A Gathering Of Old Men, by Ernest J. Gaines

February Meeting 2016

1) What was your overall opinion of the novel?


2) Each chapter of the novel is told by a different narrator. Discuss the effect that this narrative technique creates. To what purpose does it serve?


3) Many of the old men express gratitude for the fact that they can confess to Beau's murder, even though they did not kill him. Why would they feel grateful when they could be possibly punished for their confessions?


4) Reverend Jameson - The one black character who refuses to go along with Candy's plan, why?

5) What significance does the label “Salt and Pepper” have in regards to the overall meaning of the story and the interactions between the characters?

6) What do you think of the judge's final verdict? Why does the author choose to close the book with a comical courtroom scene after dealing with such serious issues?

The1910 Slocum Massacre by E.R. Bills

NOTE: The author will be joining us for this book club meeting; the meeting will be held on Saturday, February 21, 2014.

References:
News cast produced Aug. 2014, CBS19

Zinn Education Project

Facebook Page for Slocum Massacre

Twelve Years a Slave, Solomon Northup

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
Patrick Henry

“Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.”
Frederick Douglas

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”
Abraham Lincoln

“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
William Wilberforce

“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Those who will not reason are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.”
George Gordon Byron

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.”
Henry David Thoreau

Twelve Years a Slave, is about Solomon Northup, who was born in 1808, kidnapped in 1841, rescued in 1853. After he wrote the book, he became an abolitionist, and died in 1853 at the age of 55.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

The State Of Jones, by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer