My Reading of The Sky is Gray
Ernest J. Gaines' "The Sky is Gray" in Madison Smartt Bell, Narrative Design: Gaines is an established novelist, "The Sky is Gray" a story copyrighted in 1976. The first thing I notice about this story, every time, are those numbered parts. Bell's analysis of them on page 199 helps to explain why Gaines might number his sections. This is a device more common in poetry. I think the numbers enhance the developmental nature of the story. As James and his mother get closer and closer to that goal they never quite reach before the story's over, the numbers increase from 1 to 13 (probably symbolically significant of their overall bad luck). They suggest progress in a story in which progress does not seem possible. With James as its narrator, the story has to be told the way that James would talk. So it's told in dialect. This is a very risky thing for a writer to do. Bell is right in his note (#7) on page 200 when he says that altering the spelling too much makes dialect difficult to read. Some nineteenth century stories that are written in dialect make difficult demands on twentieth century readers. Dialect can also come across as classist and/or racist. (It is especially dangerous for a middle-class white writer to
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Some common words found in the essay are:
University Florida, James' Louisiana, Sky Gray, Auntie James, Rights Movement, Childhood Biography, james mother, Design Gaines, sky gray, analysis page, stories written, little girl, dialect difficult, third person, bus stop,
Approximate Word count = 1098
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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