A Summer Tragedy by Arna Bontemps
"A Summer Tragedy" by Arna Bontemps is a poignant narrative that explores themes of love, grief, and the struggle against overwhelming circumstances. The story centers on Jeff and Jennie, an elderly couple who have spent decades farming on Greenbriar Plantation. Despite their deep attachment to the land, their lives have been marked by hardship, including a shares system that has kept them in poverty and the recent loss of five adult children. Jeff, recently affected by a stroke, grapples with fears of becoming a burden to his blind and frail wife, Jennie.
As they prepare for a significant trip, their excitement is intertwined with a profound sense of dread, reflecting the emotional weight of their shared losses. The journey through the countryside evokes memories of vitality and strength, but also reveals their deteriorating health and mental anguish. Ultimately, the couple faces a heartbreaking decision about their future, leading them to confront the unbearable nature of their existence. Bontemps' narrative captures both the resilience and despair of the couple, offering a stark reflection on the human condition and the complexities of life’s final choices.
On this Page
A Summer Tragedy by Arna Bontemps
First published: 1933
Type of plot: Domestic realism
Time of work: About 1930
Locale: Mississippi River Delta
Principal Characters:
Jeff Patton , an elderly, black sharecropperJennie , his elderly, blind wife
The Story
Jeff Patton has farmed the same acres on Greenbriar Plantation for forty-five years. He loves the land, but life has been physically demanding and the shares system has kept him locked in poverty. A recent stroke has left him lame, and he fears that another will make him a helpless burden on his wife, Jennie, who has been blind for years and is now frail. Both are sound of mind, but their life has been reduced to a series of losses, including the deaths of five adult children in the last two years. They share a state of constant grief and anxiety.
Jeff struggles to don the moth-eaten formal attire that he wears only on rare occasions, such as weddings. He feels excitement and fear as he and Jennie prepare for a trip. A short time later, driving through the countryside with Jennie in their old Model T Ford, Jeff feels a familiar thrill, as he surveys the vitality of the crops and natural vegetation. He feels again the determination and pride that always have accompanied his sense of his mental and physical strengths, required for survival on the land, but if he takes his hands from the steering wheel, they shake violently.
Jennie has repeatedly prompted Jeff to make this trip, relying on his courage to match her belief in the rightness of their decision. As they near their destination, however, she becomes wracked by grief at the thought of leaving everything behind. Crying like a child, she questions whether they should continue. Jeff is tortured by his knowledge of what they are about to do and would like to turn back, but he assures his wife that they must be strong. He knows that they have fully considered their fate, and that more reflection would merely lead to the same, inevitable conclusion. They both know that life has become intolerable, and would only get worse. After they regain their resolve and composure, Jeff drives the car into the deep water of the Mississippi.