Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
English
Date of Award
5-2004
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Thomas A. Holmes
Committee Members
Kevin E. O'Donnell, Mark Holland
Abstract
This study examines the African-American author Ernest Gaines's three works The Sky is Gray, In My Father's House, and A Lesson before Dying as examples of oppressed manhood, and the gradual acceptance of the characteristics of manhood in Black males. Chapter One focuses on The Sky Is Gray and follows the young hero as he makes his transition from child to a young man understanding manhood. The second chapter looks at In My Father's House, exploring the relationship between father and son. Due to his father's abandonment, the son never learns what it means to be a man. However, at the same time his son is struggling to discover his manhood, the father finally becomes a man. Finally, chapter three centers on A Lesson before Dying, showing two males can learn manhood from each other. Although both are oppressed, together they achieve the manhood that is being robbed from them.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Fay, Katie, "Confronting Manhood: The Struggle of Male Characters in the Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines." (2004). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 893. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/893
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.