests what the south could have become if the Republicanshad stayed in control.Job - A poor white man who takes Jane and Ned to his house when they are fleeing slavery.His wife has gone crazy during the war, and he has little to share with them, but he does soanyway and takes them to the safe location of Mr. Bone's plantation. He represents kindness inthe face of so much evil. Like his biblical namesake, he is a man who has seemingly enduredmuch but who still maintains a sense of goodness and Godliness by being charitable.Big Laura - Ned's mother and the slave woman who leads the freedmen as they leave slavery.Big Laura is one of many physically and emotionally strong black women who dominate thenovel.Black Harriet - A slow witted woman at the Samson plantation who goes crazy after trying towin a race in the fields. Black Harriet's ensuing insanity and slow wittedness suggest theharshness of the southern order upon the psychology of the people within it.Molly - The older black woman who works in the Big House at the ranch where Joe goes tobreak horses. Molly has become completely indoctrinated into slavery such that she cannotenvision life without it. After she feels forced to leave the house, she dies soon after.Lena - Jimmy Aaron's great aunt. She raises him and represents one of the strong older blackwomen who remain on the plantation.Olivia - Another older black woman on the Samson plantation. She offers to drive the otherprotestors in her car.Mary Hodges - A woman who lives with Jane Pittman and helps to take care of her. She isone of the strong older black women in the book.Brady - A older black man on the Samson plantation who is supposed to drive Miss Jane totown on the day of the protest at the courthouse. Brady is too scared to do so, however. His fear

is representative of the fear felt by most of the black people in the area because of years ofabuse and control by the whites. Because Brady is an older black man, his inability to stand upfor that in which he believes also suggests the way in which the southern order emasculatedblack men into inaction.Ida Simon - A woman on the plantation who takes care of Mary Agnes after she thinks MaryAgnes was ravished.Sheriff Guidry - The local Sheriff in town. He is a classic white southern sheriff who seemstotally indifferent to justice in the wake of Tee Bob's death. He supports Jules Raynard whenRaynard begs for peace, but it seems just as likely that he would look away if the Samsonfamily proceeded with violence.Clamp Brown - One of the teenage boys who lives on the Samson plantation at the end of thebook.Judy Major - The white girl to whom Tee Bob Samson is engaged.Corporal Brown - The white Union soldier who renames Jane.

Analysis of Major Characters

Miss Jane Pittman

Miss Jane Pittman is the protagonist of the novel. She is a spirited woman whose defiantattitude and resilience help her persist throughout her more than one hundred years of life.Jane's mother died as a result of a beating when Jane was very young, leaving Jane tomanaging. During slavery, she is brave and obstinate. She calls herself "Miss Jane Brown"despite the beating that this act inspires. Once she is free, Jane's obstinacy presses her to tryand reach Ohio. She is foolish too and refuses to listen to friendly people who try to help heralong the way. It is not until she is completely exhausted, does she finally agree to stay at Mr.Bone's plantation.

Jane works at Mr. Bone's plantation just as she worked in the fields as a child and as she willwork in the Samson plantation fields when she is about fifty. She is a physically strong womanwho works her whole life and maintains a lively and happy spirit despite hardship.Notwithstanding the pains that she suffers from seeing loved ones die, Jane's life proceeds inrelative poverty. For a woman born in slavery, she may feel grateful for what she has, but Janeconsistently lives in small cabins with no furniture, open fire pits, and occasionally even dirtfloors. Not until the very end of her life does she even have running water to drink. Despite therelative difficulty of such a life, she never complains about her lack of material possessions.

As Jane ages, she becomes a mother figure to the entire community. Jane's first son was Ned,whom Jane fostered in the days after slavery. After Ned's death and Jane's placement on theSamson plantation, she plays an important role to many of the youths. Even the white heir tothe plantation, Tee Bob Samson, looks up to her affectionately. Jane has never been able tophysically have children of her own because she is sterile. Her lack of biological childrenmakes it more possible for her to have many adoptive children. By the very end of the novel,Jimmy Aaron, the One, specifically comes to see Jane in order see if Jane will partake in hisprotest. Jimmy knows that Jane is a community leader because everyone respects her. Jimmy'sconfidence in Jane becomes fully proven when she actually marches the crowd towardsBayonne after Jimmy's death.

Still while Jane may be a community leader, she is not austere and very serious. She has Jimmyread cartoons to her from the newspaper. She grows addicted to listening to baseball games onher radio, a fact that is protested by other elders at the church. She also argues with the elders atthe church, much in the way that she once argued with the other slaves when she was a child onthe plantation. Jane remains her spunk even though she is over a hundred years old. Her attitudehave allowed her to succeed during all her life.

Joe Pittman

Joe Pittman is an honorable, brave, and kindly man. Joe Pittman has a vision of his life and heacts upon. He is skilled in the way of breaking horses, so he rises up and finds a new job.Colonel Dye attempts to trap Joe by saying that Joe owes him one hundred and fifty dollars.While many men would give up when faced with such a sum, Joe matter-of-factly goes out and

borrows the money from his new boss. When the Colonel requests added interest, Joe managesto gather that too, by selling almost everything he owns. The Colonel wants to trick Joe intostaying, but Joe bravely steps past the Colonel's tricks. Joe's act is brave because the Colonelcould easily request that Joe be killed for beaten for the impertinence of wanting to leave at all,or for the impertinence of finding the money to pay back the debt. Joe insistent behavior showshim to be a strong man. Joe is a black man who longs to be appreciated for his abilities, not hisrace. In a culture that requires servile black manhood, Joe finds a job, breaking horses, withwhich he can demonstrate his masculinity. Joe is so good at his job, in fact, that he becomes theChief Breaker at the ranch. All men, white and black, respect Joe in spite of the color of hisskin. Unfortunately, while Joe does manage to show his manhood, his manly desire for controlgets the better of him. Although he has aged, he insists on taking on the tremendous blackstallion. The black stallion kills him, but truly it is Joe's yearning to constantly control thatleads to his downfall. Joe's desire is a very human one Gaines suggests, which the Creolehoodoo lady calls "Man's Way".

Tee Bob Samson

Tee Bob Samson is one of the most sympathetic characters in the novel. Even though he is awhite man of privilege, being the heir to the Samson plantation, Tee Bob's awakening to thereality of their racist system leads him to kill himself. Even as a children, Tee Bob appeared tobe a sensitive child. He followed Jane around in the field checking to see if she was okay. Itwas upon his request that the Samsons transferred her to the Big House. As a boy, Tee Bobcould not understand why his brother, Timmy, was sent away. Tee Bob's ability to relate to andlove his brother as children allowed him to develop a genuine relationship outside of race. TeeBob was supposed to understand as he grew up the basic racist regulations of his society, buthis adoration of Mary Agnes demonstrates that he never did. Tee Bob kills himself because hefeels that he cannot fit into a society where race defines him and everyone in it regardless ofthe true content of their hearts.

Although Tee Bob is sympathetic, he still is a member of the white ruling class. His behavior inthe novel and even the way that he courts Mary Agnes shows his knowledge of his superiority.As they walk, for example, he rides on a horsea move that indicates his higher socialposition. In the moments before his death, though, Tee Bob suddenly sees the way that thehistory of his family and the South forces him to be something, even if he does not want to beit. Given the history of relationships between black women and white men, there is no way thatTee Bob can simply love Mary Agnes as person truly loves another. The burden of race and itshistory always will come between them. Tee Bob's final appreciation of this truth is whatfinally causes his death.

Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

Themes

The Legacy of Slavery

The violent history of slavery permeates so many aspects of American history. Jane Pittmanbegins her life in slavery, but the social framework of slavery continues for almost the rest ofher days, even after her emancipation. Although she lives for a hundred more years andbecomes free, she still lives on a plantation. Likewise, the rigid race relations of the southaffect all of its residents. Most people in the south, both white and black, stay within theboundaries of what they are supposed to do. The few people who attempt to change what ishappening, such as Tee Bob Samson, Jimmy Aaron, and Ned Douglass, all end up dead. TeeBob most clearly demonstrates the difficulty of being trapped in one's historical legacy.Although he would like to love Mary Agnes, he cannot free himself from historical significanceof being the heir to a southern plantation. Weighed down by guilt and frustration at his ownenslavement in his past, he kills himself.

Manhood

Although The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman concerns Jane's life, the idea of manhoodpermeates the novel. The four sections of the novel roughly follow the lives of four men: NedDouglass, Joe Pittman, Tee Bob Samson, and Jimmy Aaron. All of the black men in the novelstruggle to articulate their masculinity. Joe Pittman conquers horses as a means to prove hisworth. Ned Douglass openly defies the social order by becoming a schoolteacher and teachingabout race relations. Jimmy Aaron also is defiant by organizing political protests. All of thesebrave black men meet their deaths through struggling for manhood, although the richness oftheir lives make their efforts worthwhile. White men also need to demonstrate their manhoodby controlling people or using violence against them. The white landowning men, like RobertSamson, govern as clear patriarchs. Everything on the plantation happens as he says so, and heeven enjoys sexual relations with a black woman there. The poor white men often use violenceagainst blacks in order to prove themselves. But as shown with Albert Cluveau, their need touse violence against others actually indicates their own cowardice. Gaines suggests that all ofthese men, both white and black, have an inherent need to conquer creatures, such as Joe'shorse; things, like the river; or people, like the slaves. It is this desire for control and conquestthat usually leads to their downfall.

Class Differences Inside Race

Gaines exposes the striations of class and racism within the white and black race as well asbetween them. The white race divides itself upon economic grounds. The landowning whiteslook down on everyone else, mostly the working class Cajun whites. These poor whites servethe landowning whites by using violence to maintain the racial order. Despite their effortshowever, the landowning whites still detest and scorn them. In the black race, the Creoleculture shuns all darker skin blacks. The Creoles are light skinned blacks who come from theoriginal French colonists in Louisiana. When a Creole girl, Mary Agnes LeFarbre, goes to workon the Samson Plantation with common blacks, her family disowns her. Even though local

whites consider the Creoles common blacks, the Creoles themselves refuse to mix with thegeneral black population and act superior. The concept of racism within the black communityitself suggests the ridiculousness in using skin color as a means of social division.

Motifs

Slave Narratives

This motif is a textual one and refers to the fact that Gaines mimics a classic slave narrativewith his novel. Slave narratives tell stories of enslavement, suffering, endurance, and escape.Abolitionists once used slave narratives in order to illustrate the cruelty of its practices. Mostaccounts remained oral, but several notable exceptions were published in the nineteenthcentury, especially the story of Frederick Douglass, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass.Women's stories also fit into this literary tradition such as Harriet Jacob's Incidents in the Lifeof a Slave Girl.

Man On a Horse

The image of a man on a horse is one of the novel's most dominant and recurring images. Theimage is an emblem of the old South and recalls the chivalric tradition that is part of southernmythology. Traditionally, the ability to ride a horse embodies southern manhood. Gaines bothreinforces and alters the meaning of this motif in his book. Robert Samson, for example, useshis horse as a classic southern master would. He rides to a black woman's house on hisplantation and seduces her. His son Tee Bob also uses a horse to court Mary Agnes. The nobleidea of a man on a horse is inverted though with the role of the Patrollers, white men who donothing honorably. Joe Pittman's obsession with horses testifies to his desire to claim amanhood that the southern culture denies him. As a black man, however, his playing withhorses is a dangerous activity and will ultimately lead to his death.

Names

Miss Jane Pittman's name changes from Ticey, to Jane Brown, to Jane Pittman throughout thecourse of the novel. The repeated motif of naming oneself testifies to the importance of the actfor the ex-slaves. The novel opens with a Yankee soldier naming Ticey, Jane Browna namethat Ticey clings to even though she is beaten for it. After slavery, the other slaves all choosetheir own names: Ace Freeman, Abe Sherman, Job Lincoln. The ability to name themselvesdemonstrates their newfound freedom. Later in the book, the younger blacks often namethemselves again. Ned becomes Ned Brown, then Ned Douglass, and then Ned StephenDouglass, and finally Edward Stephen Douglass. Calling themselves by what they believe istheir true name, is the ex-slaves' first symbolic act of defiance against the slavery system. Innaming, the blacks assert their personalities, their wills, and their ability to use languageallof which had been denied them before. When Tee Bob proposes to Agnes Mary, he says that hewill give her "his name" that very night, but she turns it down. At the very end of the book, Janecloses by saying "Robert and me" looked at each other and walked away. Here she has renamedhim, from Mister Samsonthe appropriate away she should refer to her white Mastertousing his first name. With the civil rights movement, the ex-slaves appear to suddenly standupon equal ground as Jane's terminology suggests.

Symbols

The black stallion

The black stallion symbolizes a creature that is almost unbreakable. Ernest Gaines says that hemodeled the stallion after Moby Dick. He wanted to make it a creature that drives man todestruction in his desire to control it. While Moby Dick ultimately gets away, a man will breakthe black stallion even though Joe Pittman will die first. The black stallion represents an objectthat is just beyond the control of man but also one for which men will always strive, even if itwill ruin them.

Ned's flint

After the murder of Big Laura, Ned carries her flint around as they journey. Jane uses the flintto light fires during their trek. Ned keeps it with him constantly as a reminder of his mother; heeven gets in a fight over it when they stop at the orphanage. The flint suggests the symbolic firethat Ned will attempt to light much later in his life. Although he may not use the flint as heages, his mother's death, as well as other injustices, inspired the desire to fight back against asystem that oppresses him. As he ages, Ned gathers the ability to light metaphorical fires withthe tools of language and education.

The river

The river, which comes into play during the novel's second and third book, symbolizes theinability of a social order to control nature. The river floods several times during the 1920s,killing people, destroying houses, and breaking up dams. Jane uses this imagery to symbolizethe ineffectual attempts of man to conquer things that are inconquerable. On a metaphoricallevel, however, the river represents the human spirit. Just as the white men cannot control theriver, they also cannot control the emotional spirit in black people that demands their equality.Likewise, the tendency for the river to overflow also could be compared to the tendency for theriver of love to overflow Tee Bob's heart. Tee Bob was not supposed to have his love transcendthe social constructions of race regulations, but it did anyway. These emotions for love andequality, like the river, are natural currents such that nothing can keep them down forever.

Introduction and Book 1: The War Years

From Soldiers to Heading North

Summary

Introduction

The editor introduces the novel by explaining that after years of asking Miss Jane Pittman totell her story to him, she finally did in the summer of 1962. He wants to hear her historybecause he is a teacher and her experiences have not been included in the history textbooks heuses. The teacher records Miss Jane as she speaks. Miss Jane is over a hundred years old,however, and sometimes forgets things. When she does so, her friends fill in the gaps with theirmemories. Since a group is contributing to her story, the editor feels that the tale belongs to allof them. Sometimes after the story has been gathered, Miss Jane dies, and the editor meetsmany of the people from her life at her funeral. Upon meeting them, the editor again reflectsthat Miss Jane's story applies to all of them not just herself.

Soldiers

It is a hot summer day on the plantation where Miss Jane Pittman lives as a child. Her nameduring slavery is Ticey. Troops from the retreating Confederate Army, referred to as "Secesh"(for secession), come by. Jane's master hides in the swamp with the silver, and Jane's mistressorders her to give them water. Jane does so and hears one of the soldiers grumpily suggestingthat they should just give up and free the slaves. The Confederate soldiers soon ride off whenthey hear that the Yankees are coming. When the Yankee soldiers arrive, the mistress tellsTicey to give them water too. One soldier, Corporal Brown, tells Jane that she will be free soon,and she can come see him in Ohio. When he hears that her name is Ticey, he says that sheneeds a non-slave name and offers her the name of his daughter, Jane Brown. After the soldiersleave, Jane insists that her name is now Miss Jane Brown and refuses to answer when hermistress calls her Ticey. Once the Master returns from the field, they beat Jane until she bleeds,but she insists that her name is Jane Brown. The mistress is so angry that she sends her to workin the fields instead of in the house as she had previously done.

Freedom

Jane and the other slaves hear the bell ringing, which means that they should stop working inthe field. After some initial confusion, they all stop and approach the house. Their master isstanding there with a piece of paper in his hand. He tells them that they all are now free. Theslaves cheer and start singing. After a moment though, they ask the master what they aresupposed to do. He tells them that they can stay, and he will pay them, or else they can leave.One of the older slaves, Uncle Isom, takes the ex-slaves back to the quarters where he discussesthe issue with everyone. Jane stubbornly insists on leaving and going north to Ohio. Otherslaves fear the outside world and decide to stay. Jane has no reason to stay, as she never knewher father and her mother was killed when she was young. The mistress and master offereveryone potatoes and apples before they leave. Jane grabs some food, her other dress, and

assembles with the people who are leaving.

Heading North

The ex-slaves have no idea where to go, where the north is, or what freedom means. As theywalk off the plantation, they break some of the cotton out of spite and grab some corn for food.When they must walk through the more difficult swamp, a woman named Big Laura startsleading the group. Big Laura is as strong as any man and very brave. They walk until nightwhen they camp. Once stopped, everyone starts renaming themselves, becoming AbeWashington, Job Lincoln, and Ace Freeman. One slow-witted man decides to call himselfBrown, but Jane protests because it is her name and starts hitting him with a stick. As he fightsback, the slow wit gets a strange look in his eye, and when he grabs Jane, he does so in a sexualway. Big Laura appears and starts hitting the slow wit with a stick, telling him go back to theplantation if wants to sexually force young girls. She hits him until he cries. As it gets darker,the group finds the north star in the sky. They walk again, and then everyone sleeps underbushes for the night.

Analysis

With his introduction, Gaines sets the tone to come by explaining that it shall be an edited oralnarrative by Miss Jane Pittman, a woman aged over 100 years, who was born in slavery. Theoral narrative has been an essential ingredient in the black literary tradition since the earliestslave narratives, best exemplified in works such as the Autobiography of Frederick Douglass,but also consistent with some modern works such as The Autobiography of Malcolm X. The oralnarrative allows for Gaines to retell the history of rural Louisiana through the eyes of oneperson. Her story becomes a composite tale of the African-American experience since slavery,primarily in the south. The events that she experienced were experienced by multitudes, and inher story lies details from the stories of many others. It is significant that Gaines uses a femalenarrator to tell his communal story. Rarely has the voice of a black woman chronicledAmerican history. By writing Jane's autobiography, he grants her the power of self-definition inwritten speech, something to which the illiterate Miss Jane has rarely had access. Overall,Gaines's narrative technique illustrates his interest in expanding the concept of what makes upAmerican history to include perspectives by Americans of all races. At the time of the novel'spublication, 1972, few attempts had been made to correct one- sided history books, as Gaineswants to do here.

The opening of the novel introduces the reader to Miss Jane Pittman's voice, which will persistthroughout the novel. In order to find a realistic voice for Jane, Gaines studied texts of slavenarratives that the government recorded after the Civil War. Miss Jane speaks in the southerndialect with which she was raised. Her tale proceeds with an occasionally circular motion,while neglecting the regulations imposed by the formal English grammar that she neverlearned. Miss Jane's tendency to use informal colloquial terms can be seen when she refers tothe Confederate Army as the "Secesh." In the very first chapter, Jane also describes that theConfederate Colonel had a "sable" hanging from his waist, so that it almost dragged to theground. This "sable" is obviously a "saber," a long sword used in battle, and Jane's confusionover the terminology provides a slightly humorous edge that also suggests the level of herformal education.

Jane's personalized history manages to retell classic events in a more vivid, real manner. Theinstitution of slavery usually exists as an abstract concept that, while horrible, is removed frompresent-day life and reality. By describing slavery with a personalized view, the abstractiondisappears since the way that slavery affected individual people comes forth more clearly.Since we feel drawn close to the narrator and the brutality that she sees or sufferssuch asbeing whipped or seeing people killedbecomes very real and in its reality more painful.Jane's personal narrative also helps to point out the historical facts that few ever consider, suchas the idea that the slaves had no idea what to do when slavery ended.

The motif of naming appears first in this section with Jane's renaming by Corporal Brown andthen the renaming of the slaves by themselves. The ability for Jane to choose her own name,even though Corporal Brown suggests it, is a powerful statement against the slavery systemthat controlled all aspects of her person. In addition to Jane picking her own name, an actworthy of a human, she also initially refers to herself as "Miss Jane Brown." The "Miss" beforeher name is a title used only by blacks toward whites or by whites toward each other. Jane's useof it is akin to calling herself a free person, instead of a slave. Her master and mistress are wellaware of the significance of her act. They beat her severely for it, contemplate selling or killingher, and finally send her to the fields. Jane's ability to choose her own name represents her firstact of defiance.

Jane's defiance itself is a theme that will persist throughout the book. Its presence in theseopening chapters foreshadows the obstinacy that will keep Jane alive and vigorous, despite thenumerous hardships that will follow in her hundred years of life. As a child, Jane's obstinacy isalmost too much as she fights not just with her master but with the other slaves as well justafter the emancipation. Jane also picks a fight with the slow wit, who responds by trying to rapeher. If not for Big Laura, Jane's aggressiveness could have led to physical trauma. While Jane'sspunky attitude will motivate her through the years, as a child fleeing slavery it could havecertain downsides if not governed by an equal sense of prudence.

Book 1: The War Years

From Massacre to All Kinds of People

Summary

Massacre

Just after everyone wakes, someone screams "Patrollers" and everyone hides under bushes, Janehiding with Big Laura's small son, Ned. Patrollers are poor white trash who used to findrunaway slaves, and who later will become the Ku Klux Klan. They ride in on horses and seethe slow wit, who did not hide because he did not know what was happening. They beat him todeath. Jane hears cries and screams from other beatings but stays hidden with Ned. They hideuntil the cries stop and all the Patrollers leave. When they get up, Jane sees that everyone she iswith has been killed, including Big Laura and her baby girl. Big Laura apparently managed tokill two Patrollers before she died, as Jane sees one body and another set of bloody clothes.Since everyone is dead, Jane takes their leftover food. She gives Ned the flint that Big Laurakept to light the fire. Ned and Jane then leave walking all day and well into the night. They stopby a river that they cannot cross. As Ned sleeps, Jane thinks about everyone's death and whereshe will go.

Heading South

The next morning, Jane and Ned walk along the river to find a place where they can pass. Theystop when they hear voices, but realizing that they are black voices, they approach. When theblacks see them, everyone freezes. But when Jane asks if they are in Ohio, they all burst outlaughing. The blacks are with a white woman who fled her plantation in Louisiana during thewar to hide in Texas. She is now returning to see about her land. The white woman tells Jane togo back to her plantation. Jane describes how her master beat her mother to death. The whitewoman gives Jane and Ned some meat and hot food and invites them to return with her to herplantation, because she never beat her slaves. Jane refuses to listen and explains that she isgoing to find the Yankee soldier Mr. Brown in Ohio. The white woman explains that Jane willneed to take a ferry to cross the river, which requires money, and that she should really just staywith them. Jane is obstinate and refuses. As she leaves with Ned, she sees that the white womanis crying.

Shelter for a Night

Jane and Ned soon find the ferry on the river and try to get on it. The captain forces them offsince they have no money, so Jane and Ned just sit by it all day long. After many hours, a whiteman with a horse approaches and sees them. When they tell him that they want to cross, hetakes them across. Jane explains about leaving her plantation and desire to get to Ohio. Thewhite man is an investigator for the Freedom Bureau and he comes from New York. He tellsJane that Louisiana will soon be as free as Ohio, so she might as well stay. He knows wherethey can spend the night anyhow and takes them to a big house. A black woman meets them atthe door and shows Jane and Ned a boys and girls dormitory. The woman feeds them, forces

them to bathe, and puts them to sleep. Jane tells Ned before they lie down that they are going toleave tomorrow.

All Kinds of People

A white man enters before they sleep and makes everyone get on their knees to pray. As Janetries to sleep, she hears voices from the boys' dormitory and rushes over. A boy tried to grabthe flint Ned has carried around, but Ned fought back and now the other boy had a knot on hisforehead. The white man returns and wants to take Ned's flint away, but Jane argues with himso he leaves it. He orders them all back to bed. The next morning they dress, wash, and eat.When Jane learns that they have to learn their ABCs before playing, she decides that she isleaving. She grabs Ned and their bundles. When the white man asks her where she is going, shesays Ohio. The man, the black woman, and the other children all watch them walk away. AsJane and Ned walk, they soon come upon a group of Yankee soldiers. Jane sees two blacksoldiers and asks about Mr. Brown. There is a Brown at the camp, so Jane forces her way overto his tent and eventually goes inside. This Brown however, is Colonel Brown and not the oneshe met. He asks her a few questions, but she leaves quickly with Ned. Ned and she continue towalk and later that day Jane asks a poor white woman for some water. The woman saysmiserable things about "niggers" and the fact that the Yankees ruined her house, but pourswater into their hands anyhow. Jane and Ned walk East until sundown, then sleep.

Analysis

These chapters jump into the beginning of Jane's odyssey in the days after slavery. Theappearance of the Patrollers and the death of her acquaintances leave Jane on her own with theexception of the very young Ned. The violence of the Patrollers testifies to the violenceexperienced by blacks after slavery. Their deaths are tragic given the fact that they have justbeen freed. The way that Gaines focuses upon Big Laura during the incident further increasesthe poignancy of the crime. Big Laura dies holding her infant daughter in her arms. When Janesees them, she initially takes the baby out of Big Laura's arms to bury it, but decides that BigLaura looked more sad with nothing to hold and places it back. Jane and Ned's reaction to thedeaths demonstrates the way in which they have become accustomed to violence at a veryyoung age. Both of them stay hidden and quiet when the Patrollers arrive and Jane reflects thateven though young, Ned made not as sound "as if he knew that death was just a footstep away."

The presence of the Patrollers also initiates Gaines's discussion of the various social classes inthe white race that will continue in the book. The Patrollers are lower class whites who did notown land or slaves, but who used to work capturing slaves and bringing them back. In the postSlavery period, many of these whites will become a biggest haters of the blacks. Thelandowning whites will still maintain their land, but the working class whites in the South willnow have to compete with free blacks who could take some of their jobs. Partially in responseto the changing social times, these lower class whites become especially involved in violentactivities and societies against blacks, such as the Ku Klux Klan. Their involvement in thesegroups is often related to their social class.

The white female landowner whom Jane and Ned meet is very different from the Patrollers,though of the same race. While the Patrollers kill the blacks, the white woman offers to take

Jane and Ned back. The slaves around the white woman all seem to like her and frequently arelaughing. One of them in particular, even gets upset when Jane talks back to his mistress andchastises her. This group has been living in Texas, though, since the war and in many ways theyappear to be completely out of touch. The mistress entertains romantic notions of slavery.While Jane explains that her mother was beaten to death on their plantation, the mistress claimsthat her slaves were never beaten. The mistress her plantation as some sort of idyllic pastoral,but Jane knows better. She refuses to sign up under another form of condescending patronagethat would once again enslave her. As Jane walks away, the white woman is crying. Her tearsreflect her realization about the brutality of the slavery she has supported, rather than her griefthat Jane is actually leaving. Jane has awakened the mistress to her own complicity in the racistsystem.

Jane and Ned's encounter with a Yankee from the Freedom Bureau starts Gaines's commentaryupon the role of the Northern Federal Government after the war. The investigator maintainssomewhat unrealistic romantic ideas about what will happen in the South, which were held bymany Northerners at the time. He tells Jane that Louisiana soon will feel as free as Ohio, acompletely untrue statement, so she should just stay there. Still while his notions are overlyidealistic, he does offer insight to Jane. He is a man with a horse, a motif common to theSouthern gentleman, but he treats her in a very different way than most white men that she hasmet. He pays to get them across the river and finds them a safe room. The children's home thatJane and Ned reach represents safety, but for Jane it also represents another form ofenslavement. Jane has just been freed and she wants to be under obligation to no one. She isfree to do what she wants and she chooses unsafe freedom rather than safe adherence to therules. In some ways her decision might be unwise, but it is completely consistent with Jane'sspunky character.

Jane's personal voice continues to grow during this section. Several incorrect spellings of wordsappear in an effort to demonstrate Jane's speech patterns. The Freedom Bureau written as"Beero," a forehead is called a "forrid," the investigator is called the "invessagator," andLouisiana is always called "Luzana." The improperly spelled terms approximate the way thatJane would pronounce them. By placing them within a written text, Gaines is able to replicatethe sound of Jane's oral narrative as his editor supposedly would have heard it. The termsadditionally help to maintain the richness of Jane's dialect, while further reinforcing the notionthat she has never been formally educated.

Book 1: The War Years

From Hunter to Rednecks and Scalawags

Summary

Hunter

Jane and Ned are walking in the darkness and suddenly smell food cooking. They immediatelyfreeze, but from the darkness a voice summons them. It is an old solitary black man who iscooking a rabbit on his fire. He cuts it up and gives them each one piece. The old man isheading south to try and find his father who was sold in Mississippi. When Jane explains thatthey are going to Ohio to find the Yankee soldier, Mr. Brown, the old man laughs. He tells herthat she has barely gone anywhere and that they should just go back to their plantation becauseit is too far. Jane gets angry and tells him that she never wanted his rabbit anyhow. When heteases her and suggests that he should knock them out and drag them home, Jane wakes Nedand walks away with him in the darkness. Soon they come back quickly because of the cold,and the man jokingly asks them how Ohio was. Jane and Ned fall asleep, and when they wake,the hunter is gone.

An Old Man

Jane has to carry Ned and both of their bundles the next day since they are sloshing through theLouisiana swamps. After a long morning, Jane approaches a gray house by a field and finds anold white man on the front porch. He tells them that they are still in Louisiana, takes her inside,and gives her greens and cornbread. Over his fireplace is a large map of the states. He showsJane how far Ohio is. Jane still insists on going and is sassy and obstinate. The man thenhumorously describes Jane's route, including the fact that she refuses to go to Mississippi andconcludes that it will take them about thirty years to get there. Jane says that they better getstarted then, and she leaves with Ned. After this stop, she and Ned walk for about a week, andJane says that what they encountered was similar to what they encountered before. Finally, theyask a white man with a wagon for a ride. It turns out that he is not exactly going their way, butshe goes with him since she is exhausted and because Ned already has fallen asleep in hiswagon. The man, whose name is Job, says that their fatigue was evident.

Rednecks and Scalawags

Job is a poor white man, but he takes Jane and Ned home. His wife is very displeased that hebrought two "niggers" there and starts listing all the ways in which Job is not a true man: he didnot fight in the war; he cannot make her have babies; their house is falling apart. Job lets Janeand Ned sleep in the empty food crib just outside the house and gives them some cornbread.Through the wall, Jane hears the wife hollering late into the night and reflects that many whitewomen went slightly crazy during the war.

In the morning, Job puts Jane and Ned in his wagon and tells them they are going to Mr. Bone's.Some Confederate soldiers approach as they are riding, and Job explains that Jane and Nedbelong to him. The soldiers let them go. Eventually, Job drops them at a house by a plantation

and leaves. Jane is sent to talk to Mr. Bone, who runs the plantation. Mr. Bone first thinks thatJane is too small to work in the fields, but she convinces him otherwise. He agrees to pay herthe reduced rate of six dollars a month, minus fifty cents for Ned's schooling. Jane is shown toher new cabin, small but clean with only two beds in it. She says that she will live there for tenyears. After a month of working, Mr. Bone starts paying her ten dollars like the other womenbecause her work is so good.

Analysis

This section is the final sequence of the "War Years" book of the novel. Jane and Ned continuetheir adventures by meeting up with three more significant people: a lone black hunter, a whitepoor farmer, and Job. These stops contain an increasingly comic touch as Jane's obstinacyabout reaching Ohio grows increasingly ridiculous. The black hunter simply cannot believe thattwo children are wandering through the Louisiana swamp in search of Ohio. He is kind andshares his food with them, but Jane acts like the child that she is and argues about not wantinghis food whenever he criticizes her plan. The black hunter has his own interesting story to tell,but it never is fully explained. He is heading south to find his father, who was sold inMississippi. The hunter's stealth and knowledge of the world suggests that he may have been anescaped slave who has lived on his own for a while. The details of his life are unclear, but hisinterlude with Jane provides insight into the different types of journeys that other black peoplemade after the emancipation.

Jane's encounter with the white farmer grows increasingly comic. She refuses to listen to himand insists that she will not walk through Mississippi to get to Ohio, even though she knowsnothing about Mississippi. The old white man comically describes her journey at length andconcludes by saying that it will take them thirty years. Jane leaves after this comment.Although the old man, like the black hunter, is a kindly man who wants to help Jane, Jane trustsno one and will not accept anyone's help with regard to her plans to reach Ohio. Herunwillingness to trust people is not entirely surprising since she grew up in a slavery systemwith no parents and always had to look out for herself. Jane lacks the wisdom and insight thatshe will grow in her later years.

The narrative then skips for the first time in the book, and Jane tells about a week with a simplesentence, saying that everything that happened to them continued as it had been. When thisweek is over, Ned and Jane are exhausted from walking. Jane's exhaustion allows her to beguided by Job, the white man who eventually delivers her to Mr. Bone's plantation. By the timeshe reaches Mr. Bone's, she realizes that heading north is not as amazing as it sounds anddecides to stay right there. Jane started this section of the novel at a plantation and is ending itat another plantation. The two plantations are different in that she will be getting paid at Mr.Bone's. Still, the fact that Jane has journeyed all this way just to arrive at another plantation inLouisiana makes us wonder how far she has truly come. It is her spirit though that has grownduring her small odyssey. Jane has grown less nave through her explorations and also a greatdeal more knowledgeable about the world. Most profoundly, she has come to realize thatalthough she may have to stay in Louisiana, she is still a free person because freedom has to dowith her mindset rather than actually reaching Ohio. Jane's odyssey will continue throughoutthe novel although once again it will be mostly about her emotional rather than physicaljourney.

The two white men who help Jane on her routethe Old Man and Jobtestify to the cracks inthe racist system that exist and have always existed in the South. Job, like his biblicalnamesake, is a man who appears to have suffered. He is poor and his wife is embittered andslightly crazy. Despite the difficulty of his life, however, he is, again like his biblicalnamesake, a man motivated by goodness toward other people and even his poverty finds spacefor Jane and Ned at his home, as well as food. When he drives them to Mr. Bone's plantation,he additionally lies to the Confederate soldiers to protect them. This lie could cost Job his life,but he does it anyway because he is a good person. The small sacrifices made by people likeJob and also the old white man, who earlier gave Jane and Ned food, demonstrate theundercurrent of humanity that existed between the races even at that time.

Book 2: Reconstruction

From A Flicker of Light and Again Darkness to Two Letters From Kansas

Summary

A Flicker of Light and Again Darkness

Life on Bone's plantation initially is good. An educated black man is the schoolteacher andteaches kids in the day and adults at night. Each night, a different family feeds him. When it isJane's turn, she sends Ned out to find a plate and fork for the teacher but later discovers thatevery family borrowed the same plate and fork each night because it was the only one. Nedlearns how to read, although Jane never attends the school herself.

Mr. Bone is a Republican, and the anti-slavery Republican stance allows for some black leadersto emerge in helping to reorganize the south. One day during a public political rally, a largefight breaks out, and Jane hides with Ned under the stage. Later, she finds out that the secretwhite societies, the Ku Klux Klan, the White Brotherhood, and the Camellias of Luzana, causedthe trouble. These groups frequently beat and kill blacks or the whites who help them, withlittle justification. Sometime later, Mr. Bone suddenly tells his workers that he no longer ownsthe plantation as the original owner, a Confederate Colonel named Dye, has managed to buy itback with some money borrowed from northern whites. Within a few days, Bone, many of theblacks, and the schoolteacher leave. When Colonel Dye arrives, he says that he will hire a newschoolteacher and pay the same wage as Bone. Still, something has changed. The slaves have toidentify their plantation master if they walk into town, as they would have had to in slaverydays. The new schoolteacher is white and teaches only for a few months out of the year. All ofthe Yankee soldiers and Freedom Bureau members have disappeared, so Louisiana becomesalmost as it was before slavery.

Exodus

Many black people start fleeing the south when they see that conditions are worsening.Originally many people wanted to stay because Frederick Douglass told them to and becausethey believed the promises of the Freedom Bureau. But with the changing conditions, theyleave. At first, the whites feel glad that they are going but soon try to stop them because theyneed the labor. The blacks keep leavingsneaking off in the silence of night to search for abetter place to live.

Ned Leaves Home

Ned now is about seventeen and has changed his name to Edward Stephen Douglass from NedBrown and Ned Douglass. He becomes active in a committee that helps blacks flee theplantations. One day, Colonel Dye tells Jane that Ned needs to stop what he is doing, but whenJane tells Ned, Ned refuses. Some time later a group of Ku Klux Klan members, wearing hoods,appear at Jane's cabin. They strike her several times, but Ned is not there. When he returns laterthat night and sees her face, he tells her that they are leaving. Jane does not want to leavebecause she does not feel it is her time. Ned, who treats Jane as his surrogate mother and calls

her mama, is very upset and wants her to come. She insists on staying though, and they bothweep when he leaves later than night.

Two Letters From Kansas

Jane starts spending time with a widower named Joe Pittman, and they decide to get married.Jane knows that she cannot have children and eventually she tells Joe. He does not mindbecause he has two daughters from his first wife. They all start living together. Joe Pittmanbreaks horses for Colonel Dye, and he wants to move to a better place where he can earn moremoney. He starts looking for a new place, but Jane does not want to leave until she hears fromNed. Finally after a year, she gets an old letter from Ned. He is in Kansas helping relocate blackpeople. A second letter informs Jane that Ned works on a farm and attends school at night. Janereflects that Ned soon will finish school and become a teacher, before joining the Army andheading to Cuba in the war.

Analysis

The opening of the second book of the novel, "Reconstruction," explicitly deals with changes insouthern politics after the war. The northern government with its Freedom Bureau has thus farbeen involved in rebuilding the south. The ease of life on Mr. Bone's plantation demonstratesthe relatively high level of freedom and respect the blacks felt at that time. Not too long afterthe war, however, the northern government abandons the south, and when the southernersreturn, they bring back their racist social order. Jane herself keenly feels the abandonment bythe north. While she once met the New Yorker from the Bureau who promised her thatLouisiana would soon be as free as the north, she now knows that his statement is false.Furthermore, Gaines emphasizes the irony of the northern role by explaining that while thenorthern government abandons the reconstruction efforts, northern businessmen and banksmake thing worse by lending money to southerners, like Colonel Dye, so that they can buy backtheir plantations. The north then has left the south with its old ways while simultaneouslyhelping to promote them. Jane knows that "slavery has returned" once the white secret societiesstart threatening and beating blacks for the smallest oversight or success.

Time suddenly begins passing much more rapidly in this section. While we received an almostday-by-day account of her adventures while fleeing slavery, suddenly Ned is almost seventeenyears old. The sequence of events is clear but the exact time between the different events is not.We have no idea of how many years Mr. Bone stayed on the plantation, for example. Towardthe end of the section, Jane also starts offering certain predictions of future events. Ned laterwill become a soldier, she reports. Jane's ability to control how quickly time moves isconsistent with an oral narrative. The existence of misspelled "oral" terms, such as "sable" for"saber" also reinforces its oral context.

If Ned now is about seventeen, Jane must be in her mid to late twenties. In contrast to herearlier desire for long adventures, she chooses to remain on the plantation several times duringthis section: first when Colonel Dye returns and second when Ned needs to flee. Jane'sunwillingness to leave can be traced to her growing realization about the nature of the world,not due to her lack of spunk. Given the betrayal by the federal government, Jane cannotimagine that life in the north can be better than life in the south, so she stays. When Ned leaves,

Jane insists that she can stay because no one will treat her like a dog. Jane lives in a racistsystem, but she has not internalized it. Her control over her ideology makes it possible for herto remain where she is despite the problems around her.

Ned's conflict and the emergence of Joe Pittman touch upon the theme of the difficulties ofblack masculinity in the south. Ned's trouble with the Ku Klux Klan foreshadows his latermurder and also the trouble that the other black men will face for similarly independent acts.While Ned has to flee for asserting his own manhood and humanity (by helping other blacksflee), the white men who come to attack him in the Klan are cowardly. They come in a group toattack a single man, and they wear masks to hide their true identity. The failure of these whitemen to stand up and fight fairly is ironic, since the whites constantly act as if they are morepowerful men than the blacks. The black man's desire to articulate his manhood in a systemthat demeans it will become further developed with the character of Joe Pittman.

Book 2: Reconstruction

From Another Home to Professor Douglass

Summary

Another Home

Joe eventually finds a ranch on the Louisiana-Texas border that offers him a job. Colonel Dyedoes not want Joe to leave because Joe's work is so good and even offers Joe a sharecroppingplot, but Joe insists on going. The Colonel then recollects that he once paid the Klan 150 dollarsto get Joe out of trouble, and Joe needs to repay him before leaving. Joe leaves and is able toborrow the money from the boss on his new ranch. The Colonel is astonished that Joe has foundthe money, but he demands thirty dollars of interest. Joe takes twenty-five dollars from Jane,that Ned had sent her, and sells all his belongings to make thirty. After he pays the Colonel andgets a receipt, he leaves with Jane and his two daughters.

Molly

Joe, Jane, and his daughters walk for days to the new ranch. Upon arrival, they are given ahouse and fed heartily. Joe will work each day with the horses and Jane will work in the house.The first time Jane works in the house an older black woman named Molly tries to get her toleave by hitting her, ignoring her, and shoving her. Molly has worked in the house since slaveryand nursed the mistress herself, Miss Clare. Molly views all other black women in the house ascompetitors and has managed to get rid of them in various ways. Miss Clare refuses to fireJane, though, and as a result Molly quits. Molly finds work with another white woman andfrequently returns to drink tea with Miss Clare. Not too long after she leaves, Molly dies, andJane believes that she did so because of a broken heart.

A Dollar for Two

Jane and Joe stay on the ranch for about ten years. Joe is named Chief Breaker because he is thebest at breaking horses, and although the two had saved up several hundred dollars anddiscussed finding their own place, he still wants to work with horses. Soon Jane starts worryingabout Joe getting killed by a horse. She has a recurring dream where one horse throws himagainst a fence. Joe laughs at her worries. One night in a February however, Jane walks by thecorral and sees a black stallion that is the horse from her terrible dream. She tells Joe. Helaughs and tells all the other men about it at dinner. The sight of the black stallion gives Janethe chills.

Man's Way

Jane is so worried about the stallion that she consults a Creole voodoo woman, MadameGautier, in town. Madame Gautier comes from New Orleans and tells Jane that Joe needs tobreak horses in order to prove himself as a man. Jane cannot give Joe more children and forthat reason, amongst many others, Joe feels compelled to always show his manhood. It is"man's way." Upon Jane's request, Madame Gautier gives her some powder to sprinkle by

Jane's bed so that Joe will not get on the horse. After seeing Madame Gautier, Jane feels sickall week. The night before Joe is going to break the horse, Jane heads to the corral. Before sheknows what she is doing, she has opened the fence and tried to get the horse to run. Joe sees herand runs toward the corral, but the stallion escapes. Joe tosses Jane out of the corral, climbs onhis horse, and takes off after him. The next morning the other men bring back the stallion, Joe,and Joe's horse. Joe had managed to lasso the stallion, but the stallion dragged Joe through theswamp so that he died. The ranch holds a wake for Joe. At the rodeo that follows, the crowdmourns him before the start. Another man breaks the black stallion, and Joe's daughter, soonafter, decides to marry him. They head to Texas. A few years after Joe dies, Miss Jane meets afisherman named Felton who takes her down to the Southwestern part of Louisiana. She andFelton live together for three years, but one day he leaves without warning. Although she isalone again, she discovers that Ned is coming.

Professor Douglass

The summer after 1898 Ned arrives with his wife, Vivian, and their three children. He comes inhis Army uniform, and Miss Jane can scarcely recognize him. Ned wants to start a school forlocal black children, since there is not one in the area. Ned tells Jane about the ideas ofFrederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, about helping the other colored people, andJane is amazed. In the following weeks, Ned tries to find people interested in his project, buteveryone is scared. Eventually, he buys a house by the road and starts teaching classes out of it.He also buys a piece of land on the riverbank where he will build his school. Still all the blacksare afraid, and the whites start watching him.

Analysis

The majority of this section deals with Joe and particularly with the issue of masculinity thatdrives him to his death. Joe is a courageous, resourceful man who has a vision of a better lifeand pursues it. When Colonel Dye tries to trap Joe on the plantation by referencing a debt thatJoe owes him, Joe simply leaves to find the money. Colonel Dye laughs upon hearing that Joeis actually looking for the money, since he assumes that no one would give a black man somuch. When Joe proves the Colonel wrong, Dye makes a last meager and shifty effort to keepJoe there by requesting interest from the debt. Joe still manages to free himself though byborrowing money from Jane and then selling most of his belongings. While many men wouldsimply have stayed on the plantation after Colonel Dye created such a substantial debt, Joe'srefusal to do so demonstrates that he, like Jane, believes in fighting the system that keeps himdown.

Joe's trade of breaking horses is closely linked to the issue of masculinity. Madame Gautierclearly connects the two when she explains to Jane that Joe needs to break horses to show thathe is a man. Jane's barrenness may even heighten Joe's need to do so because he cannot showthat he is a man by making her pregnant. Joe's skill as a horse breaker gains him a large amountof respect. Instead of being considered by his race, Joe is appreciated for his skill that the othermen, both white and black, crave. As he ages, however, Joe's desire to break horses relatesincreasingly to his yearning for control. Joe has aged, but still he wants to demonstrate hisworth by breaking the almost unbreakable black stallion. It is Joe's desire to control, whatMadame Gautier calls "man's way," that leads to his death because Joe is unwilling to accept

that not everything, such as the stunning stallion, can be broken.

Ned Douglass's return at the end of this section shows another man who struggles against thedehumanizing effects of the social order. Ned has become a schoolteacher and furthermore hasbeen in the Army. He wears his Army uniform when he returns to see Jane, which is adangerous act. The uniform suggests Ned's equality as an American man and also his ability touse violence against others, as he did in the war. In a culture where black men are supposed toact constantly servile, Ned's desire to display his equality and masculinity are threatening. Forthis reason, as well as his desire to build a school and teach, the whites immediately startwatching him.

As a final note, one should recognize the theme of psychological slavery that Gaines developsin this section. The character of Molly most clearly shows someone whose psychology hasbecome so entrenched in slavery that she cannot cope with freedom. Molly wants everything toremain as it was during slavery. When she has to leave the Big House, she dies soon after. Janeand Ned's new community near Bayonne similarly has become psychologically governed byfear so much that they are enslaved. Although they believe in Ned's cause, they will not helphim because of their fear. Gaines portrays all of these characters sympathetically, especiallyMolly. Still, by contrasting their fear-ridden behaviors with the more courageous ones of Janeand Ned, he points out how much more satisfying life can be when one makes all efforts to befree both physically and mentally.

Book 2: Reconstruction

From Albert Cluveau to The Chariot of Hell

Summary

Albert Cluveau

Miss Jane lives next to the river and fishes everyday. A Cajun man, Albert Cluveau, frequentlyfishes right near her, and they often talk, even though all Cluveau likes to discuss is how manypeople he has killed. He and Jane have a fairly friendly relationship such that she often brewscoffee for them and gives him some of her fried fish. One day Cluveau tells Jane that the menin town are not happy about Ned. Jane feels worried and later goes to see Ned, although shetells him nothing. About a week later, Cluveau tells her that the same men want him to killNed. Jane looks Cluveau straight in the eye and asks if he could do it. Cluveau tells her that hecould. Jane faints in response. Later that day, Jane visits Ned and tells both him and his wifeabout Cluveau's threat. Ned refuses to stop teaching. His wife, Vivian, says that Ned warned herthat he might be killed if he came back here.

The Sermon at the River

Two weeks before he is killed, Ned gives a talk by the river. His students, Jane, and his familyare there, but no one else. Several white men watch and listen to Ned's talk from a boat on theriver. Jane fears momentarily that the white men might shoot him then and there. Ned iswearing his Army uniform and turns his back on them before speaking. Ned tells everyone thatthey are true Americans and humans who are equal to all other American people of whateverrace. He urges them to stand up and be true mento pursue all of their dreams and not tosimply take subservient jobs in order to conform to the social order, as Booker T. Washingtonsuggests. He vigorously promotes the idea of social change that can be made if blacks takeaction. By the end of the speech, Ned is sweating, and, when Jane looks at him, she sees thelook of death in his eyes.

Assassination

A month passes and nothing happens. One day, Ned rides to Bayonne with two of his studentsto get some lumber for the school. As they are driving back the next morning, Albert Cluveausteps out of the sugar cane fields with a shotgun. Ned's students want to try and fight Cluveau,but Ned makes them stay seated. He then charges Cluveau. Cluveau shoots him once in theknee, since the whites wanted Ned to kneel before dying, and when Ned keeps coming he firesinto his chest. Blood is everywhere. The students place Ned on the lumber and drive to hishouse. Ned later will be buried in the schoolyard, which the black community will finish andsupport for years until it is destroyed by a flood in 1927.

The People

With news of Ned's murder, the community flocks to his house and all want to see his body andtouch the lumber that held him. When Jane arrives, Vivian is holding Ned's body and sobbing.

Jane soon takes Vivian's place but is eventually led away. The next day the sheriff in Bayonnequestions the two students who saw the shooting, but he dismisses their accounts by askingthem if they are calling Albert Cluveau a liar. No justice follows. After Ned's death, Vivianreturns to Kansas, on Jane's advice. A new professor eventually arrives after the school isfinished, but he teaches nothing about race relations. He stays until the flood destroys theschool in 1927.

The Chariot of Hell

After Ned's death, Jane searches for Albert Cluveau, but Cluveau's daughter, Adeline, alwayssays that he is not home. Finally Jane sees him hiding behind the house and knows that he isavoiding her. One day however, fate intervenes, and she meets him at a different part of theriver. She tells him that when the Chariot of Hell comes for him, people all over the parish willhear him screaming. Cluveau and everyone around thinks that Jane put some type of voodoospell on him. When he gets sick a year later, he keeps on hearing the Chariot of Hell. He beatsAdeline in response because he claims that her sinfulness, not his own, has brought the Chariot(she is not really sinful). Adeline finally visits Jane and asks Jane to remove the voodoo spellbecause she keeps getting beaten. Jane insists that she never did any sort of voodoo on Cluveau.Cluveau does not die for almost another ten years. When he finally does however, he screamsfor three days before dying. In the end, he rises as if to shoot someone before collapsing in hisdaughter's arms.

Analysis

Thematically this section contrasts two men, Albert Cluveau and Ned Douglass, who standopposed to each other in regards to their moral fiber. Albert Cluveau is a weak cowardlycharacter who preys upon other people. Ned Douglass is a brave black man who is willing toaccept death for doing what he thinks is rightteaching students about their rights.

Gaines spends considerable time developing Cluveau's character, a move that may seemcurious since Cluveau's deeds make him a villainous murderer. At the opening of the section,however, Cluveau seems to be a fairly decent guy. Although he discusses killing people, he isbasically friendly with Jane. The segregation of their races would never permit them to openlybe "friends," but they do talk almost daily and often share coffee. Cluveau even occasionallybuys Jane things from the store if she needs them. Cluveau's early behavior places his terribledeed in an interesting context. Cluveau is not necessarily a bad man, but a man who doesterrible deeds, mostly out of cowardice and a desire to be accepted. Cluveau is a relatively poorCajun who proves his worth to the higher-class whites by killing blacks for them. Because he isdeeply steeped in racist ideology, Cluveau seems to have no problem shooting blacks uponrequest. From the very beginning, Cluveau's matter of fact way of discussing the many murdershe has committed suggests his failure to understand what he is doing as necessarily wrong.

The fear that Cluveau shows after Ned's murder reinforces the idea that he is a coward. First,Cluveau repeatedly hides from Jane, which shows a certain irony because although he is willingto shoot down a man in daylight, he does not want to be chastised for it. After Jane tells himthat the Chariot of Hell will come for him, Cluveau almost loses it. When he falls sick, he beatshis daughter and blames her for the chariots that he keeps hearing. Although he lives for almost

ten more years, he wails for several days before he finally dies. Cluveau's inability to cope withhis deeds, his need to blame and beat his faultless daughter, and his failure to stand up andaccept his death, all indicate that he is a coward. Gaines's depiction of Cluveau underscores hisgeneral presentation of whites who commit violence against blacks as cowards. As Gaineshows, the perpetrators of racial violence generally are lower class white men want to showtheir self worth by ganging up against innocent blacks.

By contrast, Ned Douglas is a man of courage. Ned knows that the whites want to kill him, buthe persists with his mission. The Army uniform that he wears to his speech by the river carriesan implicit threat against the whites, since it asserts his equality with them and also remindsthem that he once wielded a gun. The uniform seems suitable, too, because if Ned were to beshot in it, as he thinks may be possible that day, his status as a soldier fighting a war againstracial injustice would be even clearer. Ned's speech itself urges the people around him to standup as Americans and humans. Ned himself stands up until the very end of his life. WhenCluveau arrives to shoot him, Ned calms his students and then charges toward the gun. Nedruns willingly into his death as an honorable and brave man. Even when Cluveau shoots Ned'sknee, Ned still manages to rise again. Ned's bravery in the face of death contrasts greatly withCluveau's weakness.

In addition to being brave, Ned is the first major messianic figure in the novel. Ned's attempt tochange the society around him will be later replicated by Jimmy Aaron at the end of the novel.The "Sermon by the River" sequence uses strong imagery from the New Testament. Just asJesus preached to his disciples near water, so too does Ned. Both Ned and Jesus also knew thattheir cause would lead to their death, but they both were willing to teach regardless. After Neddies, the entire community wants to lay their hands on him and touch the blood stained lumberto honor him. They are searching for his courage and his bravery. Ironically, the communitynever supported Ned during his life even though he dedicated himself to serving them. Hadthey stood up then, his battle might have been much more successful. The fear felt by thecommunity shows the extent to which the white-dominated social order has subjugated theminto inaction. Like some of the earlier characters who internalized slavery such that they couldnot live outside of it, so too have many of these characters internalized the racist social orderand are happy to live meekly inside of it.

Jane's narrative proceeds slowly during this section with careful attention to its events. EvenNed's sermon by the river is remembered almost in full. As she retells, Jane foreshadows Ned'sdeath several times before it actually happens. The foreshadowing creates suspense about theexact time and place that he will be killed. Jane's ability to foreshadow her own story remindsus again that her autobiography is an oral narrative. Toward the end of the section, Jane alsostarts flashing back between certain events after Ned's death, such as the river flooding. Herability to shift time as she sees fit demonstrates narrative control. She also begins to use thefloods as benchmark dates, another technique common in an oral tradition when the speakerlives close to the land and has little access to formal timekeeping.

Book 3: The Plantation

From Samson through Of Men and Rivers

Summary

Samson

After Ned's death, Jane wants to leave the area, but after speaking to some friends she decidesto move onto the nearby Samson Plantation instead. With the move, she will be able to stayclose to Ned's grave. Initially, Mr. Samson doubts Jane's work ability because of her advancedage, but she talks her way in. Jane works in the plantation fields. She tells one story about thebest worker in the field named Harriet Black, a dark slow-witted woman usually referred to as"Black Harriet." One day, a new girl named Katie finally sets up a race between her and Harriet,after many challenges. The workers and the white overseer, Tom Joe, like the race because it