Document Information

• Section & Chapter: Part One, Chapter 5
• Scene: Jim describes John and Freddie.
• Draft: Early Manuscript
• File location: Box 3, folder 3

Discussion Questions

1. How do the added details of clothing, for instance "pants," "shoes," "hat," and "handkerchief," contribute to the reader's image of Marcus's character and his status in the story? What impact might these specific visual details have on the tension or mood of the scene?
2. In the typescript, Gaines has added in the phrase, "As I came farther down the quarters, I could see." What does this extra narrative distance do to the reader's sense of the narrator's observational role? Does it change the tempo or rhythm of the passage?

(5)

By the time I had lubed Red Hannah and had given her enough fuel and water, that old sun was slipping up behind the trees. The two women—they was supposed to be men, but I called them women—were waiting for me in front of John's house. John was the big gal, Freddie was the little one. They hopped into the back trailor before the tractor had stopped. As I came farther down the quarters, I see playboy Marcus coming outside, wearing a pair of brown pants and a short sleeve green shirt. He was at the gate by the time I got there.

"Where the hell you think you going in that?" I asked him.

He didn't answer, he got into the front trailor and he leaned hard against the side. The two women, John and Freddie, =

Document Information

• Section & Chapter: Book 1, Chapter 5
• Scene: Jim describes John and Freddie.
• Draft: Early typescript
• File location: Box 3, Folder 25

Discussion Questions

1. How do the added details of clothing, for instance "pants," "shoes," "hat," and "handkerchief," contribute to the reader's image of Marcus's character and his status in the story? What impact might these specific visual details have on the tension or mood of the scene?
2. In the typescript, Gaines has added in the phrase, "As I came down the quarters, I could see." What does this extra narrative distance do to the reader's sense of the narrator's observational role? Does it change the tempo or rhythm of the passage?

Chapter Five

By the time I had lubed Red Hannah and had given her enough fuel and water, that old sun was slipping up behind the trees. As I came down the quarters, I could see the two women--they was supposed to be men, but I called them women--waiting for me in front of John's house. John was the big gal, Freddie was the little one. They hopped into the end-trailor before the tractor had stopped. Then as I came farther on down the quarters, I could see playboy Marcus coming out the yard. He was wearing a short sleeve green shirt and a pair of brown pants. Low top shoes, no hat, no ####### kerchief `round his neck.

"Where the hell you think ###### you going in that?" I asked him.

He didn't answer me, he didn't even glance my way. He got into the front trailor(the punks were in the end one) and he leaned against the side. John and Freddie, in their khakis and big straw hats, was looking at him. They didn't laugh, they was scared of him, but you could see that they wanted to giggle. They was the two gigglingest and the two hardest workingest punks I had ever seen.