PASCUAL, Jonathan Occasional Paper #1

Course, Year, Section October 17, 2020

The Sky Is Gray by Ernest Gaines

The Sky is Gray by Ernest Gaines talks a lot about social and moral issues
through the lens of an eight-year-old child, James, as he gained insight into the reality of
this world, and his social existence as a poor young man who already knows how one,
should be and must be tough. This short story is not just about the question of reality, or
the question of existence amidst struggling to survive; but this is an eye-opener to those
readers that we should always have that eyes-wide-open to think before we judge or
decry their indifference—we all have our challenges in life, such as responsibility,
conforming to proper behaviors, parenting style and the extent of our endurance with
different circumstances and situations—That in a real-life scenario, the sky is not always
blue or white, there are times when we see that the sky is gray in all its form and power,
scattered in every facet of life.

Firstly, James, as the narrator of the story ‘The Sky is Gray’, is a young boy and
belongs to the colored-person living in Near Morgan outside Bayonne. The events of the
story are about him who already has an understanding and grasp of reality. Despite his
boyhood and innocence, he already knows how to worry about life, as seen in the first
part of the story when he was looking at his dismal Mama and he knows that she was
thinking about home, whether they have enough fire to keep them warm or if Val and Ty
could be able to take back the hog inside his cage. He also inhibited his mind with
concern about being tough, when his tooth has been hurting him for almost a month, but
he must set a good example for his younger siblings that crying is a weakness. The use
of an eight-year-old boy in the story creates an imprint and a wider perception about the
concept of emotional impact of his situation, that even though he is young, he knows
that life is baffling and so being responsible means easing the amount of burden that
her mother is carrying.
Secondly, the title of the story is ‘The Sky is Gray’, from the beginning up to the
ending, everything seems desolate, when James said that “It’s a long old road, and far’s
you can don’t see nothing but gravel.” The setting introduces us to how hard it is to
move because of its gloominess and dullness as James narrates, “The river is gray”,
“The sky is gray.” It contributes to the understanding of the story, for example, the
bleakness of his town, just like the mood of his Mama since their Papa was out for an
Army, In a deeper meaning, the Sky is Gray is not just about the weather as James
described in the story that Bayonne is colder than home, “The sleets coming down
plenty now. They hit the pave and bounce like rice.” But “the Sky is Gray” has
something to do with the color, both the black one and the white one. The story reveals
when James and her mother went to Bayonne riding a bus, there was a separated seat
for the colored ones and the white one, “When I pass the little sign that says “White”
and “Colored” I started looking for a seat” and that is something dramatic, something
gray—it creates sadness, isolation and tension to the readers. It is also notable to
include the sense of sight, the eyes; eyes that had seen the world in reality. Eyes
represent the truth visualizing the reality, so when her mother told him to “Keep your
eyes in front where they belong”, Octavia mean it, because of the awareness that once
you look at them, people will perceive it as something malicious, most especially that
she knows that there are those people who are blind, in terms of projecting the clarity to
see the uniqueness of every color. Keeping your eyes in front means keeping you safe
from any racial tension and biased opinion.
Thirdly, the parenting style of Octavia as something austere and hard is evident
in the story, especially to her oldest son James. In the story, when Ty and James have
set a trap, caught two red birds, his mother had forced James to kill the birds, but he
tried to refuse, because they were so little and he said “ I can’t mama” “I’ll do anything,
but don’t make me do that” but the more he refused to kill it, the more painful he gets by
whipping and slapping. This is how her mother is trying to prepare him for the world he
will enter. It is not just about the question of inadequate resources or the poverty that
struck them. But it is the only way to prepare him to evaluate their situation, and little-by-
little, we have seen the transformation of James, as somewhat enlightened about
feelings, reality, and responsibility.

Lastly, Inner racism revealed inside the colored café, when James narrated that
the black man “keeps on looking at her” Mama as if like she is different from her, no
wonder when she told to her son that they “Got to pay something for their heat”, she
knows already that even though this is a colored café, people will belittle them—of their
racial status and the poverty of their imagination to separate and reducing their
existence as part of the colored society. It is relevant to add when the teacher at the
story said that “We should question,and question and question—question everything.” It
is true, somehow when you start questioning about your situation, existence, freedom,
liberty or even the concept of God and white and colored men you can acquire their
meaning, in this space where the world they are living in was divided because of words
that are corrupt and malice aforethought. James was able to grasp the reality when he
learned that some people are opportunist, biased and indecent. He saw how her Mama
stood so firm and the courage she had taught him that there were people who had the
worst imagination with worst interest in their heart.

This short story, “The Sky is Gray” captures my heart and attention because it
elucidates and clearly unveils the ‘reality’ about the colored people and many social and
moral issues that we can get from the story. The interrelation of the story to the present
is real, and at the end of the story it did not entangle or unravel the situation and
struggle to be free from racial prejudice, predominantly because they cannot control the
minds of people and their introspection. They have their own ideologies and they were
being so absorbed and engrossed about their belief towards the other race and culture.

We know that as they go home, they will still feel the same way, then can still feel
that they were being dominated by this conception and idea of gray. These colored
people were monopolized by this dominating race, and their worth, uniqueness and
talent were detracted and reviled. Looking at the idea of this story—a mother raising his
son to be a man is a preparation, both mental and physical. I know that it is hard for the
mother to have an authoritarian nature, but she has to do it, simply because she
experienced the worst scenarios in life, and all she wanted was for her son to realize the
resoluteness of her motive, which had taught James about the ill-disposed world.
 I realized in this story that the spectrum of life will only be visible to our eyes and
inner thoughts, if we are open for acceptance, with whatever race, culture, belief and
color we have. It is also a reminder to us that at the end of the day, we must always
remain firm and keep our eyes forward. These eyes belong to the world, to see the
beauty of every culture and people, and it is not limited or exclusive for few people or
groups of status and condition in life.