Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, The (1971). Widely praised as Ernest J.

Gaines's best
book, this historical novel builds upon u!itive slave narratives as "ell as the oral tradition.
#he irst$person narrator, so%e 11& years old, is one o the %ost %e%orable characters in all
'rican '%erican iction. (et in rural )ouisiana, the novel is divided into our parts*#he
War +ears, ,econstruction, #he -lantation, and #he .uarters*that pro!ress ro% the 1/0&s
to the 190&s. 1t is the i%%ediacy and authenticity o 2iss Jane's voice, the book's !reatest
literary achieve%ent, that enable the author to uniy the te3t's panora%ic s"eep and its hi!hly
episodic structure. Jane is both an eectively reali4ed individual and a representative i!ure, a
spokesperson or the 'rican '%erican e3perience ro% slavery ti%es to the era o the civil
ri!hts %ove%ent. Gaines's 51ntroduction6 presents her story as the outco%e o a series o
intervie"s by the novel's ostensible editor not only "ith Jane but "ith other %e%bers o her
co%%unity, and Gaines thereby stresses both the centrality o the oral tradition in 'rican
'%erican culture and the interdependence o the individual and the !roup. #he popular oral
history %ethodolo!y o the ti%e o the novel's co%position reco!ni4ed that people like 2iss
Jane had been e3cluded ro% traditional histories. Gaines thus perceived his book as illin! a
void in the historical record, as e%bodyin! "hat he ter%ed 5olk autobio!raphy.6
#he openin! chapter, in "hich Jane abandons her slave na%e, #icey, and reuses*despite a
beatin!*to relin7uish her ne" na%e, testiies to Gaines's concern "ith identity, a %a8or
the%e in 'rican '%erican literature !enerally and in the autobio!raphy as a !enre. #his
episode also de%onstrates 7ualities in Jane's character that persist throu!hout the book,
helpin! to establish her heroic stature9 deter%ination, personal inte!rity, sel$assertion,
endurance. 2uch o the novel ocuses on the violence "ith "hich such atte%pts at 'rican
'%erican sel$deter%ination are %et by "hites9 the %assacre o the ne"ly e%ancipated slaves
in book 1: the assassination o ;ed ("ho% Jane adopts ater his %other is killed in the
%assacre) in book <: and the %urder o Ji%%y 'aron, a civil ri!hts "orker, at the end o book
=, an act that ails, ho"ever, to prevent Jane ro% 8oinin! the protest %arch "ith "hich the
novel closes. #he deaths o ;ed and Ji%%y hi!hli!ht the book's pervasive reli!ious ele%ents,
or both characters are depicted as >hristlike i!ures, %en "hose blood is shed to redee% their
people. 1n book ?, si!niicantly, Gaines portrays the "hite #ee @ob in si%ilar ter%s "hen #ee
@ob co%%its suicide because southern %ores preclude his %arryin! a >reole. Gaines thus
reveals the destructive conse7uences o racis% or the entire (outh, indeed or all o '%erican
society. Written in the years i%%ediately ollo"in! the civil ri!hts era, 2iss Jane's narrative,
%ore than any other sin!le book, helped '%ericans understand the personal e3periences and
e%otions, as "ell as the historical events, that had produced the revolution in A.(. race
relations durin! the 190&s.