Ernest Gaines' "The Sky is Gray"

So maybe it was the opening dialog's way of putting the dialect of English spoken in the South. Or perhaps I was still getting over the trauma of Faulkner's "Tomorrow". Whatever the case may be, when I read the first sentences of this awesome work, I gave up on it. Prematurely in fact. I guess I was afraid of reading more "Suth'n" material.

I picked the piece up again at about ten at night. Needed to get it read for the next days class in any event. Now, I didn't know anything of Ernest Gaines. Hadn't heard of the man or his works. Ignorance certainly isn't bliss. As I read through, I kept getting more and more drawn into the story, and before I knew it, it was over. "Huh," I thought. "Is that it? Isn't there anymore?" Nope. that was it. And I was disappointed.

So anyway, this is a great short story. The way it is written in the particular dialect it is written in is really quite amazing. You really never read anything written in anything other than Standard American English these days, but Gaines pulls it off quite nicely.

I like this one, and I must say I think I like it better than "Memento Mori".