Document Information
- Chapter: Chapter 6
- Scene: Grant talks to Inez while waiting for the sheriff
- Draft: Manuscript
- File location: Box 10, folder 45
Discussion Questions
- The sentence, "I didn't know I was supposed to," is removed and does not appear in the published novel, and Gaines appears to make this change in his manuscript. What does this omission reflect about the changes in Grant's mindset as he considers his responsibilities to Jefferson, his community, and his family?
Chapter Six
Inez let me in when I came up the back stairs and knocked.
Inez was in the kitchen when I came up the back stairs and she opened the door even before I had a chance to knock. I could see that she had been crying. She had wiped the tears from her cheeks, but I could see the marks under her eyes.
"How are you, Inez?"
"I'm making out," she said, not looking at me.
"You know why he wanted me up here?"
"Mr. Sam coming here at five."
I glanced at my watch. It was ten minutes to five.
"Can I get you a cup of coffee?" Inez asked.
"No, thanks."
"You want to sit down?" she asked. She still was not looking at me.
"I'm all right, I don't mind standing," I said, remembering how my aunt and Miss Emma had stood the night before.
"I don't know," Inez said, shaking her head. "I just don't know."
"Something the matter?"
"Now, Mr. Louis in there trying to get a bet."
"A bet on what?" I asked.
She looked at me directly for the first time. She had large eyes, brown and kind. I could see traces of tears that she had tried wiping away.
"You can’t make him ready to die."
"I didn't know I was supposed to," I said. "Henri Pichot didn't take that bet, did he?"
"I left them in there talking about it. she said He wants to bet a whole case of whiskey."
Document Information
- Chapter: Chapter 6
- Scene: Grant talks to Inez while waiting for the sheriff
- Draft: Early typescript
- File location: Box 10, folder 45
Discussion Questions
- In both drafts, Gaines decides to use the phrase "me up here" instead of "to see me" when Grant asks Inez why he's been called to the house, and he seems to make the decision in the typescript. Why might he have made this change to the language Grant uses, specifically around Inez?
Inez left the room. She was in the kitchen when I came up the back stairs and knocked on the door. She left let me in, and I could see that she had been crying. She had wiped the tears from her cheeks, but I could see the marks under both eyes.
"Do you know why he wants to see me?" me up here?" I asked.
"Mr. Sam coming here at five," she said.
I glanced at my wrist watch. It was ten minutes to five.
"Can I get you a cup of coffee?" she asked.
"No, thanks, Miss Inez."
"You want to sit down?" she asked.
"Would it be all right?" I said, remembering how my aunt and Miss Emma had stood the night before.
Inez looked at me sadly. I could still see the trace of tears just under her eyes.
"I'm all right, I don't mind standing," I said.
"I just don't know," Inez said, shaking her head. "Now, Mr. Louis in there trying to get a bet."
"A bet on what?" I asked.
"You can't get make him ready to die."
"I didn't know I was supposed to," I said. "Henri Pichot didn't take that bet, did he?"
"I left them in there talking about it."
"I'm sure he's too smart for that bet," I said.
Inez looked even sadder. I don't know whether it was because of my cynicism or for what I had to do.