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The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

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It surprises me how many people think that The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is an actual biographical/autobiographical work. It is not -- it is fiction. It is a brilliantly crafted work interweaving historical references and recollections into an overall framework of the life of a woman born into slavery who survived to the point of the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

The style of the book is one of oral history. The editor interviewed and transcribed Miss Jane's stories beginning in 1962 and going on for nearly a year. The editor also talked to other people, particularly when Miss Jane would fall silent or forget things (he couldn't tell if she was doing this deliberately or not), and also talked to people after Miss Jane's funeral.

In a small space, the author (who is to be distinguished from the editor, a character in the novel) shows his intention -- this is to be an overarching story of black experience from the Civil War to Civil Rights, seen primarily through the experience of one woman, but incorporating and representing the experiences of all others.

The telling of the tale begins in the Civil War, where Miss Jane is child (she can't actually remember when she was born). Her name at that point was Ticey. Her first story deals with negotiating the delicate balance between fleeing Confederate soldiers, arriving Union soldiers, and the dominant presence of the mistress of the plantation. It was a Union soldier who suggested the name of Jane to Ticey ('Ticey is a slave name' the corporal said). Thus she became Jane. Jane Brown, adopting the last name of the corporal.

Unfortunately for Jane, the mistress didn't like this, and tried to beat the name out of her. Jane refused to recant the name, and got put out in the field for her 'sass'. A year later, when the war ended, she set out for Ohio, the state where the corporal who named her had lived. The decision was a tough one -- the older folk didn't want to risk the journey, perhaps a case of better the devil you know. The young folks, however, were having none of the continuing presence of a master and mistress. They set out right away. Jane bid farewell to her Uncle Isom and set out with a group of people, some misfits, some smart.

Soon they had their first run-in with the forerunners of the Klan. From her hiding place, Jane watched the 'patrollers' kill Big Laura, the mother-figure of the group, and all of the rest of the travellers. Suddenly she was alone save for Ned, Big Laura's little boy. She was a mother figure right away. Being resourceful and pragmatic as a slave is forced to learn to be from earliest days, she grabbed the supplies and left with Ned, still hoping to travel to Ohio.

However, fortune and lack of proper directions led Jane and Ned into many encounters through the south, and when finding someone who has a map, they also come to the realisation that there might be difficulty in finding soldier Brown in Ohio. Which part of Ohio is he in?

Jane and Ned end up on a plantation, doing work like they had done before. Jane remained behind to experience ongoing strife and trouble, encountering carpetbagger politicians, business dealings, and abandonment. The plantation was purchased by an old Confederate office, Colonel Dye, and the people supporting the blacks all left.

Ned left for the North, having changed his last name to Douglass, after Frederick Douglass. His life was in danger, so he had to go. After Ned left, Jane began her relationship with Joe Pittman; living together outside of marriage at first, which Jane justified in a way by explaining that black folk didn't have church marriages in slavery times, and they just weren't sure what to do now.

Joe and Jane left for east Texas for their own land after a time, after having an altercation with Colonel Dye over $150, plus surprise interest. Joe worked at breaking horses, becoming 'chief' Pittman, something of which both Joe and Jane were proud. Jane worked in a house as a servant. They did this for about ten years. Joe was killed by a horse no one could break, including Joe -- Jane had premonitions of the death, but Joe had to go 'a man's way'.

The story of Miss Jane continues apace through experience on another plantation and finally ending up in the Quarters. This is where she helped give birth to and raise Jimmy.

Anytime a child is born, the old people look in his face and ask him if he's the One. No, they don't say it out loud like I'm saying it to you now. Maybe they don't say it at all; maybe they just feel it -- but feel it they do. "You the One?" I'm sure Lena asked Jimmy that when she first held him in her arms. "You the One, Jimmy? You the One?"

Jimmy was the one who would get Miss Jane involved in the Civil Rights struggle, a struggle which she had in fact been participating in all her life. Jimmy, like so many in Miss Jane's life, like so many in black experience, would end up being killed over protests for drinking fountains and bathroom privileges. But as Miss Jane said, just part of him was dead.

The greater part of Jimmy was still alive, and with the courage and example of Miss Jane, they went to Bayonne to stand up for their rights. Miss Jane was affected by many events; Miss Jane finally stopped reacting and acted up.

The author, Ernest Gaines, was born on a Louisiana plantation. His descriptions and situations are authentic and mesmerising. He left Louisiana and was educated at San Francisco State and Stanford. He has other novels and collections of short stories, but The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman published in 1971 is undoubtedly the work for which he will be remembered. Cicely Tyson's portrayal of Miss Jane in the film of the same name is an endearing performance, but one misses much if one relies solely on the film (plus some of the details are changed, sometimes inexplicably). One thing I would recommend is watching the film and reading the book as companions to each other -- some of the dialogue in the film supplements the book (like Miss Jane's final speech to the reporter), and the book fills in (as all books do) many of the details glossed over in the film.

I'd thought that it wouldn't be possible for a man to write GOOD fiction from a woman's point of view. "She's Come Undone" proved my point. "Memoirs of A Geisha" proved me wrong - and I thought I'd never again find a well written fictional piece about a woman and written by a man. Ernest J. Gaines proved me once again wrong in "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman."

Jane, born Ticey, was "interviewed" by a man who was interested in the life of a woman who'd lived from Slavery to Civil Rights. Jane was given her name by a Yankee soldier whom she'd been told to give water by her Mistress, and it was Jane's name from then on.

When the slaves were freed, she set out with several going North. Secesh men who'd been soldiers during the Civil War (in other words, days before!) killed everyone they could find - everyone except Jane and the son of another former slave. Jane was either ten or eleven years old at the time. She traveled with the child, Ned, and raised him as her own.

This book goes through her life, through the triumphs and the disappointments, through the times she spent on different plantations and doing different jobs. Working my way through the vernacular was a challenge, but it added credibility to the story. Hatred based on skin color is rampant throughout the book; so is Miss Jane's knowing "her place." Nonetheless, she tells with touching sorrow of the love of a white man for a Creole teacher. Happiest in the fields, she was incredibly profound when she spoke of talking to the trees: "Anybody caught talking to a chinaball tree or a thorn tree got to be crazy. But when you talk to an oak tree that's been here all these years, and knows more than you'll ever know, it's not craziness; it's just the nobility you respect."

Her stories give new meaning to "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." There are those who will dissect the book for symbolism. It's not necessary to do so; "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" carries itself just fine.

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is an inspiring novel. It explores many events that took place in our history. Miss Jane Pittman is a black woman who battled for her freedom during the time period of slavery. When she was eleven years old she began her battle of freedom. But she never relived that she would battle for her freedom for the rest of her life. When she was eleven she took on the resonability of a young boy Ned. He was about her age. When reading this novel chapter by chapter it was like watching Jane and Ned (the boy) grow into wise and hard working people. Befro I read the this novel I never relized how harsh and crul that people were treated in this time period. The setting of the novel was imporant. Both Ned and Jane was travling by foot to seek freedom. And the setting never changed through out the novel no matter were they went. The novel helped me discover history that I had never heard of. A few little wars went on in the novel that many people don't even know of. This was an very inspiring novel. The novel also made me relize how people struggle just to stay alive. It made me look at freedom in a compleatley diffrent way than what I had looked at it befor. I highley recomened this novel to evey one.

This is an enjoyable book because the author conveys the events in an easy to relate to manner, and gives the reader a sense of compassion for the characters, providing a more personal reaction to the story. Much mystery surrounds the appearance of various characters in Jane Pittman's life, which is at times an intriguing tool, but Gaines could have provided further introduction for some individuals that came into the story. This novel is the life story of a black slave, Jane Pittman, from when she was a small child, in the mid-nineteenth century, until when she was an elderly woman in the mid-twentieth century. It is the story of her quest for equality after she was freed at the end of the Civil War, and of the life that she found. As we follow her through her long life, we meet many characters that have an impact on her, making her a stronger person and forming who she is as she finds a place for herself in the world as a black woman. The fictional story is told in Jane Pittman's voice, as she would have told it to a historian, as it is noted in the introduction. It has verisimilitude because the narration, done by Jane Pittman, is ungrammatical, showing her lack of schooling, and also making the story more personal and more credible. The theme of this story is that of the perseverance of the human spirit against persecution. Overall, I think this is a well-written book that helps us see what it was like to live as a black woman in those times in the American South.

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman stands the test of time. It is indeed a novel rich in the very fabric of America's story, for both Blacks and Whites. It's meaning and underlying messages are timeless; it is no less pure today than it was when first conceived 30 years ago. A "must" read for all that consider themselves to be historians and students of fine American literature.

This book was astonishing. I am an African American woman and I felt relieved that this book didn't exlot us and it showed grest strength and love.

This novel pulls off an impossible feat by engaging readers in a historical journey through masterful storytelling. A tale of the life of a woman who was born into slavery and reborn into a life of freedom, forced to pioneer the way alone, could not be described by historians. The job is left to one who experienced this emotional, monumental task, the beloved character of Miss Jane. How easily one forgets this character's voice speaks through the mind of author Ernest Gaines, a man who understands the subtletites of this woman's plight, including her inability to conceive children as a result of beatings, and her maternal feelings toward the orphaned Ned, whom she raised after his mother was killed by soldiers, with she and Ned hiding nearby. How is it possible for Mr. Gaines to capture the essence of this amazing woman with such dimension? Miss Jane speaks to the reader as a young guest; she is at once your elder, you are the privileged listener, so set aside your afternoon. You will almost feel her eyes upon you as she explains how she lived and worked as a slave; you will admire her strength when she talks about chopping cotton in the hot sun for hours - as you sit, comfortable and pampered, reading a book. You will be bewildered by her perseverance, tromping through swamps with a young child, searching for a safe haven after she was "freed", knowing that although Jane is not an actual person, that freed slaves had to survive this test, a test most of us could not even imagine. Her dialect, you will come to understand, through grammatically incorrect, does not undermine her wisdom; a proper speaker could be far more ignorant. Through Ernest Gaines you will meet a woman that will enrich you, and though the stories of so many like her are lost, through her, their trials and legacies live on, and come to something -when we remember, respect, and listen to Miss Jane.

This well-crafted novel is written as an editor's transcription of the oral memoirs of Jane Pittman, a 110-year old woman and former slave who reminisces about her life and times. Miss Jane, in her rambling, often opinionated, but always endearing narrative style, not only tells her life story but also that of the history of the black people from slavery up to their struggles for civil rights in the 1960s.

Around ten years old when freed from slavery, Jane decides to head to Ohio to find the friendly Yankee soldier who was kind to her when his troop passed through. Although she never gets out of Louisiana, she saves a young boy, taking him under her wing when the Confederate soldiers slaughter his mother, and sets off to find a better life for the two of them. Along with the other newly freed slaves, she deals with problems in finding shelter, jobs, and education. As she ages, she becomes the matriarch of her community, and in that role provides support, inspiration, and commonsense guidance to others as they seek their rightful place in society.

Jane is a colorful character with lots of spirit and determination. Her story is full of humor, wisdom, and irony. The emphasis of the book shifts about halfway through from Jane herself to the story of the people that pass through her life. Some chapters depart from the main story to cover a particular person or incident she observes. She discusses the discrimination and violence the blacks faced in the south. She is witness to the relationship between blacks and whites, including a doomed love interest. She chronicles civil rights advances and mentions the efforts of such black leaders as Washington, Douglass, and King. She speaks of the Freedom Riders and civil rights marches. One clever chapter digresses to discuss one of the floods in her town that was caused, according to Jane, by man's egotistical notion that he can change the course of rivers. Because the story covers 100 years of Jane's recollections, time passes quickly in some spots, leaving large gaps of time missing from her life. I found it was sometimes difficult to determine how old she was when a new chapter began and how far forward time had passed. In spite of this, the novel is educational, entertaining, and uplifting, and would be an excellent book to teach older children about black history.

Eileen Rieback

I read this book for my sophomore English class. I truly enjoyed this book because it gave me an insight to the way things were during those times. I thought that Miss Jane was an exceptional character and I really enjoyed following her through the course of the book. The way that Ernest Gaines portrayed each of the characters was appealing to any generation. Being from the South, I especially enjoyed the southern dialect. I recommend this book to anyone. It would make a great book to read for pleasure. I became one and connected with Miss Jane. I suffered when she did and I rejoiced as she did. This book was wonderful!

This is one of the truest fiction books I have ever read. Gaines has a way of pulling you right in the story with Miss Jane! I actually felt that I was right there on the porch sitting with Gaines as he listened to her. I could feel the pain that Gaines describes as Miss Jane goes through the trials and tribulations after the civil war. How the black slaves felt when they were "set" free, known as "freedmen". I cried and laughed with Miss Jane throughout the book, reading this book gave me a true feeling of how things were for the blacks. Gaines does not leave out many of the brutal or violent details of the time. Gaines takes you right along with him on the journey of Miss Jane and Ned. I feel the language in the book was very appropriate for a lady from Louisiana. Gaines gave great insight on how the language was "really" spoken during that time. Gaines uses this book as an example of racism and discrimination. The theme of this story is that of the perseverance of the human spirit against persecution. I think this is a well-written book that helps you see what it was like to live as a black in those times in the American south.