The Sky Is Gray Questions and Answers
The Sky Is Gray
In "The Sky is Gray" why does the young man say that the grass is black and the sky is pink, and turn the other cheek...
The young man, probably a student, who wears a suit and reads a book, presages the "defiant, non-violent non-cooperation of the Civil Rights Movement" (enotes) as he declares, "We should question...
The Sky Is Gray
Discuss the different conflicts of the story.
I think that Gaines' story features different conflicts. One particular conflict is the economic problems that plague the mother and son. They are battling through the conflict of economic...
The Sky Is Gray
What is a good thesis statement fort the short story "The Sky is Gray" by Ernest J. Gaines?
In order to give you a thesis statement, I really need to know what the topic is. Are you writing about a particular theme of the story, one of the characters, or a conflict? This story is so rich...
The Sky Is Gray
What exemplifies the American national narrative in the story “The Sky is Gray” by Ernest J. Gaines? How do the...
In Ernest J. Gaines’s story “The Sky Is Gray,” the American national narrative is exemplified through the character of James, a young boy who has several significant experiences as well as...
The Sky Is Gray
What is the parent-child relationship in "The Sky is Gray"
Like many of Ernest J. Gaines' works, this one takes place in a fictional town in Louisiana and concerns the struggles of southern Blacks before and up to the Civil Rights movement (as in The...
The Sky Is Gray
What does Gaines establish by using the eight-year old boy, James, as the narrator who tells the story in the present...
Ernest J. Gaines's "The Sky Is Grey" uses the voice of eight-year-old James to begin the story. Gaines does this to draw the reader into James's world. We immediately feel sorrow for...
The Sky Is Gray
What insight into life is revealed in "The Sky is Gray"?
W.E.B. DuBois's famous "The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line" is clearly suggested in Gaines's title, "The Sky is Gray." Illustrating the implications of the...
The Sky Is Gray
What does James learn about Jim Crow laws on his trip to town?
The Jim Crow laws are presented in a very understated way in the story. James is in town with his mother, Octavia, for a simple dental appointment. Yet on their journey, they encounter a number of...
The Sky Is Gray
As a whole, is Gaines' work concerned with the character and society, human nature and values, or the nature of our...
I don't think that Gaines' work is forcing a choice between the three options. It seems to me that Gaines' work is concerned with all three realities. The scope and thematic nature of the text is...
The Sky Is Gray
In "The Sky is Gray", why does the old lady ask James to take the garbage can out when there is no trash in it?
Octavia is too proud to take any food or any charity from the old woman. She feels she hasn't earned it. So, in order to make Octavia feel that she or her son has done something to earn their meal,...
The Sky Is Gray
Describe the antagonist in Gaines' story.
I would suggest that the antagonist in the story is the society that has constructed so difficult a reality for James and his mother. Gaines develops this on a couple of fronts, both of them being...
The Sky Is Gray
What is the significance of Ernest Gaines setting "The Sky is Gray" during World War II?
"The Sky is Grey" is actually set in the late 1930's before the United States entered the war and about 20-30 years before the civil rights movement began in earnest. This contributes to the irony...
The Sky Is Gray
In "The Sky Is Gray," how are passivity and active agency used to work out problems?
This is an interesting perspective on this short story. "The Sky is Gray," by Ernest J. Gaines, is set in the South (Louisiana) during the 1940s. This is a time and place in which both racism and...
The Sky Is Gray
Would you say James is a man in the story "The Sky is Gray"? Why or why not?
James is a young boy on the verge of adolescence when the story occurs. His mother loves her son but she is more concerned wit teaching him tough moral lessons to make him "strong". At the...
The Sky Is Gray
What is the difference between the old lady and Octavia in "The Sky is Gray"?
Octavia is a woman who prizes independence, resourcefulness, hard work, and toughness. She wants to instill these values in her children. Being a black woman in a racist society, she knows her...
The Sky Is Gray
Does James' mother have to support the family by her self? "The Sky is Gray
With the setting of this short story in the 1940s, World War II is in progress and the children and their mother are alone. In the third section, James, the narrator of the story, remarks that his...
The Sky Is Gray
Contrast the nurse’s behavior toward James and Octavia with the old lady’s treatment of them. What is the...
The nurse treats James and Octavia with cold detachment. She seems to have no sympathy for James' pain. Her goal is to simply keep the dentist's office running efficiently. So, when it's time for...
The Sky Is Gray
What are some similarities and differences between "A Worn Path" and "The Sky Is Gray"?
In these two short stories, many of the characters are African American and poor. Both stories emphasize the importance of family, and both stories stress the importance of determination and...
The Sky Is Gray
In "The Sky is Gray" by Erines Graines how would you describe the young man in the dentist's office?
I believe the young man you are referring to is the student that joins in the conversation between James and the preacher. The young man is clearly angry and alienated from society. He sees...
The Sky Is Gray
What are the social rules observed in "The Sky Is Gray"?
In Ernest J. Gaines's story “The Sky Is Gray,” James knows the rules. He is surrounded by them, both at home and out in public. His mama makes it very clear how he is to behave. She will not...
The Sky Is Gray
How do you tie Kristeva's idea of unconscious with "The Sky is Gray"?
It is interesting that Ernest Gaines's story, "The Sky is Gray," is much like Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird: It was published in the early 1960s, but had as its setting the Jim Crow...