Analysis of A Lesson Before Dying Essay

Grant is constantly having an eternal battle within himself on whether or not he is willing to take action against the white despotism. When Jefferson 's case is first brought up to Grant by Miss Emma and his aunt, he responds by saying, “Yes, I’m the teacher...And I teach what the white folks around here tell me to teach—reading, writing, and ’rithmetic. They never told me how to keep a black boy out of a liquor store" (Gaines ch 2). His whole education has revolved around the white system and what they want him to know and do. He feels that because he has been taught by the white-American

In A Lesson Before Dying by author Ernest J Gaines, Grant is the protagonist who is trying to do the right thing for his people. Grant is in a very turbulent situation, having to make Jefferson into a “man” by the time he is executed. This is the central plot of the story, but not the main themes and ideas of it. Grant is struggling to help Jefferson because he sees generations of injustice through him. “’We got our first load of wood last week,’ [Grant] told him. ‘Nothing changes,’ he said.” (Gaines, 53). The response Grant’s teacher gives him has a deeper meaning: he as Grants’ teacher failed to change the injustice and racism and Grant is in the same situation. “Nothing changes”, but Grant does not give up for the sake of Jefferson, his people, and most importantly, himself. At one point, Grant actually reveals that “it is too heavy a burden because of all the others who have run away and left their burdens behind. So, he,

When a young author from New York City decides to take a trip to the southern city of Savannah, he finds himself falling in love with the town and ends up renting an apartment. He encounters many different characters, including Danny Hansford and Jim Williams, that gives the reader a good look into the aura of Savannah. The main conflict in the book occurs when a murder happens in an old mansion located in the town. The book follows the progression of the trial and the outcome following the court’s decision.

As a teacher, Grant was a bitter person. He was bitter because he could only see the ignorant side of the situation. This was because Grant in the beginning refuses to see the optimistic side of what could happen for the better, but instead only views the side that there was no way in hoping for the better. This was demonstrated when Grant explained to the students that he was only a teacher he couldn’t change an adult into becoming a ‘man’ and that had been why he was teaching the students how to become a man so that they wouldn’t have to go through what Jefferson was going through (Gaines 39).

Wiggins true character is revealed. In saying, " ‘Are you trying to hurt me, Jefferson? Are you trying to make me feel guilty for your being here? You want me to come back here anymore?’ " (84). He is trying to figure out if there is anyway possible to get out of the situation brought to him. Grant believes if he can get Jefferson’s consent he will no longer have to do something he doesn’t what to do. The only problem is that Grant need Jefferson more than he knows. This is brought out when he starts to talk about leaving the farm in which he grew up. On page 94, the author has a series of quotes of Mr. Wiggins and Vivian that say, " ‘I wish I could just run away from this place.’ Vivian shook her head.

Since Grant was one of the smarter people in the town, most people counted on him for everything. He wasn’t happy with his life. Grant has been working at the school for very long. When Grant had finished college he came back to his town to teach the younger generation. After Jefferson was convicted his murder Grant says “Now his godmother wants me to visit him and make him know—prove to these white men—that he's not a hog, that he's a man. I'm supposed to make him a man. Who am I? God?" (27). Grant was asked to go and visit Jefferson, but he didn’t know why. Grant was talking to Vivian after his long day expressing his frustration of why people looked up to him as he was god. Grant feels like that’s all people see him for, like he can’t do anything else. Another example is Grant meets up with Vivian every once in awhile. He talks to her about how he just wants to get up and leave. He wants to pack up and disappear with her. There’s so much going on with the Jefferson situation he feels overwhelmed. He expressed his feeling to Vivian saying “ I need to go someplace where I can feel I’m living, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life teaching school in a plantation church. I want to be with you, someplace where we could have a choice of things to do. I don’t feel alive here. I’m not living here. I know we can do better somewhere else”(25). Grant feels like he isn’t really making a difference in his town. He teaches kids school work but he doesn’t teach them how to make a change in their life, how to learn to “love” themselves. Grant expressed that he only teaches because its really the only job he could get as a black man. Grant feels as thought life is a cycle. We know that he feels that the men

The lawyers refer to him as a ‘hog’. “What justice would there be to take this life? Justice, gentlemen? Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this.” (Gaines, 8). This degrading argument is what starts the lesson for Jefferson, to teach him that he is “a man”, not a hog. Jefferson learns how to respect himself. He says, "...I'm strong tell them I'm a good man.” (Gaines 234). Jefferson finally starts to see himself as an actual human being rather than the hog he is portrayed as. Jefferson stops letting this define him as a man and stands up for himself after a few talks with Grant Wiggins. This change can be recognized after a few of Grant's visits when Jefferson does not refer to himself as a hog but still talks with Grant. Jefferson is faced with the knowledge that there are people with a small chance of receiving justice in the white man's world. This is shown when Grant states, "You could give them something that I never could. They expect it from me, but not from you. The white

The Jim Crow Era was peak time for segregation causing Jefferson’s journey in the novel, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines to open up the eyes of many, no matter what one’s skin color is, by showing what it means to die as a hero even when seen as the villain. Grant is to make Jefferson a man before he dies by showing him the truths about religion, race, and the United States justice system. Jefferson also teaches Grant a few things about life, creating a unique bond between the two.

Grant begins to question how “people come up with a date and time to take life from another man” (157). During the trial Wiggins looks at Jefferson as though he is a lost cause, but later he realizes how white people can decide the fate of black people. In addition to being powerless, Jefferson says that “it look like the lord just work for wite folks cause ever sens i wasn nothin but a litle boy i been on my on haulin water to the fiel on that ol water cart wit all them dime bukets an that dipper just hittin an old dorthy just trottin and trottin an me up their hittin her wit that rope...” (227). Both Wiggins and Jefferson find being a Christian unnecessary due to the bias circumstances in which African Americans are dominated by the whites. By the end of the novel, Wiggins comprehends how capital punishment and the church are not places of justice or peace; they simply aim to embitter his race with false

Grant Wiggins is a black male in 1940’s America. He teaches school at a plantation church for children from kindergarten to 6th grade. Grant is a complex and well-rounded character yet often decides to only do things that immediately benefit himself. For example when Miss Emma and Tante Lou asked him to go see Jefferson he found no point in it for himself so he was strongly against going. This shows he is a self-centered person. Wiggins also easily gives up as when he was tired of the stresses of his town he wanted his married girlfriend to pick up and leave with him. I believe he grows as a character through helping Jefferson.

Even his college education has not elevated his position in the eyes of the white society. When he was talking with white people, he was expected to act stupid and hide his education and assume the subservient role of a black. As in Grant’s visit to Mr. Guidry the first time. " ‘She doesn’t, huh?’ Sam Guidry asked me. He emphasized doesn’t. I was supposed to have said don’t. I was being too smart" (48).

In addition,Grants attitude begins to change after a few visit at the the cell with jefferson. Jefferson opened up to Grant about how he never had owned a radio or ate a bowl of ice cream in his life. Grant stated “I saw a slight smile come to his face, and it was not a bitter smile. Not bitter at all”. This action was a turning point for Grant. Jefferson’s thoughts revived Grants emotions and helped him see the actual person he was. Grant learned how to become educated and think like a man, rather than being negative all the time. He figured out that he wasn’t just accomplishing a good for Jefferson, but teaching his students that as an African American, you shouldn’t allow the white take control nor advantage of you.

Despite this, Grant unwillingly agrees to help and begins visiting Jefferson in prison. After several visits and no progress, one night Grant talks with Vivian and expresses to her that he is wasting his time and that they should escape this town together. However, nearing the end of the book, upon buying Jefferson a radio, Grant realizes that he has been too focused on what he wants, and decides that contrary to what he believes he can help Jefferson, and the town he lives in (Gaines 180). Because Grant has two equally compelling desires, although not compelling in the same way, to choose between, the choice he does make is magnified because of the conflict within himself. This conflict not only helps reflect on Grant’s development as a character, but even more stresses the books theme of assuming responsibility.

Although Grant had graduated College and is known as the educated man in town, he still feels very inferior to the whites. His knowledge meant nothing to any one of them. As a teacher Grant fears for the future of his students, because he feels like any wrong-doing of theirs will impact others perspectives on what he taught them. "Exactly what I'm trying to do here with you now: to make you responsible young men and young ladies. But you, you prefer to play with bugs. You refuse to study your arithmetic, and you prefer writing slanted sentences instead of straight ones. Does that make any sense?" (5.47) the following statement also signifies that Grant became harsh with his students, not because it was done from cruelty but because he felt as if his people had been laughed at enough: "You were supposed to say, 'You were looking out the window, Mr. Wiggins,' not 'you was looking out the window, Mr. Wiggins.' Get back in that corner and face the wall and stay there."

The setting of the novel is a rural plantation in Louisiana in the Deep South. Most of the story takes place on Henri Pichot’s plantation. He is a wealthy influential man in Bayonne who can influence many decisions. Being set in the 1940’s before civil rights, the whites reigned supreme, and the blacks were still seen as inferior. Gaines uses characters such as Sheriff Guidry, Henri Pichot, and Mr. Joseph Morgan to demonstrate the white mentality towards African Americans (Poston A1). The white mentality causes many negative feelings. Folks says, “Part of Grant’s bitterness stems from his negative feelings about the black population in his hometown” (Folks B1). Grant is always mad and discouraged by the vicious cycle the blacks are put through. “The reader is able to gain insight into Grant’s thoughts and frustrations through his conversations with Vivian, his girlfriend. He feels trapped in his present situation” (Poston A1).