Document Information

• Section & Chapter: Part Two, Chapter 31
• Scene: Louise’s backstory. Aunt Margaret’s description of Louise’s past.
• Draft: Early Manuscript
• File location: Box 3, folder 7

Discussion Questions

1. Why might it be important to examine how characters are initially written versus how they appear in the final published version of a text? For instance, in comparing this scene with Chapter 33 in the published novel, we see that Gaines originally wrote Aunt Margaret’s description of Louise’s mental age as “ten or eleven,” but later adjusted it in the typescript to “eight or nine,” making Louise seem less capable. What might this alteration suggest about Gaines’s intentions for her character, and how might such changes in representation impact the tone or meaning of a scene, a chapter, or even the entire text?
2. Gaines revised several small details in this scene of Louise’s background; however, even in this first draft, he labels Louise as “crazy.” What might this reveal about how Gaines chose to represent her in the novel? Knowing that Gaines intentionally created Louise this way from the beginning, what could this suggest about his vision for her? What might the unchanging nature or lack of evolution of her character imply? What other implications might this pose in relation to female representation within Gaines’s work?

Chapter Thirty-One

She didn’t know how long she sat under the tree there. She was facing the house and crying. Tite had gone to sleep in her lap arms and was lying against her [undecipherable]. She passed her hand over Tite’s head. Tite’s hair was white as like cotton, and soft it felt as rabbit fur. It wasn’t much longer than rabbit fur either.

Aunt Margaret looked at the house again. The house was quiet – too quiet. The yard was too quiet, the whole plantation was too quiet.

It won’t end good, Aunt Margaret said to herself. It’s all right for the others, the ones in Baton Rouge. Yes, for them. They have the right to do what they doing. Everybody expect them to do it. It was done from the start and it will always be done. But this won’t end good. Even if she don’t tell him, it won’t end good. He go’n pay, she go’n pay, both of them go’n pay for this day.

When she first came off the Bayou she didn’t know anything. She didn’t know where she was, she didn’t know who she was; she hardly knowed why she was here. She was fifteen then – that was ten years ago – but she acted like somebody ten or eleven. She acted like a new a week old calf that was led to a new pasture. Aunt Margaret was brought up to the house to help her with the house work. But most of the time, Aunt Margaret said, it was like talking to a crazy person; she wasn’t listening.

Document Information

• Section & Chapter: Part Two, Chapter 32
• Scene: Louise’s backstory. Aunt Margaret’s description of Louise’s past.
• Draft: Early typescript
• File location: Box 3, folder 29

Discussion Questions

1. Gaines makes minor edits in a few places within this scene, adding an additional detail about where Louise is from. Can you identify any differences between this scene in the typescript and manuscript drafts? How might the added detail about Louise’s background alter the narrative? Why do you think Gaines chose to include this detail? What might it reveal about Louise’s character?
2. Gaines chooses the fictional Bayonne as the setting for Of Love and Dust. Although Bayonne is modeled on the city of New Roads in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, where Gaines grew up, he uses two real cities as the origins for his characters, Marcus and Louise. He writes that Marcus is from Baton Rouge and Louise is from Lake Charles. Why might these distinctions about the places characters come from be important to think about? What might these details reveal about Marcus and Louise?

Chapter Thirty-Two

Aunt Margaret didn’t know how long she sat there. She was facing the house and crying. Tite had gone to sleep in her lap. She passed her hand over Tite’s head. Tite’s hair was white like cotton, it felt like rabbit fur. It wasn’t much longer than rabbit fur, either.

Aunt Margaret looked at the house again. The house was quiet—too quiet. The yard was too quiet; the whole plantation was too quiet.

It won’t end good, Aunt Margaret said to herself. It’s all right for the others, the ones in Baton Rouge—yes, for them. They have the right to do what they doing. Everybody expect them to do it. It was done from the start and it will always be done. But this won’t end good. Even if she don’t tell him, it won’t end good. He go’n pay, she go’n pay, both of them go’n pay for this day.

When she first came off that kkkkk bayou from there around Lake Charles, she didn’t know anything. She didn’t know where she was, she didn’t know who she was, she hardly knowed why she was here. She kk was fifteen then—that was ten years ago—but she acted like somebody eight or nine. She acted like a week-old calf that was led to a new pasture. Aunt Margaret was brought up to the house to help her with the house-work. But most of the time, Aunt Margaret said, it was like talking to a crazy person; she wasn’t listening.