In my last entry, I wrote a ghost story based on a novel (then turned movie) titled The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. The story is set on the Civil War, extending to when the Jim Crow laws were established. Ticey is an eleven year old slave who works in a plantation until a Yankee troop passed by and the man leading them, Colonel Brown named her Jane Brown. Then the slaves received their long-awaited freedom and that's where Jane begins her journey.
She decided on going to the North looking for Colonel Brown and she left with other slaves. Everything was okay until they were attacked by a group of people opposed to the Proclamation and everyone died except for her and a little boy named Ned. They walked and met many people who helped them (some were kind, some weren't). They stayed together until Ned left because he was being prosecuted for fighting for the rights of black people. Later she married a man named Joe Pittman (who had two daughters of a previous marriage) and she was happy until he died on an accident in which a horse "strangled" him with a rope. She reunites with Ned (who has a family) but he's assassinated for being involved in the fight for their rights. Then, Jimmy joins the story: a boy whom since birth is known as "The One", the leader. He then went to New Orleans so he could study and then returns to the plantation with stories of Reverend King (Martin Luther King Jr.) and his passion for their civil rights. He's killed on his way to a march he was leading and, in the end, Jane Pittman joins the march.
I liked how this novel combines history with fiction because it's as if the story really happened. The way the author wrote can transport the reader into those hard times. I must admit that sometimes I found it difficult to read because the English used in the novel was written like, for example "We didn't know where we was going, we didn't know what we was go'n eat when the apples and potatoes ran out" (Gaines, 16). But what I really liked was the message it gave, especially how it can connect to the reality we're living: how we are practically returning to those times and how claiming for our rights is seen as a criminal act. Hope is what moves us forward, just like Miss Jane Pittman.
She decided on going to the North looking for Colonel Brown and she left with other slaves. Everything was okay until they were attacked by a group of people opposed to the Proclamation and everyone died except for her and a little boy named Ned. They walked and met many people who helped them (some were kind, some weren't). They stayed together until Ned left because he was being prosecuted for fighting for the rights of black people. Later she married a man named Joe Pittman (who had two daughters of a previous marriage) and she was happy until he died on an accident in which a horse "strangled" him with a rope. She reunites with Ned (who has a family) but he's assassinated for being involved in the fight for their rights. Then, Jimmy joins the story: a boy whom since birth is known as "The One", the leader. He then went to New Orleans so he could study and then returns to the plantation with stories of Reverend King (Martin Luther King Jr.) and his passion for their civil rights. He's killed on his way to a march he was leading and, in the end, Jane Pittman joins the march. I liked how this novel combines history with fiction because it's as if the story really happened. The way the author wrote can transport the reader into those hard times. I must admit that sometimes I found it difficult to read because the English used in the novel was written like, for example "We didn't know where we was going, we didn't know what we was go'n eat when the apples and potatoes ran out" (Gaines, 16). But what I really liked was the message it gave, especially how it can connect to the reality we're living: how we are practically returning to those times and how claiming for our rights is seen as a criminal act. Hope is what moves us forward, just like Miss Jane Pittman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSDlm2LqAes- This link shows the whole movie (note: it's a bit different from the novel)
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