of love and dust
Cadrick Smith
Dr. King-Pedroso
ENC 1102
Summer 2014
Finding Love through Dust
In the novel, Of Love and Dust, Ernest Gaines discuss means of love in the story which help give readers a look into the interracial relationships between some of the characters in the novel. There is conflict between the couples who are encountered by the reader which hints at love between a white man (Sidney Bonbon) and black woman (Pauline Guerin), as well as a black man (Marcus Payne) with a white woman (Louise Bonbon). Although the love between Sidney Bonbon, the overseer of the plantation, and Pauline Guerin, who happens to be Bonbons mistress, is not clear in the beginning of the novel, it becomes more obvious as Gaines strike up a love interest in the two couples moving further into the story. The second couple the reader encounters is the love spark between Marcus and Pauline. At first it is all revenged on both, Marcus and Pauline’s end, but when fliting becomes infatuation then on to love, Marcus finds himself in a predicament black men were not allowed to be in. Gaines touch on whether or not love should be between two different races, self- gratitude, and then goes on to use different ways to relate and differ the couples from one another. In this setting where the novel takes place a white man that experiences sexual relations with a black woman, although frowned upon, was not look at as a crime. Not all the same for a black man and white woman. From the start Bonbon tends to be sexually attracted to Pauline. Gaines demonstrates characteristics of slave owners through the use of Bonbons infidelity. Slave owners perceived black women as property for sex even though some of the men were married. Bonbon is a man that will never come second to any black human being. He is dehumanizing to the black race and shows how disrespectful he is towards black women through his inappropriate behavior with Pauline in the fields. Having sex with women out in the open did not bother
Dr. King-Pedroso
ENC 1102
Summer 2014
Finding Love through Dust
In the novel, Of Love and Dust, Ernest Gaines discuss means of love in the story which help give readers a look into the interracial relationships between some of the characters in the novel. There is conflict between the couples who are encountered by the reader which hints at love between a white man (Sidney Bonbon) and black woman (Pauline Guerin), as well as a black man (Marcus Payne) with a white woman (Louise Bonbon). Although the love between Sidney Bonbon, the overseer of the plantation, and Pauline Guerin, who happens to be Bonbons mistress, is not clear in the beginning of the novel, it becomes more obvious as Gaines strike up a love interest in the two couples moving further into the story. The second couple the reader encounters is the love spark between Marcus and Pauline. At first it is all revenged on both, Marcus and Pauline’s end, but when fliting becomes infatuation then on to love, Marcus finds himself in a predicament black men were not allowed to be in. Gaines touch on whether or not love should be between two different races, self- gratitude, and then goes on to use different ways to relate and differ the couples from one another. In this setting where the novel takes place a white man that experiences sexual relations with a black woman, although frowned upon, was not look at as a crime. Not all the same for a black man and white woman. From the start Bonbon tends to be sexually attracted to Pauline. Gaines demonstrates characteristics of slave owners through the use of Bonbons infidelity. Slave owners perceived black women as property for sex even though some of the men were married. Bonbon is a man that will never come second to any black human being. He is dehumanizing to the black race and shows how disrespectful he is towards black women through his inappropriate behavior with Pauline in the fields. Having sex with women out in the open did not bother
Cited: Babb, Melissa V. “Ernest Gaines.” Chinese-American Literature. 20.1 (1993): 127-29. JSTOR. Web. 31 July 2014 Gaines, Ernest J. “Of Love and Dust”. New York: Dial, 1967. Print. Griffin, Joesph. “Ernest J Gaines’s Good News: Sacrifice and Redemption in “Of Love and Dust.” Modern Language Studies. 18.3 (1988). JSTOR. Web. 31 July 2014 Herbert-Leiter, Maria. “A Breed between: Racial, Mediation in the Fictions of Ernest Gaines.” Variety of Ethnic Experience. 31.2 (2006) 95-117. JSTOR. Web. 31, July 2014 Jones, Suzanne J. “New Narratives of Southern Manhood: Race, Masculinity, and Closure in Ernest Gaines 's Fiction.” Critical Survey. 9.2 (1997) 15-42. JSTOR. Web. 31 July 2014 Wideman, John. “Of Love and Dust: A Reconsideration.” A Special Issue. (1978) 76-84. JSTOR. Web. 31 July 2014