Jackson, Community, and Teaching

Speaking with Michael Sartisky in 1993, Gaines relates that many African American teachers fell into the profession because someone pushed them in that direction. These teachers were not good teachers, not even mediocre. They wanted to do something else entirely; however, they couldn't because of the racial conditions  that only provided limited opportunities. Moving on, Gaines comments on Grant's return in A Lesson before Dying. He says, "And Grant wants to leave, just wants to get away from it all and yet when he does, he has to come back again. There's that thing that keeps pulling him back. There's that thing that keeps Catherine Carmier from going. There's that thing that keeps Miss Jane from being able to reach Ohio" (274). Gaines says he cannot explain this inexplicable drive to return to Louisiana. I would argue, at least for Grant , Ned, and Jackson, that the desire has to do with the community.

When Jackson returns home after receiving his education in California, Aunt Charlotte becomes excited because she believes he has returned for good to educate the children in the Quarters. His return, however, is for Catherine, not for the children. One of Jackson's struggles throughout the novel is how to tell his Aunt that he does not want to teach and that he wants to leave. He has respect for her and he fears how his decision will affect her. Speaking with Jackson, Aunt Charlotte tells him that nobody else has ever gone as far as he has and that every family needs to have someone who "do something;" for Aunt Charlotte, Jackson is that someone: "But I just want you to know . . . you all they is left, Jackson. You all us can count on. If you fail, that's all for us" (98). Jackson serves, as Grant does, as a "groomed" leader for  the community, one who will educate and uplift.  To a certain extent, Jackson resents this; he tells his Aunt after she questions him about whether or not he still goes to church and believes in God, "You sent me there. . . . I didn't want to go. I cried, I cried to keep from going. So I went. You wanted me to study, so I did" (100). After telling her that he plans to leave, Charlotte faints and while recovering begins to think about the sacrifices she has made: "She had sacrificed too much of herself for him. She had hoped, prayed, waited too long for him to come back just to see him turn around and leave her like this" (169). Aunt Charlotte sets Jackson up as a community leader, one that Jackson does not want to be. Jackson, though, does feel a tie to the community because he does not want to hurt his Aunt or others. However, he does just that.

Jackson's move to California for school opened his mind but it also alienated him from the people back home. He cannot believe as his Aunt does and the others in the Quarters. In many ways, Jackson's place in the community is similar to Raoul's. He is stuck in between two poles: educated and uneducated. After describing how the Cajuns looked at Jackson, the narrator describes how other "Negores" in the community view him: "No, they were no better than the Cajuns. Just as bad. Behind his back they called him 'Mr. Stuck-Up.' He was not 'Mr. Stuck-Up'; he could not think of anything to talk with them about" (175).Even Mary Louise, who Jackson grew up with, becomes alienated from him partly because of his education. She notices that he has been reading and asks him what the book is. Jackson tells her it is a book of Greek poetry; she picks the book up and looks through it: "She had no idea what any word meant, and she looked at him and smiled. He smiled back, assuring her that it really didn't matter" (169).

Throughout Catherine Carmier, Jackson struggles with his place in the community and with his future. He thinks, at points, that he will have to settle down and become a teacher, especially if Catherine decided to leave with him. However, he thinks to himself, "How could he teach when he did not believe in what he was teaching?" (186) As stated earlier, teaching, in the South, was one of the only professions open to someone like Jackson. Would Jackson have made a good teacher? We don't know because we never see him in the classroom, unlike Grant. If he did enter the classroom, would he be similar to Grant, harsh towards his students but eventually learning from them? Would he succumb to the mind-numbing thoughts of nihilism that nothing but pain and suffering await the students he teaches? In the comments, let me know what you think.


Gaines, Ernest J. Catherine Carmier. New York: Vintage Books, 1993. Print.

Sartisky, Michael. "Writing about Race in Difficult Times: An Interview with Ernest J. Gaines." Conversations with Ernest Gaines. Ed. John Lowe. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1995. 253-275. Print.