THE BUTLER

760 Words2 Pages

The Butler is an amazing account of the life of Cecil Gaines. Mr. Gaines was raised on a cotton plantation in 1926 in Macon, Georgia, His parents were Share croppers. Their life on the plantation was difficult at best. Cecil’s mother was raped and his father was killed by the plantation owner. When Cecil was a teenager he left his mother and the plantation life behind. The events that transpired took a devastating toll upon his mother. His mother became a mute, due to these events. The adventures of Cecil Gaines heighten, when he breaks into a pastry shop, and is taken by surprise when he is hired at that very hotel. When Cecil was on the Plantation, the estate’s caretaker trains Cecil as a house servant. This training would become the driving force behind the life of Cecil Gaines. His instruction from the White estate caretaker was to be invisible in the room amongst the white people whom he served. Shortly after Cecil move, he would meet and marry Gloria and they would have two children. However, Cecil’s life became most interesting when he is hired at the white house in !957. Cecil was hired during the Eisenhower’s administration, Cecil witness Eisenhower’s reluctance to use troops to enforce school desegregation in the south. The president would however, uphold the law by racially integrating Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. As time goes on Cecil is spent many hours away from home. Gloria becomes an alcoholic, due to the lack of time and intimacy spent with Cecil. As with many couples the Gains faced marital problems, in fact Gloria comes close to having an affair with a neighbor. As time goes on Cecil continues working at the White house, and in 1961, John F. Kennedy is president. Mean while Louis Gains, Cecil... ... middle of paper ... ...rned in Psychology of the Minority Family, Dr. Hill developed a list of five strengths of the black family. Two of these strengths were the value of education and a desire to achieve. The Gains family demonstrated these strengths, in several ways. Cecil pursued gainful employment and advancement in his career. Louis on the other hand, obtained a masters degree in political science and ran for a seat in congress. Louis was the first college graduate of the family. Dr. Hill listed that Black families wanted their children to become educated. Most importantly Louis and others in the film were willing to die from their freedoms. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said “if something not worth dying for it’s not worth living for.”This film was very useful in its attempt to shed a light on our past in America. The struggle still continues for the African American family today.

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