A Lesson Before Dying By Ernest Gaines

“A hero does for others. He would do anything for people he loves, because he knows it would make their lives better”(191). This quote reflects on what a hero is in the book A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. The main character Grant becomes a hero through the eyes of others, after meeting with another main character Jefferson, who was wrongly accused for a crime because the color of his skin was black. Jefferson got the punishment of being put to death by the electric chair. Grant goes to visit Jefferson in jail because Miss Emma wants Jefferson to be a man and walk to the electric chair. Grant could be considered a hero in this text because he helped Jefferson become a better person, Jefferson transformed into a man with the help of Grant for the love of his family, and Grant also teaches kids without enjoying his job though he is good at teaching.

“You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die and when, you can only decide how you are going to live”. (Joan Baez). In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, written by Ernest J. Gaines, Jefferson doesn’t get to choose how and when he’s going to die, but he learns valuable lessons from Grant about how to live the rest of his life. This novel takes place in Bayonne, Louisiana, in the late 1940s. Jefferson is a twenty-one-year-old uneducated black man, who is accused of a robbery and murder that he did not commit. Unfortunately, the conviction led to his death by execution. While he is in jail, Jefferson’s grandmother wants him to die a hero, so she turns to Grant Wiggins, a black teacher at the local plantation school. During his time in

In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, racism and prejudice are clearly evident and talked about throughout the novel. The novel expresses the oppression of the blacks under a white-ruled society through the narrator, Grant. Grant is a well-educated black man who struggles to free himself from the oppression he has felt from the white community. Despite the fact that he is educated and a teacher, he initially lacks the vigor needed to take the first step against black discrimination. He has all this intellect, but does not realize until later on that it is not only intelligence he needs to overcome the oppression, but self-assertion, too. Education does not prove your intellectual worth in society; rather, it is what you do during difficult times that define your intelligence and strong character not just to yourself, but to the world.

While we all would agree that racism is immoral and has no place in a modern society, that was not the case in the U.S. in the 1940s. At the time African Americans were treated as second-class citizens, it was made near-impossible for them to vote, and they were discriminated in many ways including in education, socially and in employment. It was a time in which segregation and racism perforated the laws and society, a time in which African Americans were “separate but equal,” segregation was legal and in full force. Apartheid was also everywhere from the books to in society. Blacks were not truly seen as equal as they were seen the the lesser of the two and it very much felt that way. Blacks were oppressed in many ways including having

I found A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines a deeply moving novel, which kept me on the edge of my seat and had a hard time putting down. The novel explores various themes and concepts that surround the education system, filled with multiple emotional moments, conflicts, and surprising moments scattered throughout the storyline. However, the novel does not just focus on the education system and its underlying issues, but it also focuses on human transformation, where the emotional moments, conflicts, and surprising moments of the novel were most evident. Although the novel raises some important issues and concerns that should be taken more considerably about the education system, human transformation that comes around as a result of love, is an overarching theme that stood out to me throughout the novel.

The definition of what it means to be a human or a man, is a topic that is has been and is often discussed all over the world today. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, Gaines breaks down the meaning of what it means to be a man thought a character named Grant Wiggins. Grant Wiggins is the main character of the novel and is a very educated African-American man who is also a teacher at a local church in the town. He is trying to define and understand the concept of what it means to be human. He does this to help a wrongly accused man by the name of Jefferson and also to help himself with understanding who he is. Jefferson was, as many say, at the wrong place at the wrong time. He was in a liquor store with two other African-American men. Things got out of control and shots were fired. Jefferson was the only person live at the crime scene when police arrived and he was then accused of the murder of the three dead men. Grant, in the process of trying to help Jefferson, is trying to overcome an internal conflict with himself and also to find his identity as a human being. Ernest J. Gaines has done a marvelous job of incorporating his own past, great plot elements, meaningful themes, and numerous symbols into the novel A Lesson Before Dying.

A hero can be referred to as a brave, courageous, and unique individual who is fearless. In the science-fiction short story, "Harrison Bergeron," written by Kurt Vonnegut, everybody lives in a Dystopian society where the people have worked on changing the Constitution so everyone is completely equal. In this story, in order to make everybody equal, whoever is smarter, stronger, faster, or prettier than anybody else is given handicaps that they must wear at all times, according to the law. Even though they wear handicaps, some people are still too strong for the handicaps, such as Harrison Bergeron. These types of people can either be considered a hero or threat to society. Harrison Bergeron is a hero to society because he could cast a

In the book A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines every character had to hold a certain amount of power within their own being. No one could be vulnerable or weak, every person had to be strong in their own way. The most powerful man to all the characters in the book was God . A symbol to best represent A Lesson Before Dying is God because for the people that believe in him, they feel he can overpower and have the final decision in any persons life. In the end, God’s decision in A Lesson Before Dying was that Jefferson would indeed die.

In the novel, A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines illustrates a young African American named Jefferson who is caught in-between a tragic liquor shootout. Unfortunately, he gets convicted with murder and sentenced to a death penalty. Grant Wiggins, the local schoolteacher is nominated by Miss Emma and Tante Lou to help Jefferson become a man rather than a hog before he dies. In chapters 11 through 21, the plot begins to escalate when Grant begins visiting Jefferson alone in his cell. When Grant visits Jefferson for the first time without Tante Lou and Miss Emma, Jefferson releases his aggression towards Grant. He begins to display animalistic behaviors to resemble his negative connotative term, “hog”. For example, when Grant brings the bag of food,

In the book, “A Lesson Before Dying”, by Ernest J. Gaines tells a story that is set during the late 1930’s. The story is fixated on the interaction between Jefferson, a young and literate African American man, who is sentenced to death for an inequitable crime, and Grant Wiggins, a teacher that wants to help Jefferson, and along the way the two create a bond. The story is told through the view of Wiggins. The main focus in this book was Grant and Jefferson’s relationship to transform each man throughout the story and they learn a lesson on human dignity. The most character is Jefferson’s attorney, he was the reason that of Jefferson loss of dignity and self-respect. Jefferson’s attorney is the symbol of society’s racism due to him marking Jefferson

This novel is set in a fictional community of Bayonne, Louisiana, in the late 1940s. The setting in this story is important because of it’s informative background about the main protagonist, Jefferson whom is unfairly treated and sentenced to death for something he didn’t commit. The novel expresses the racism,injustice,and segregation.

After learning she was adopted, an insecure woman inherits a mansion from her biological family and discovers a mysterious printing press that prints money, but every time she uses the money, something bad happens to the receiver.

A hero is someone who takes risks for others. An example of this is in Baltimore the police are having to risk their lives to saves the towns people and capturing the villains. One policeman in particular is Brian Winder. Brian was 36 and had worked 10 years as a policeman. One day “Winder responded to a 911 call…..he was warned that one of the two men might be armed...Winder died...they captured the two men with Winder’s help.” Winder was shot by both men, but fortunately backup was right there and they were

A hero is someone who chooses not to be ignorant about the problems they see. Ben Carter was a basketball coach who knew where his players were coming from. His reasons for coaching was direct to related to what he said,"These young men will play basketball maybe, if they're lucky, another two or three years, ... But if they don't get a decent education, it's a lifelong thing. We're going to have some problems." He knew his players mentality and tried to reach out to them, showing them he was not incompetent to what was going on around them, therefore he connected

Heroes are just normal everyday people. They step up in the face of fear when it’s necessary, but outside of that, they’re just normal people trying to live their life. Ricky Martin, a singer, once said, “Heroes represent the best of ourselves, respecting that we are human beings. Anyone who can show courage when faced with a problem. A hero is someone who is willing to help others in his or her best capacity.” (“Hero Quotes”) This quote reminds me of my grandpa, Duane Culbertson. He was a hero because he considered it his duty to help anybody in a difficult situation.