The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

Rating:
Summary: MY CHILDREN LIVED 110 YEARS !!!
Review: I watched the movie when I was my children's age, (9-12). As a home schooling mom I read, (to them), one literature book a year; this year I chose this one. They loved it so much that they begged me to read it at bedtime. Since it is only November, we get to start a new one. Last year, I read Kaffar Boy (which means Nigger Boy) an autobiography by. Mark Mathabane.
For those of you who were confused by The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, maybe you should have someone read it to you. And by the way...she was never going to Ohio...if you but only knew !!!

Rating:
Summary: Jane and Ned was very determine, they have to fight to live.
Review: i would like to review and prove the fact that this book, "The autobiography of miss jane pittman" was an uplifting book.

Rating:
Summary: An incredibly valuable historical resource!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: An incredibly valuable historical resource!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: I have read better books, but I hvae also read worse books.
Review: I, as a jr.high student, would not recommend any student to read this unless they really like history. I chose two stars because I found that this book about a black woman in history was pretty boring. But I do find that the way it was written would be more interesting if it was about something other than history. Miss Jane Pittman lived through a lot of history (110 yrs. to be exact).

Rating:
Summary: Civil war to civil rights
Review: 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 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.

Rating:
Summary: Civil war to civil rights
Review: 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.


Rating:
Summary: An excellent book!
Review: Jane Pittman or Ticey as she was called when she was a slave, grew up on a plantation in Lousiana. She got off the plantation planning to go to Ohio to find the Colonel that told her to look him up if she was ever there. On the way there, she came upon a boy who had lost his mother, Ned was his name. They came upon very interesting people including Job who told them about Mr Bone and his plantation. They could probably get a job there. When Ned grew up he went off to join a committee. After a couple of years Jane left too. She met a man named Joe. They lived together. Then Joe died in a horse accident. Jane then moved into her own house and lived down the raod from Ned. Then Ned was killed by a man named Albert Cluveau. Jane then moved to Samson. She saw a boy named Tee Bob fall in love with the plantation's school teacher, which became fatal. She lived at Samson the rest of her life (a span of 110 years).

Rating:
Summary: Wisom with Age
Review: Miss Jane Pittman (Ticey), a woman that lives to be over 108 years old, touches us with her stoic/down-to-earth outlook on life. From the naive Ticey that believes Ohio is a few day's walk from "Luzana", to the realistic yet excited member of the Civil Rights movement, the reader has a strong desire to meet Miss Jane Pittman and learn from what she has to offer.

Rating:
Summary: A very inspiring story
Review: Miss Jane Pittman was a slave girl who grew up in the south during the war by the name Ticey. Then one day when Yankee soldiers were riding through town, Ticey stoped and talked to the Colonel. He told her Ticey was a slave name so he told her about the name Jane. Soon the war was over and news came that they were free.