Critical Essay 'What Makes Ernest Gaines Unique'

“Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?” Ernest J. Gaines (born in 1933) was a major Modernist author during his time. The Modernism period began in 1914 and lasted until 1946. It focuses primarily on traditional forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, philosophy, social organization, activities of daily life, and even the sciences. Ernest Gaines’ extensive experience teaching creative writing at a college level, greatly influenced this remarkable author’s passion for literature, as well as his overall writing style.
Ernest Gaines was the professor for the first creative writing class offered in the French University System, at the University of Rennes, located in France. To move across the world to teach the next
People tend to most notice the absence of descriptive vocabulary to paint a picture of his settings. Gaines stated that he left those terms out on purpose, and tries to create an emotional picture in the reader’s mind instead.I must say I agree with the critics on the subject, although I also realize that Gaines knew what he was doing in his writing, which obviously made him very successful. When describing the emotional environment of his home town, Matthew Antoine states, “What do I know about life? I stayed here. You have to go away to know about life. There’s no life here. There’s nothing but ignorance here. You want to know about life? Well, it’s too late. Forget it.”(65) This description gives the reader an idea of the disappointment he feels towards the town.Grant Wiggins also states,“I’m the teacher ... and I teach what the white folks around here tell me to teach—reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. They never told me how to keep a black boy out of a liquor store.”(13) This statement clearly shows the racial tension throughout the