Who Is Ernest J. Gaines Struggle To Change

“There will always be men struggling to change, and there will always be those who are controlled by the past.” Though Ernest J. Gaines often told stories of the past, he was certainly not a man controlled by it. Through the characters he created, Gaines attempted to change his own character for the better, and to achieve his goal of changing the reader’s character for the better. Emerging from the turmoil of racial, socioeconomic, and gender inequality of the mid 20th Century, Gaines became one of the greatest and most influential African American writers of a generation, and struggled to change the perspective of the world by shedding light on the poverty and issues present in his homeland. Gaines was inspired to write by his socioeconomic background, his discovery of his love for reading, and wisdom he gained from listening to old people. Gaines was born on a sugarcane plantation in Oscar, Louisiana in January of 1933. He was raised in former slave quarters by his crippled Aunt Jefferson and attended a one room elementary school for six years (CITE). Despite her disability, Jefferson did all she could to raise Ernest and his siblings, and according to Gaines “I don't think I ever heard her complain a day in her life.” During his childhood, he studied in school for five months of the year and …show more content…
Gaines is a story of a man searching for himself in a world and time where a black son of a sharecropper faced a great deal social animosity. His introspection required courage in the face of hardship. However, his love for reading led him to draw on his life experiences and create literature that would ultimately define him. Gaines literary career not only teaches us about overcoming economic and racial hardships, but (something about creating your own metaphorical book if one doesn’t exist… not sure how to word that) Some men are controlled by their past, but others like Gaines not only overcome their past, but use it to better themselves and