Document Information
- Chapter: Chapter 27
- Scene: Grant and the Reverend argue
- Draft: Manuscript
- File location: Box 10, folder 52
Discussion Questions
- Grant hesitates to push the Reverend away because he’s never “done that to an adult before.” What does that tell us about how Grant sees himself in relation to Reverend Ambrose?
“My name is Grant.”
“When you act educated, I’ll call you Grant. I’ll call you ‘Mister Grant’ even. When you act like a man.” His hand was still on my shoulder and I wanted to push it away, but I had never done that to an adult before. He saw in my face what I was thinking, and he drew his hand back to his side, but never ceased staring in my face. “You think you the only one ever felt this way? You think I never felt this way? You think she never felt this way? Not only her, but all of them. Don’t you know she wants to give up now? Don’t you know how sick she is right now? And your aunt—you think she’s much better off. They both going soon. Soon. I won’t give her another year. I want her to know that he is up there waiting for her, and you help me convince her.”
Document Information
Discussion Question:
- This draft of the conversation between Grant and Reverend Ambrose is almost completely different from the published version. Note some of the changes. How do those changes impact your understanding of their conflict?
“How”
“Tell him to fall down on his knees before he walks to that chair. Tell him to fall down on his knees before Him. Only you can do this. I can’t. He ain’t listening to me.”
“How do you know he’s listening to me?”
“He ate her gumbo.”
I remembered how he had raised the spoon with both hands, with the chains jingling, and how proud his grandma had looked and happy my aunt had looked—and how envious the minister was when it was not he who had gotten him to eat the gumbo.
“I won’t tell him to kneel,” I said.
“I’ll tell him to listen to you - but I won’t tell him to kneel.”
“Why? Cause you can’t kneel?”
“Maybe.”
“You think kneeling is below you.”
“I don’t see how it’s helped me.”
“You want him to hear you say that.”
“No. I want him to believe: “It is help.”