A Gathering of Old Men

A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines

A Gathering of Old Men opens in the black quarters of the Marshall plantation, where a boy nicknamed Snookum is sent running by Candy Marshall to summon the community after Beau Boutan, a young Cajun farmer who leases and works the Marshall land, is found shot dead in the yard of Mathu, an old, fiercely proud black man Candy and Miss Merle both helped raise alongside Candy's own upbringing. Snookum races through the quarters rousing Rufe, Corrine, Reverend Jameson, and others, then reaches Marshall House, where Janey alerts Miss Merle and telephone calls set off a chain of old men across the parish—Chimley, Mat, Clatoo, Billy Washington, Jacob Aguillard, Yank, Dirty Red, Johnny Paul, Rooster, Gable, Coot, Tucker, and more—each arming himself with a twelve-gauge shotgun and empty number five shells before converging, mostly by Clatoo's truck, at Mathu's house. Candy insists to Miss Merle, to her boyfriend Lou Dimes, and finally to Sheriff Mapes that she herself killed Beau to protect Mathu, but no one believes her. The gathered old men, one after another, likewise claim responsibility, transforming the moment into a collective reckoning: each explains, in turn, decades of humiliation, loss, and injustice tied to the Boutan family and to white domination of the land—Uncle Billy's son beaten into madness, Gable's teenage son executed in a botched electrocution, Tucker's brother beaten to death for daring to beat a Boutan in a race between mule-drawn wagon and tractor, Coot's denial of dignity after serving in the all-black 369th regiment, Ding Lejeune's poisoned niece, Johnny Paul's mourning for the vanished, weed-choked quarters and its abandoned graveyard. Mapes slaps several of the old men trying to break their story, without success, while Corrine and Beulah and others stand firm alongside them; Reverend Jameson alone begs the men to disperse before violence erupts. The coroner removes Beau's body, and Miss Merle later arrives with sandwiches for the whole armed assembly. The narrative shifts to Beau's younger brother Gil, a star LSU fullback nicknamed "Salt" who, paired with black teammate Cal "Pepper" Harrison, is on the verge of making history as part of an integrated backfield the night before the biggest game of the season. Learning of Beau's death, Gil turns coldly on Cal before being driven to Marshall by his roommate Sully, where he confronts Mathu, Candy, and Lou without getting answers, then goes on to his family's home on Bayou Michel. There his father, the patriarch Fix Boutan, gathers the extended family to decide whether to ride on Marshall in vengeance, as their kind reputedly always has. Gil, backed partly by his brother Jean and the deputy Russell, argues against retaliation, framing it as a stand against the old vigilante violence of men like the menacing Luke Will, and invoking Beau's own son and his hopes for his football future and racial progress. Enraged at being contradicted by his "All-American" son, Fix disowns and banishes Gil from the house, declaring the family divided and himself finished, while Luke Will vows to take matters into his own hands regardless of the family's decision. A barroom scene follows at a rural store owned by a bitter, resentful proprietor, where Jack Marshall—the plantation's dissolute, indifferent owner—arrives for his customary evening drinks unaware of, or unmoved by, the day's events, while news of the killing spreads among white patrons, including a Mississippi visitor eager for reprisal.

By Ernest J. Gaines · First published 1983 · Genre: Literary Fiction, Southern Gothic, Social Realism · 20 chapters · 64,276 words

First lines

I heard Candy out in the front yard calling Gram Mon. Me and Toddy and Minnie was sitting at the table eating, and Gram Mon was at the stove looking in the pot to see if she had enough food left in there for supper. I could hear Candy out in the yard, going: “Oh, Aunt Glo; oh, Aunt Glo; oh, Aunt Glo.” I jumped up from my chair to go see what she wanted, but Gram Mon told me to sit back down there and finish my food, ’cause my name wasn’t Glo, or Aunt. She looked at me long enough for it to set in; then she started toward the front door where Candy was still going: “Oh, Aunt Glo; oh, Aunt Glo; oh, Aunt Glo.”

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Louisiana · Southern fiction · Plantation setting · African American literature · Racial injustice · Systemic racism · Collective action · Murder · Community solidarity · Intergenerational trauma · Historical injustice · Dignity and pride

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A Gathering of Old Men is listed on Textopian as a novel by Ernest J. Gaines, dated 1983 CE.

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