Unit 7: Ernest Gaines’ “Bloodline”

For this Unit we have an excellent short story that, while still being conceptually complex and ripe for analysis, is very straightforward in narrative: The plot unfolds during a single day, and its time moves in a linear fashion. With no flashbacks, no shifts of time frame, no kaleidoscopic narrative perspective, this text is something of a break for us after the rigors of Ceremony. "Bloodline" concerns a plantation in the mid-twentieth century where life has seemingly stopped, frozen in time, almost unchanged since the days of slavery—and a sudden challenge to that way of life. Gaines asks probing questions about race relations, African-American masculinity, and about “bloodlines” or how we imagine a person’s genetic and legal inheritances to shape them, and shape us as a nation. My video lecture is a bit shorter this week, at 25 minutes and discusses some of these points, as well as how the representation of physical health and strength functions in the struggle for the plantation, and for legitimacy. But first download the PDF at the right and enjoy reading this story!

Because I know everyone is working hard on their first paper, I’ve decided to cancel the Forum Assignment (we’ll pick up with them next Unit when we study poetry). But don’t skip this text and video lecture, because Gaines will enrich many of the themes we are studying this semester and, when it comes times to write the final paper on two texts, “Bloodline” will be a great option (especially to pair with Crane’s The Monster or Silko’s Ceremony).

Because I know everyone is working hard on their first paper, I’ve decided to cancel the Forum Assignment this week (we’ll pick up with them next week when we study poetry). But don’t skip this text and video lecture, because Gaines will enrich many of the themes we are studying this semester and, when it comes times to write the final paper on two texts, “Bloodline” will be a great option (especially to pair with Crane’s The Monster or Silko’s Ceremony).