Brief Summary: The Bosket Man

The Bosket men were like seeds that never took root anywhere because the anger, bitterness, and society saying they were bad kept them running. Once slavery was abolished, slaves had no home to call their own, no money to take care of themselves, no formal training but working the white man’s land. Once again violence was perpetrated; therefore, the whites lost their livelihood they had been accustomed too for hundreds of years. White’s anger was directed towards blacks but the reason slavery was abolished was the aid of other whites. “but much white violence against blacks was prompted by dispute between white planters and black tenants over land and labor” (p. 39). Pud Bosket did not found situation like this bearable. He demanded respect just like white men wanted for themselves. Pud’s father was totally different; he kept his head down and obeyed the rules. He lived outside the violence but Pud chose to embrace the violence. He believed that violence would gain him respect like white men. “His quest for self-respect would lead him into violence” (p. 45). The notion blacks did not deserve respect; furthermore, degraded them and Pud did not want to abide by rules that kept blacks under their control. He wanted a reputation that he was a man by all rights and the color of his skin did not make that …show more content…
Pud’s run in with the law becoming more frequently and the crimes he committed become more violent. He began to drink and become violent towards his wife. Pud last his life in a car accident. The legacy he left behind was that of a reckless and self- destructive as the cavaliers of the antebellum South. Pud’s life started the chain reaction that the rest of the Bosket men would try to live up to. The Bosket’s relocated to Augusta, Georgia during the Depression: at this time we are introduced to James Bosket; Pud’s youngest son with France