Analysis of Vivian from a Lesson Before Dying

She believes that teaching this way makes the child learn a sense of competition and as well all know, that will get you far in life. Competition makes everyone and everything better.

In the novel, A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, he writes about Jefferson, a young African American male, who has been convicted of stealing and killing, ultimately being sentenced to death. His former teacher, Grant Wiggins, is tasked with helping him die like a man. This struggle among the black characters represents the injustice of the legal (justice) system and the responsibility Grant and Jefferson must face as men because of the racial tension among blacks among blacks and whites, the slave mentality of blacks, and the progression black men must make in order to make their race better.

At first, she claims, she was only “a little mass of possibilities,” but her teacher brought light into her life (1). Her teacher, from the very beginning, was more than just an instructor. She was a positive influence and an inspiration. She taught Keller to communicate and understand the world around her, even though she could not see or hear it. She did not force Keller’s mind to learn; she simply guided it, nourishing it with knowledge at the right moments (7-8). In this way, her teacher made learning enjoyable for Keller by ensuring she did not think of it as an obligation, but as an experience. This goes along with Keller’s belief that a student “will not work joyously unless he feels that liberty is his” (16). A student who feels that she has the power to make her own decisions will enjoy her schooling more than one who feels as if the power is out of her hands. The relationship between Keller and her teacher had a profound impact on the way Keller learned and later lived her life. Even once her school days had passed, she still felt the effects of her teacher’s instruction every day. She even went so far as to say that she felt her teacher’s being was “inseparable” from her own (22). Keller’s unusually intimate connection with her teacher offered a unique perspective on the topic of teacher-student relationships.

“In the state of nature, Profit is the measure of Right”(Hobbes). This quote is talking about the nature people, and how they measure if something is “right” based on how profitable it is for them. As Thomas Hobbes did, I believe that people are generally selfish and will only try to benefit themselves as shown in the article “The Dying Girl No One Helped” where a girl was stabbed and no one helped her even though people saw her dying.

Rose first explains how the educational system classifies a child’s class. He then proceeds to elaborate on how the vocational class works for those who do not do as well in school. He uses pathos so the reader feels emotional for the less fortunate student in the vocational class. Rose conveys his beliefs by using personal examples. He learns true qualities of people and shares the stories of Dave Snyder, Ted Richard, and Ken Harvey. Sharing the personal indications of what puts the students in the vocational class, gives the reader the notion that they have strengths that do not apply doing well in school. Rose ties the examples together in the end to confirm his opinion that one should never settle being defined as average.

In Rose’s “I Just Wanna Be Average”, readers can determine from what he says that teachers play an integral role in the educations of students. When others are teaching you what to do, it becomes easier to understand; when others are not teaching you, it becomes harder to understand. You can tell how essential a teacher is to a student if you were to read Rose’s narrative and see that: students float to expectations, if teachers don’t expect anything of you they won’t help you, and how beneficial it is to have a teacher who challenges you to be better.

I agree with the statement, “At the end of A Lesson Before Dying, desolation prevails over consolation,” because the last chapters of A Lesson Before Dying had a negative and depressing tone. According to Sidney deRogers, “He didn’t pay any close attention to the black truck with the gray tarpaulin cover, but he would tell the people at the Rainbow Club that he did feel a cold chill when the truck went by.” Basically, Sidney is saying that he felt that something was awry, or that something wrong or evil was in that truck. The whole town knew what was happening that day and everyone had an opinion, whether that opinion was indifferent, uneasy, or disgusted/sickened by what was going to happen on that day. Grant says that “It was a nice day. Blue sky. Not a cloud,” but there was an overlying notion of sorrow and fear that laid over everyone in the quarter. One could argue that the end of A Lesson Before Dying prevailed with consolation rather than desolation since according to Paul, “He was the strongest man in that crowded room, Grant Wiggins.” Paul’s point is that Jefferson died a man as a result of Grant. Despite what someone might say, I still consider this argument to be wrong considering that Grant is still upset because Jefferson did not have a “Jury of his peers;” everyone on that jury was white and had no concern for Jefferson’s life. At the end, it seems to me that Grant feels alone since he has spent much of the past six months with Jefferson. He developed a strong

A Lesson Before Dying, portrays the aspects of Grant Wiggins and Jefferson who lives on a segregated plantation in Bayonne Louisiana. Throughout history, Jim crow laws were inflicted upon blacks and whites and was still in effect in the 1940s when the novel was written by Gaines. Jefferson is falsely accused and given the death sentence for murdering a store owner because of his skin color. Jefferson is influenced and taught how to become a hero by Grant by keeping his faith and representing the difficulties black men face while building their masculine identity in the segregated south of Louisiana.

Firstly, Vivian is Grant’s intelligent girlfriend. Vivian is Grant’s go to person for any of his problems. Like when Grant was told that he had

Love gives people the strength to brave the storms of life. Whether one is struggling with finding a place in the world, a purpose, or is facing the winds of confusion, love will provide a way for most to pass through the rough waters. In the novel, A Lesson Before Dying, written by Ernest J. Gaines, Jefferson is a young black man who uses love to resist and defy the expected.

December 18, 1865, marked the end of African-American slavery in America, where-by black people gained more freedom in the land. However, a power imbalance between the black and white is still present. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines gives readers insight to the immense abuse and hatred towards black people in the 1940s of America and furthers the reader's knowledge of black segregation and how the black people never gave up for their freedom and rights. The novel’s main plot follows Grant Wiggins, a young black man who was given the responsibility to make Jefferson, a black man who was unjustifiably accused of murder and sentenced to death by electrocution become truly a man and not a “hog” which is what the lawyer labeled Jefferson as. Throughout the novel, readers can recognize the great bond created as Grant encourages and aids Jefferson in becoming a man before his “judgment day”. Nevertheless, the novel was not only about Jefferson’s lesson before his death, but it was a lesson for many other characters in the novel. The most important lesson to learn before dying is the lesson of never give up, which can be seen through the actions of Jefferson, Miss Emma, and Grant.

Grant Wiggins is the narrator of the novel. He was born in the plantation just outside of Bayonne, Louisiana. He lived there until he went away to college, and when he went back home, he was detached from the people in the town because of his education and different religious beliefs. He is easily angered and often very selfish. This is seen in the way that he acts towards Vivian. He consistently does not give her the attention or respect that she deserves. He refers to her children as simply, “the babies,” and only cares about the names of his and Vivian’s future children. Grant goes from shallow and selfish at the beginning of the story, to caring and loving at the end.

Marva Collins view of her students is what made her to be so successful. She treated them as equal human beings and held them to higher standards that nobody else did. Marva could not have made her children successful, though, if it was not for her meticulous different method of teaching. Marva was always a unique teacher that demonstrated her love for teaching and for her students by creating her own method of teaching that is so different from other teachers that it often was viewed as crazy or wrong. In the book, Marva Collins Way, it was said that “Marva could lead with her eyes and her voice, winning control by a look or an inflection.” (Collins, 23) Marva was able to gain control of her class because of the tone of her voice and how she expressed herself to her students. Her method of teaching was simple, she never was angry and she always talked in a kind manner to all of her students. Marva realized, in the beginning of the book, that “A teacher had to sell children on the idea of learning.” (Collins 31) A way to sell students on learning is to express one’s own love for it, and that is exactly what Marva did. Instead of introducing a basic book or lesson, Marva made an effort to explain the importance and put her whole heart into winning the students into wanting to learn. Her method of teaching was like nobody else’s in her era; she always worked off of praise, even if a student made a mistake. Marva explained in the book, “To me an error means a child needs help,

In the book "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson, tow adults are Mr. Neck and Mr. Freeman. Mr. Neck is know to not like Melinda and believes she is nothing but trouble, however Mr. Freeman one the other hand is a very positive teacher that doesn't hate his students. Mr. Freeman is the art teacher that tries to teach life lessons through art to help interest the students in what there drawing, he has helped Melinda by helping her express her feelings she is going through. On the other had Mr. Neck is a history teacher that only cares about the teaching subject at hand and not how it can relate to the students he is teaching, the first sighs of Mr. Neck being out to get Melinda is because all she has done is walk into the classroom and he already

Mrs. Tijerina has a sturdy relationship built with her students. She has desire to see them succeed and flourish in the Spanish culture while mining high expectations. Mrs. Tijerina wants every single student to be involved or to give feedback. There was not a single student in the classroom that did not participate in discussion or did not have a chance to voice their opinion. Mrs. Tijerina treated every student with respect, and expected that she would be respected as well. If a student was talking out of hand, Mrs. Tijerina was capable to getting them to stop immediately. Since she has a strong desire for the students to excel, she predominantly speaks in