The setting for the novel "A Gathering of Old Men" by Ernest Gaines was a 1970's small Louisiana plantation were there is a lot of sugar cane all over the countryside. Many of the Blacks in this area are very old in their 70's and 80's and they had helped to cultivate the sugar as their parents and grandparents before them. Many of those who helped cultivate these lands were gone but they were still there. The sugar was their reminder of the harshness that they faced from childhood to adulthood. The sugar also represented the social abuse that they faced day in and day out.
During t…
