Analysis of Equal Opportunity and The Sky is Gray

Being an “Other” in “The Sky is Gray” and “Equal Opportunity”
Being an outsider is something that can make a person feel proud and independent, determined and convicted, or scared and alone. Sometimes, it can make a person feel all of these things, and sometimes it all depends on how those around one view him or her. This paper will show how four character in Ernest J. Gaines’ “The Sky is Gray” and Walter Mosley’s “Equal Opportunity” feel their otherness in these two stories.
In Gaines’ “The Sky is Gray” and Mosley’s “Equal Opportunity,” characters are viewed as different and outside the accepted norms of the majority by those who meet them. In “The Sky is Gray,” the boy in the doctor’s office who doesn’t believe in God is viewed as an aberration by the preacher and the ladies in the waiting room. He is beaten twice by the preacher and discussed by the ladies in the office as something strange: “Lord, what children go’n be saying next?” one of the women complains (Gaines 1112). The narrator of the story and his Mama are also like outsiders: they are told to wait at the doctor’s office and come back later. “Don’t feel ‘jected, honey,” one of the ladies says to Mama—“I been round them a long time—they take you when they want to. If you was white, that’s something else; but we the wrong color” (Gaines 1114). Mama and the narrator’s skin color is what makes them outsiders in Bayonne among the established power structure, and they wander like they don’t know where they are down the streets of Bayonne to pass the time until they will be recognized at the dentist’s office. The narrator is cold and hungry—the effects of being a poor black person who is viewed as an “other” by white society—but he does not want to complain to his mother because he knows how hard it is for her to bear with these same problems. He wants to be strong for her—so he pushes down his feelings and internalizes them. This is contrary to what the young atheist does in the office: he externalizes his complaints and only quiets down when he is beaten by the preacher.
In “Equal Opportunity,” Socrates Fortlow is an ex-con who is told that he cannot have a job at the supermarket where he wants to work. He keeps coming back every day to see why. Finally, he is told of Connie Rodriguez who is “always talking about giving guys a chance” (Mosley 1380) at the market on Santa Monica—and there he obtains a job, thanks to the kindness of a person willing to give guys like Socrates a second chance. Socrates is considered different because of his race and background—just like Mama and the narrator of “The Sky is Gray.” However, the effects of a being an “other” do not wear him down—instead, they make him all the more determined to keep coming back until he is recognized by those with power. He wants a job and knows only they can give him one. Of course, it takes a sympathetic person in power to give him a job. This is similar to the atheist’s experience: he only speaks again in the office when he is engaged by a sympathetic lady. The atheist is considered different because of his religious beliefs and lack of faith, but he is also determined to voice his feelings—just as Socrates is determined to stand up for himself in spite of his differences and his past, which make him different.
Thus, the characters in “Equal Opportunity” and “The Sky is Gray” are made to feel their difference and otherness by those with authority. The feeling of being an outsider makes each character feel dejected and lost, but also determined and adamant at times. As the young atheist says, “I was born too late to believe in your God…Let’s hope that the ones who come after will have your faith…” (Gaines 1114). In this statement is an indication that “others” need something to lean on in order to survive.

Works Cited
Gaines, Ernest J. “The Sky is Gray.”
Mosley, Walter. “Equal Opportunity.”