Mathu And Charlie In A Gathering Of Old Men

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The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convince, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. -Martin Luther King In his novel, A Gathering of Old Men, Earnest Gaines summons the readers into has world. Based in the 1970s, this coming of age novel talks about how the death of a white man, somehow bring old black men to come together. Two characters, Mathu and Charlie, encounters a major change or realization that results from a shooting. This situation occurs during the times of extreme racial tension, Mathu stands firm his ground in a land full of whites. Charlie, om the other hand, is nothing like Mathu, in …show more content…

Some actually stand up for themselves, but others would stay quiet. “… he knowed that Mathu had never backed down from anybody. Maybe that’s why he liked him. To him Mathu was a real man.” (Gaines,84) Mathu is part of only a few number of African Americans back the who never stands down from anybody. He didn’t let anyone degrade him in any manner. “Mapes like Mathu… I know you did it. You are the only one around her man enough.” (Gaines,85) Because Mathu stands up for himself and demands that everyone treats him as an equal, he gained respect from both racial fences. Like what it states previously, not everyone has the same mentality as Mathu has. They are to worrisome about the retributions, if they try that. The character that portrays this in the novel is Charlie. “Not Charlie. Too many times I had seen Beau speak to him as you would speak to a dog, and he would not raise his head, let alone his voice.” (Gaines,58)With Beau being a white man, this quote clearly shows how Charlie, and others, succumb to racial oppression mainly out of fear. Charlie also became a victim of his situation and feels the need to induce to obey the white

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