Lessons Can Be A Double Edged Sword

Throughout this course, the class has read various pieces of Arthurian literature. Each of these pieces hold their own contributions in the genre and differentiate both plot and concepts. Most of these concepts can be labeled as tropes, which are figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression. One trope that was found while analyzing the texts was shame, or the  painful feeling of humiliation. The trope of shame is prominent in both the medieval legend Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart and Natsume Soseki’s more modern story, Kairo-ko. Both sources emphasizes the shame that is felt by Lancelot and Guinevere but in two very contrasting ways. These sources can also be compared to the tale Sir Gawain in the Green Knight, which deals with shame a lesson that can be learned, rather than a pitiful thing. All three of these Arthurian legends use the trope of shame to shape both the characters and stories in their own way.

Although the closing arguments in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “A Lesson before Dying” are extremely different from one another, they both involve racism. Causing many similarities and differences to occur in the diction, tone, and persuasive techniques used, by each lawyer. For example, in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” the lawyer, Atticus Finch, presents a trial where white is against black. The defendant has barely any chance of being found not guilty, so the lawyer’s closing argument needs to be convincing, powerful, and straight to the point. As well as, in the book “A Lesson before Dying” the lawyer takes a case where the defendant is black and the plaintiff is white. He too has to approach the jury with an influential closing argument,

“A Lesson Before Dying” and “Into The Wild” are both books that defy the expected, tackle tough obstacles, and face the physical and mental extremes of life. Beginning with “Into The Wild”, Jon Krakauer leads us on a rich and insightful tour through the brash and lucid life of Chris McCandless. Followed by a well thought out, fiction novel featuring a sticky situation in a small Cajun community, “A Lesson Before Dying”, by Ernest J. Gaines. This split, self chosen, mini series takes us through a roller coaster of comparisons and contrasts, leading with the first noticeable major difference.

A twenty-first century reading of the Iliad and the Odyssey will highlight a seeming lack of justice: hundreds of men die because of an adulteress, the most honorable characters are killed, the cowards survive, and everyone eventually goes to hell. Due to the difference in the time period, culture, prominent religions and values, the modern idea of justice is much different than that of Greece around 750 B.C. The idea of justice in Virgil’s the Aeneid is easier for us to recognize. As in our own culture, “justice” in the epic is based on a system of punishment for wrongs and rewards for honorable acts. Time and time again, Virgil provides his readers

In the article titled “Memories from the Other: Lessons in Connecting with Students” the author Thomas Knestrict affords an autobiographical lens into the benefit of positive connections, as well the consequences when absent. Knestrict’s backstory is one in which he illustrates an educational system that creates the ‘other’ and works to marginalize ‘at risk’ students due to learning differences (Knestrict, 2006). As a result of these learning differences, he was placed on a slower academic track, which he suggests resulted in feelings of marginalization early in life. Educators would ultimately reinforce these feeling with such words as your lazy, your not a capable student, your learning disabled, and you 're not college material. The author states, “The overwhelming message I received every day was that I was different, not as good, and defective” (Knestrict, 2006, p. 3). The internalization of the negative messages hindered Knestrict’s construction of self because he held these messages to be true; thus, his self-image would ultimately reflect such belief.

God can only guide, but it us who decide what we are known by in society. “You do not need super powers to be a Superhero… Heroes are made not born” (Pacquio) Individuals who stand up for what is correct and help other’s discover pride in their lives can be considered Hero’s. As to that person it can completely change their life. This idea is illustrated in “A Lesson Before Dying" by Ernest J. Gaines. Grant Wiggins, Jefferson, and Paul, three of Gaines characters that profited, exemplified, and comprehended the most essential lesson before dying. Each of us has been made by God with potential to be incredible, and to help other people achieve enormity.

In 1925, Langston Hughes wrote in his poem “I, Too, Sing America” “Nobody’ll dare say to me “Eat in the kitchen,” then.” He responds to Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing”, a poem about America’s greatness. When Hughes wrote his poem, blacks were extremely oppressed. They had no rights, such as not being allowed to eat in the actual restaurant. Throughout the book A Lesson Before Dying, set around the time of 1930, Ernest J. Gaines presents the same issues and the narrator, Mr. Grant Wiggins, wrestles with them throughout the book. An imbalance of power overtakes the the areas of education, the justice system and colorism in the town of Bayonne, Louisiana, and though some imbalances present hope, some are still wrestled with today. Even after desegregation, the education system still presents discrimination that keeps some inferior to others. A lack of supplies for black schools, causing a lesser education for the students, aids in the educational imbalance. Grant stressed to the white superintendent “Many of the books I have to use are hand me-downs from the white schools, Dr. Joseph, and they have missing pages” (Gaines 57). Grant’s school system fails its students. The supplies given to these schools do not help the students at all, and hinder the children’s learning. They give inadequate education to keep the whites more powerful, and the Superintendent encourages it. The superintendent places his worries on looks and hygiene during his visit to Grant’s school,

In The Lesson Before Dying, Gaines creates an unexpected turn of events for both Jefferson and Grant. Jefferson is an innocent bystander that is bitter towards the world and people who wrongly put him in jail. Miss Emma, Tante Lou, and Grant’s aunt believed that Grant could help Jefferson by visiting him in jail. The book is filled with failed community responsibilities and perspectives, and Grant overcoming being a coward.

The book that I have chosen out of the two books that I have read is The Road. I have read both A Lesson Before Dying and The Road had both been interesting to read and are strong contenders to be in the top five for the list. I feel however, that A Lesson Before Dying doesn’t have the type of hook that could make young readers want to continue the book and finish it. The Road, however has an apocalyptic type of setting that adds a sort of mystery and zombie feeling that young readers are usually interested in. The Road is also very easy to read and over a week or a few days you can easily finish it and start on any other books or assignments. A Lesson Before Dying takes a while to get used to and although it can teach you many things about

There are three similarities amongst “A Lesson Before Dying” and “Making a Murder”. First, both Jefferson and Steven Avery we’re charged with major criminals that will affect their life for ever. Jefferson was seen at the murder scene by bystanders, with money and liquor on his persons. Steven Avery was questioned by cops for a murder that apparently happen on his property. After taking Steven Avery into custody for murder they found the key to Teresa Halbach Vehicle. Second, it was hard on their families, seeing their loved ones receive should harsh treatment for the law. In “A Lesson Before Dying” Jefferson aunt Miss Emma was very heartbroken to see him be treatment with such disrespect. “Making a Murder” Steven family was torn apart done

Are there really any “good” people living on this planet? This question seems to loom in the one’s mind after reading Flannery O’Connor’s two stories, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People”. Not only does O'Connor portray gruesome imagery throughout both stories, she also incorporates aspects of religion. What makes these stories captivating is the element of pure shock during the climax. Nevertheless, the short stories both help the readers visualize how judging others or jumping to conclusions about certain individuals can have a dramatic conclusion.

Before reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink I knew that we judged other individuals around us based off of personal criticism. It has become an adapted instinct of our lives that we may not even be aware of, but we do it all the time. I used to think that we judged people because of the way our mind reacts in an instant second of meeting somebody new. However, after reading this book I learned that our reactions are not only quick based on instinct, but based on personal experience in something that has already existed in our lives.

I read a historical fiction novel about racism called A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. Gaines was a was an African American man who was born in 1933 and grew up on a plantation in Louisiana. He earned 50 cents a day picking potatoes at the age of nine. By the age of 15, he moved to California with his aunt and that’s when his passion for reading grew stronger. Disappointed to find that none of the books he read had nothing to do with the world he knew, he decided to write some stories himself (Magnier). Therefore, the main themes of his works come from his childhood. His first few famous novels were published around the 1970’s: Of Love and Dust (1967) and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971); Gaines received the U.S. National Book Award for A Lesson before Dying in 1994. The purpose of this book is to show people how it felt to be put in the shoes of a black man in the southern states of America in the 1940’s.

Throughout history, there have been different codes of ethics that are often more important to a society that the governing laws of the land. While laws are written standards that people are compelled to abide by for fear of punishment, these codes serve as guideline for how people should live their lives. Two such codes are comitatus as demonstrated in Beowulf and chivalry as depicted in Morte D’Arthur. When the characters in these stories live by the constructs of these social systems, the society flourishes. When characters stray from each social code, however, the entire society falls victim.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and A Lesson before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines are both set in the south during the early 1900’s which was full of growing racial oppression and forced segregation. Atticus Finch and Grant Wiggins were given the tough task: convincing everyone in the town that an African American man was not guilty of the crime he was claimed for. Although they may take different methods to approach their conclusion, the two white lawyers have the same goal to free the alleged men and change how African Americans are viewed.