The Sky is Grey

Overall, I thought that the Sky is Grey by Ernest Gaines was very interesting because of the way it was written.  It was hard to understand at first because the narrator is a poor child that suffered through segregation and the narration stayed in character.  Even though it was hard to follow at first, you get used to it as you read on.  The language and dialect was different and kept me interested, in fact if the language was like a typical story, I wouldn't have been as interested.

Another interesting thing I noticed about the story that I thought was interesting is the repetition of words and phrases.  I don't know why it caught my attention, maybe its because of the rhetorical devices we have gone over in class so much or something else.  I think that the purpose of this repetition is to show emphasis on what others are saying because it seems that the repetition occurs more around when others are speaking.  I don't really know the significance but I think that there is something about repetition that adds to this story.

Another interesting thing that I found interesting were all the references to color.  One reference to color is the difference in skin color, since it takes place when the segregation was at its height.  Another reference to color are the environmental surroundings in the story.  This women and this boy at the dentist's shop argue what the color of the grass, the women says its green and the boy says its black.  The boy also says that there is "pink in the air" and I was confused on what he meant by this.  The title even references color, "The Sky is Grey".  There are alot of color references in the story.

This story also got me thinking about how unfair and stupid segregation and racism is and was.  I love those types of stories that are written to bring out flaws in some people, so we can work on those flaws so they dont't become any more of a problem in the future.

Overall, I thought this was a good story to read for many reasons, I thought it was what I need to read after reading Tomorrow.