1. By Arna Bontemps

2.  1902 – 1973
 Born in Alexandria,
Louisiana
 His father was a Creole
bricklayer and his mother
was a school teacher
 When he was three his
father was threatened by
two drunk white men and
the family moved to
California

3.  As His parents sent him to San Fernando Boarding School
 His father instructed him to not “go up there acting
colored”
 Bontemps never forgot this moment and resented the
efforts to make him forget his heritage
 Graduated from Pacific Union College in 1923
 In 1924 he accepted a teaching position in Harlem
 Married a former student, Alberta Johnson in 1926
 He became closely connected to Harlem Renaissance
artists such Countee Cullen, Zora Neil Hurston and
Langston Hughes, whom he worked closely with

4.  He published his first poems in Crisis and Opportunity
in 1924
 A Summer Tragedy was written in 1932 during the
midst of the depression
 That same year he moved to Alabama to teach at
Oakwood Junior College
 From 1943-1965 he was librarian at Fisk University in
Tennessee
 Died of a heart attack in 1973
 He is the author of numerous poems, short stories and
books

5.  After the emancipation
of African American
slaves sharecropping
became a new form of
slavery
 A form of land lease
where they worked a
portion of the land for a
share of the profits that
came from the crops

6.  The sharecropper would purchase all that was needed:
seeds, food and equipment from the company store
 The store would allow them to keep a tab which was
settled when the crops, usually cotton, were gathered
 In the end the sharecropper was always short and
would have to start the year at a deficit
 This was a vicious cycle getting the sharecropper
deeper into debt
 The work was hard labor and led to physical and
mental destruction

7.  Realism – the characters speak with the speech of
southern sharecroppers
 The reality of the characters’ lives is demonstrated

8.  Jeff – old broken down, share farmer, fingers broken
down, limps
 Does go out much, poor, clothes are moth eaten
 Jennie – blind, thin, voice is like a whisper, frail, death-
like
 Relationship – rely on each other,
 Jennie is Jeff’s support system – bow tie
 They love each other – “baby”
 In pain but support each other on the edge of the bed
– bow tie
 Vernacular Speech – southern sharecroppers

9.  Planning a tragic event –
- Dress in black
- Panic attack outside
- Waiting around to leave – she pushes him on and
grows impatient
- Jeff’s hands shaking
- Wishes the car would take longer to start – up

10.  The heat is strangling Jeff
 The land is in disorganized – no fences – everyone
shares in the poverty
 Shed is falling
 Car is falling apart
 Even the “frizzly chickens” were dying
 Delia’s house is described in detail – and so all the
share farmers live in these hopeless conditions

11.  Change their minds 6 times – difficult decision
- p. 3 “No, baby, I ain’t scairt.”
- p. 4 “You know we agreed-we gotta keep on goin’.”
- p. 5 “It don’t make a speck o’ difference though,…we
gunna be in debt to old man Stevenson…It took us a
long time to learn that
 Feel they have no choice
 Dead inside – no hope for a future – debt
 Loss of life - Children

12.  Jeff is the one that struggles with the decision – takes the
reader along
 Control s the decision
 Male Point of View – responsible for his family
 Lost his courage - weak, panic attacks
 Can no longer take care of his family
 POV changes to Jennie’s when they passed Delia’s house
 Need to include her struggle – she begins to cry and Jeff
must be strong
 Final POV – Omniscient – the car sinks and the reader is
the spectator – from above

13.  Many “summer tragedies” have brought them to this
moment
 The Death of prosperity - will always be in debt
 The Death of their children – victims of racist
structured system
 The Death of his youth – Slim Burns killed Joe Heasley
 Death of Jeff’s health – the stroke
 Death of Jennie’s eyesight – loss of independence
 The Theme is Death