stracized from the community in which he was once a leader. He has almost lost himself to debauchery with a prostitute. He likely has lost his opportunity to advance his career in politics. There may be a brighter day in the future for Martin personally, socially and politically, but he has certainly paid a great price for the tragic awakening that ends the book. At the same time, Martin clearly has survived the ordeal of awakening, no matter how battered he is. Rubin addresses this theme in the novel, noting that Martin has found a place in the rural South where "history and economics . . . deterministically decide" the lives of its people, but "it is also a place where these elements cannot fully and consistently control" those lives, "a place where there is an inevitably different future as well as a past in the present." Rubin writes:
In depicting them and their conflicts and struggles, Gaines is not a hostile, combative writer; [his novel] does not have as a major purpose indictment and condemnation of whites and racism. Rather with great warmth, he
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