Character Analysis Of Grant In 'A Lesson Before Dying'

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.

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,

In the novel, A lesson before dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, Grant Wiggins is a person who can at times be ill to all people around him. Grant Wiggins, a teacher at the school, in the end of the book shows that he has changed over the course of the book. At the beginning, he thought that it was pointless to go visit jefferson to try to make him a “man”. He said “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”(Gaines 44). This is showing that not only does Grant not want to go to the Jail and talk to jefferson but he also doesn't want to go to deal with the sheriff either. And this was just the beginning of it. Near the end you can see his diversity changing when he finally

      ‘Why?’ " Vivian goes on to say how Grant loves the people in the area more than he hates the place. There is more to it though. Grant is scared he can’t make it in the outside world. He saw it when he was educated there. He shows that he needs someone or something to help him move on, and that someone just might be Jefferson.

Relationships often tend to involve multiple parties. During the progression of the relationship one of the parties begins to progress as a person or find something out about themselves they would have never known if the relationship never existed. In the novel, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J Gaines, he builds a never strong relationship between the two main characters to ultimately reveal that through Jefferson’s ability to accept the past of his ethnicity, finally accept God, and to die believing he was as good as any other man he greatly impacted Grant’s attitude toward the experience. Grant’s initial reaction to the experience embodies stubborn and selfish pride which all results from him feeling superior to his African American peers. While speaking with Vivian about the situation Grant often shows resentment for still being in the quarter:

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.

Emma and Grant. After learning to open back up to his friends and family, he still gives them disrespect. A few pages after Jefferson talks to Grant, Ms. Emma comes to have a conversation with him. After she asks Jefferson how he is feeling, he doesn’t even respond or act like she’s there (page 136), showing how much Jefferson in entrenched into the idea of not finding value in himself. Furthermore, on page 130, while Jefferson talks up to Grant, he tries to anger him by insulting his girlfriend and testing his patience. Both of these interactions take place in cases where Jefferson shows signs of opening up to others, but they are also instances of how little Jefferson loves or cares about those who care about him. On page 139, this is addressed when Jefferson has another conversation with Grant a couple of days later. When talking with Jefferson, Grant tells him, “no matter how bad off we are,’ I said, ‘we still owe something. You owe something, Jefferson. Not to me. But to your godmother. You must show her some understanding, some kind of love.” Then Jefferson tells him, “That’s for youman’s... I ain’t no youman.” Later in the book, Jefferson eventually starts to show love to his loved ones again after having a powerful, life-changing conversation with Grant. After this, he is able to eat Ms. Emma’s food and is able to

Grant helped Jefferson to become a better person. With the help of Grant people saw the change in Jefferson since he was accused until the day of the execution. After the execution of Jefferson, Paul meets with Grant and he explains to Grant,“He never could have done that. I saw the transformation. I’m a witness to that”(254). This quote reveals the transformation that Paul saw by Jefferson, and Paul knows that no one could have moved Jefferson like Grant did. Grant changing Jefferson supports the idea that Jefferson was a better person, and that Grant is a hero because people saw the change in Jefferson, and Grant helped change Jefferson for others and had no selfishness. No one knows exactly what Grant did to change Jefferson, but the town, especially paul, all saw that Jefferson connected with Grant and changed with Grants help. The change that Grant made with Jefferson shows that he is a hero because others saw the impact that he had. Heros have an impact on people without even knowing and the change with Jefferson is exactly what happened with Grant changing Jefferson, he didn’t know how big of change he made. Grant teaches Jefferson that he has to love his family and the impact that it will have. Grant says to Jefferson that he owes something to Miss Emma, so he states, “No matter how bad off we are, we still owe something. You own something,

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 Ernest J. Gaines novel A Lesson Before Dying, a young African-American, Jefferson, is caught in the middle of a liquor shootout, and as the only survivor is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. During Jefferson’s trial, his attorney calls him a hog in an effort to persuade the jury that he could not have possibly planned a crime like this. Having heard this, Jefferson’s godmother, Miss Emma, calls on the local school teacher, Grant Wiggins, to visit Jefferson in prison and help prove to the community, more importantly the white people, that Jefferson is indeed a man, not a hog. Throughout the book, Grant often contemplates why he is helping Miss Emma; he debates within himself whether he should stay and help Miss Emma and

Grant is an educated man he is charge of a school. Grant is faithful to his girlfriend and he is very insecure about changing Jefferson mind because he thinks he is a hog. Grant also has teach school at a church. A lesson before dying is really a lesson tough because Grant goes to teach Jefferson how to be a man before he die.

In the novel a Lesson Before Dying, the character Jefferson has a bigger impact on Grant’s life. Grant did not reflect on life until he starts to visit Jefferson. By the end of the novel Grant has hope, willingness to stay committed and saw the importance of his job. At the start of the novel, Jefferson's god mom wants Grant to go make Jefferson into a man. Grant responds is “Jefferson is already died” and “we did all we could do for Jefferson” (14).

The fact that Grant considers himself to be better than all of the black residents of Bayonne is one of the many things that holds Grant back from being an effective coach to assist Jefferson in his quest to become a man. Another contributing factor to his ineffective teaching is his lack of self confidence. If Jefferson does not see a worthy example of how to be a man, then he will never effectively become one himself. After a few visits to see Jefferson in his cell, persevering through his own belief that he is not making a difference, being told that he was wasting his time, he realized that he was doing much more than performing a favor for Miss Emma and Tante Lou. He realized that he wasn’t only trying to turn Jefferson into a man. This was Miss Emma and Tante Lou’s way of teaching himself a lesson on how to live his life and who he really is. “I need you,” I told him. “I need you much more than you could ever need me” (Gaines, 193). This quote represents the

For the majority of the novel, Grant denies that he can help Jefferson in any way at all. When his aunt and Miss Emma request that Grant go talk to Jefferson to teach him that he is a man, Grant explains, "It is only a matter of weeks, maybe a couple of months – but he's already dead…All I can do is try to keep the others from ending up like this…There's nothing I can do anymore, nothing any of us can do anymore" (14). Before receiving extreme pressure from his aunt to comply, Grant goes so far as to refuse to even attempt to help Jefferson. With this attitude that "There's nothing [he] can do anymore," Grant can, in fact, do nothing. Even though Grant correctly recognizes the fact that Jefferson will die in a short while, he fails to acknowledge the possibility of working through the injustices to make a difference. Grant, himself, feels stuck in his environment – he is "just running in place" there – yet he feels a sort of responsibility for his people and an attraction to the town, and cannot bring himself to leave (15). In order to "try to keep the others from ending up like" Jefferson, Grant wants to help his students, but he fails to respect them (14). If Grant has a bad day, he takes out his anger on his students, slapping them on the back of the head for playing with an insect, or sending them to the corner for an hour

In Ernest J. Gaines’ novel A Lesson Before Dying, Grant Wiggins and Jefferson’s struggles are evident in the institutional racism and segregation which is strengthened by the racial stereotyping in the 1930s and 1940s. In A Lesson Before Dying, Jefferson, an African-American man, is sentenced to the death penalty due to ignorantly agreeing to go to Mr. Gropé’s store with Brother and Bear; when Brother and Bear rob the store, the gunfire leaves Jefferson as the only survivor. Although Jefferson is not guilty of any crime and there is lack of sufficient evidence, the racial discrimination and stereotyping rampant in the small town of Bayonne, Louisiana result in his sentence to death.