The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  How does this fictional story treat history? What are the major historical events mentioned in the book and where can we find them?
  Ernest Gaines’s novel spans a century, ending in the 1960s. Gaines deliberately chose this period because it begins with the Civil War era and brings the reader into the heyday of the US Civil...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  How was one character negatively influenced by the Southern code of behavior in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman?
  I would say that Tee- Bob is an example of a character who is negatively influenced by the Southern code of conduct. From the most fundamental point of view Tee- Bob cannot accept the social code...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  What theme from The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman novel that can be linked to a contemporary theme?
  I think that one theme from Gaines' work that has a contemporary meaning would be the idea that political activism can be experienced and embraced by anyone. Jane Pittman is an old lady by the...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  How might one best evaluate author Ernest J. Gaines's style in  The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman?
  Published in the early 1970's, this work of historical fiction is probably best described as a blend of oral history and slave narrative and has been categorized as Southern fiction and/or...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  Why did Miss Jane Pittman move to Bayonne even though Jimmy was killed?
  I think you are asking why Miss Jane went into the city of Bayonne after Jimmy was killed, correct? The folks on the pecan plantation learn of Jimmy's death, and then Jane stoicly announces that...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  When did Miss Jane Pittman die? What year and month did she die?
  Miss Jane Pittman is a literary not historical figure. She is the product of Ernest J. Gaines who wrote the story as a supposed interview with Pittman, who had lived 110 years. According to his...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  Jane Pittman
  No, there was no real person named Jane Pittman whose autobiography is recorded in Gaines' fictional historical novel. However, Ernest J. Gaines did develop the principal character in The...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  What does Jane Pittman do that influences the novel's resolution?
  I think that we have to establish the narative's resolution as being one in which one understands the need to take social action when what is right is being denied. Jane Pittman demonstrates...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  When was Jane Pittman born and when did she die?
  Jane Pittman is a fictional character who is approximately 110 years old. Her story begins sometime in the 1860's and ends up in the 1960's during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States....

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  What is significant about the following quote from The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman:  "We caused one death already this evening. . . .We all killed him. We tried to make him follow a set of...
  Jules Raynard is speaking to Miss Jane Pittman about the death of his godson, Tee Bob Samson, who has ended his own life. Raynard is referring to the unwritten social code between blacks and...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  In "Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," after Joe dies what happens to his daughters and to Jane? Describe Jane's journey in detail.
  After Joe is killed by a horse on Mr. Clyde's ranch, his daughter Ella gets married to a young boy called Gable, who is also a skillful horse breaker. The couple moves to Texas, taking Ella's...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  In "The Autobiography of Misss Jane Pittman," when does Jane take responsibility for Ned as if he were her own child?
  This scene is in Book I in the chapter titled "Massacre." At the end of the war, several of the former slaves decide to go north, with Big Laura leading them. They stop and make camp for...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  How could one best describe the character of Miss Jane Pittman as created by Ernest J. Gaines in his acclaimed novel The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman?
  Some writers might have created Miss Jane Pittman to be a bitter character, based on her early life, which was informed by the tragedy of slavery, the Jim Crow era and a long series of decades that...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  "The human sprit is extremely resilient; therefore, it is very important to study and understand what has happened in the past." How can I provide evidence to either support or refute this claim with...
  Author Ernest Gaines created a memorable composite portrait of one of American literature’s most resilient heroes, Jane Pittman, who was apparently modeled on Augusteen Jefferson. As the character...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  Who brought forth the end of the story?
  This is a great question. I think that one of Gaines' primary motivations in detailing the end of the story in the way he did was to show how social activism and seeking to create change is not in...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  What is the Freedom Beero in "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman"? Explain.
  When Miss Jane talks about the Freedom Beero, she is referring to the Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees and Abandoned Lands, more commonly called the Freedmen's Bureau. It was established on March 3rd...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  Explain memorable quotations from The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.
  Jane's narrative spans from slavery to Civil Rights and it is this that makes it so effective. As a slave heading North, Jane, as a child, utters one of the most powerful quotes of the narrative:...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  What is the primary motivation of Miss Jane Pittman?
  I think that Jane Pittman's primary motivation is to serve as a testament to history. I sense that she understands this function towards the end of the narrative. Jane Pittman had been presented...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  Prompt: It is very important to study and understand what has happened in the past because if we do not we will be doomed to repeat it. Provide evidence to either support or refute this claim with...
  The philosopher George Santayana wrote (in The Life of Reason, 1905), "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." The main idea of this quote is that the past contains both...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  What part did Civil Rights Figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks play in The Autobiography of Miss. Jane Pittman?
  While Dr. King and Rosa Parks are not immediate figures in the narrative, they do occupy significant roles. Figures like them are what inspires Jimmy Aaron to return to where Jane lives and...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  In Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Miss Lilly finds two children hanging in sacks in a tree and being smoked by their parents. Why was this done?
  I believe that being "smoked" is a disciplinary measure that was being used by Oscar, the father of Tee Bo and Tee Lo. Apparently, the boys had sassed their elders, because when Miss...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  Jane Pittman made several references to Jim Crow; list some here.
  The Jim Crow era began towards the end of Reconstruction in the South in 1877 and lasted all the way until the Civil Rights Movement put an end to it in the 1950s. During the era, the South enacted...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  Describe two characters that Jane knows personally and the hard work they did for the poor. Include what their consequences were.
  Ned and Jimmy are two characters that Jane knows who have tried to help out the poor and wind up getting killed. Ned is Jane's adopted son. She and Ned escaped the plantation together and headed...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  What is the genre of the book The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines?
  Gaines's work is usually categorized as Southern fiction or African-American fiction, and showcases elements of oral history, slave narratives, and the influences of fellow Southerners William...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  What genre does The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines most closely fit into and why? 
  The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is usually categorized as Southern fiction, African-American fiction, or sometimes even the more general historical fiction. Gaines created a unique...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  There are several important themes in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines; describe how the author develops one of them.
  There are many themes in this work by Ernest J. Gaines, but one of the more interesting and/or ironic is the racial divisions that extend past black versus white into whites versus whites, and...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  Was Jane Pittman the woman who went to an all-white water fountain and took a sip of water?
  In The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, the story of the titular character is told as she lives through slavery in the 1800s and the Civil Rights movement in the early 1960s. The story is...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  What are the ways in which Jimmy proves to the people that he is the one?
  Jimmy is "the one" in a variety of ways. The first would be that Jimmy demonstrates that he is one to break the mode of what can be and create what could or should be. As a youngster, Jimmy is...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  Describe the significance of the following quote from The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman: "Anytime a child is born, the old people look in his face and ask him if he's the One."
  These words, spoken by Miss Jane Pittman herself toward the end of the book, are a reference to the black community's hope to one day have raised a child who will grow properly to adulthood and...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  Why does the old black man tell Jane to go back to the plantation in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman?
  I am assuming that when you say "this old blackman", you are referring to the hunter Jane and Ned encounter in Chapter 8. The hunter, an old black man, calls himself "a friend, not an enemy". He...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  What were some of Miss Jane Pittman's philosophies?
  Miss Jane Pittman has witnessed one hundred years of life in Louisiana, so she has a great deal of wisdom to share with her readers. She realizes early in her life that she can't count on anyone...

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• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  Examine the significant events of Book 4 of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.
  I think that one of the most significant events out of the Fourth Book of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is the emergence of Jimmy and his impact on Jane. Jimmy is significant because he...

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