Role Of A Community In Ernest Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

A community is a place where people around supposed to be able to live and thrive together. When one thinks of a community, the image that most likely is visualized is one of a place where each person lives harmoniously with all the other members of that community. While this may be the typical image of a community, it is not the realistic view. In reality communities can share both good and bad aspects. In Place Matters: Metropolitics for the Twenty-First Century Peter Dreier, John Mollenkopf, and Todd Swanstrom make the argument that the place a person lives ultimately matters over all else; the place which a person lives effects the choices that that he/she makes and determines his/her ability to obtain a

A community is a group of people who work together towards a common goal and share a common interest. Lack of such a quality can and most likely will cause a struggling town or city to fall into the extremes of poverty and wealth. The New England community was so strong and so supportive in comparison to that of the Chesapeake Bay, that it is no wonder they developed into two distinctly different cultures before the year 1700. The Chesapeake region developed into a land of plantations and money-driven owners, with the elite wealthy, almost no middle class, and those in poverty creating the population. New England, on the other hand, had developed into a religion and family based society comprised of mostly middle class families by 1700.

Injustice will always exist; the world will never be perfect. However, never has injustice been more prevalent in a society than during the pre-civil rights South. In his novel, A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines explores the injustice of society in Bayonne, Louisiana, in the 1940s. An uneducated young black man named Jefferson has been accused of murder and has been sentenced to death by electrocution. He is not even seen as a man by the “superior” whites, but rather as a hog. Upon the realization that Jefferson will die seen as a hog and nothing better than an animal, Jefferson’s godmother, Miss Emma, petitions the only educated black man in the quarter, Grant Wiggins, to “teach Jefferson to be a man.” While reluctant and frustrated at first, Grant eventually develops a deep connection with Jefferson, and their actions teach the people in the town a lesson about dignity and respect. However, not only blacks were affected by racial injustice. On the other side of the spectrum is a white deputy named Paul. Although he doesn’t face the negative side of injustice, he still is forever changed by his experiences. While Grant, Jefferson, and Paul, are different, one similarity they share is that racial injustice plays a powerful role in all their lives, and in the end, these men do all that they can to fight racial injustice: they win small victories through their actions such as standing up to the system and showing true courage.

In a society where hardships occur daily, it is vital to have something to hold on to as an anchor. This reliance or commitment is in the form of friends, family, or even tangible possessions; however, humans sometimes have to fulfill deeds for others instead of continually thinking of themselves. Given these obligations, there results both a need and a desire to complete certain tasks for other individuals, for a community, or even for a higher power. In his novel, A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest Gaines quite successfully portrays the theme of the importance of obligation and commitment through presenting an effective setting and community, constructing strong relationships between characters, and providing

“Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, and pain... To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices - today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.” – Kevyn Aucoin.

In Ernest J. Gaines’ novel, “A Lesson Before Dying,” there are several characters that learn valuable life lessons. This story tells the tale of a black man named Grant, and his efforts to convince Jefferson, a fellow black man who believes he is a hog, that he is a man. However, it is not just Jefferson that learns valuable life lessons in this novel. In his novel, “A Lesson Before Dying,” Ernest J. Gaines is showing that the most important lesson to take away from life is to never give up. The first character that exemplifies this is Jefferson, someone who truly redefines his life by gaining emotional strength and appreciation for others. Additionally, Grant shows this as well, as he goes from a man who wants to run away to someone who appreciates

A critical triad within Ernest Gaines’s novel, A Lesson Before Dying includes Grant Wiggins, Dr. Morgan, and his students. Dr. Morgan, by his superintendent title, has legitimate power over Grant as well as the students. Gaines confirms his power as Grant addresses him formally stating, “We’re honored that you took this time for us, sir” and “Dr. Joseph, we’re at your service.” By doing this, Grant is waiving his power over the students to the superintendent. Grant holds the most legitimate power over the students in his classroom, with Gaines offering details even as Dr. Morgan is present. For example, Grant gives orders, which students immediately follow. This illuminates his official authority over them as their teacher. Having prepared

Grant decides to go ahead and teach him. Any time he arrives at the jail, he must go through inspection along with anything he brought for Jefferson. When trying to teach him, Grant is simply ignored. These troubles build up inside of him and continues to cause conflict. Is Jefferson’s education and Miss Emma’s happiness and assurance really worth all of the trouble?

Whenever Miss Emma and Tante Lou, Grants aunt, first asked Grant to go and visit Jefferson he didn’t want to and he tried his hardest to find a way to get out of going to talk to him. They wanted Grant, the African-American teacher to go and help prove that Jefferson wasn’t a “hog” like he was called in court. This shows that whenever people ask you to do things that seem unimportant to you and uninteresting, they can turn out for the better in the end. This also shows that it’s not always a bad thing to put other before yourself and try to change someone else’s life, especially whenever you know that their life isn’t going to last very much longer. Grant wanted to stop going to visit Jefferson after he went a few time and didn’t want to have any part in dealing with Jefferson, because he acted like he didn’t want the help. After much convincing from Tante Lou and Vivian encouraging him to continue he decided to keep visiting Jefferson. After a few more times, Jefferson came around and started talking and getting along with Grant. This shows that perseverance can help you get through anything even if it’s something that you don’t want to do. This also shows that some people need a little more work and Jefferson was upset and he wasn’t going to get over everything and do everything that his visitors wanted him

In A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines, a main character, Jefferson, is sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. Grant, a college educated African-American teacher for children on a plantation, is asked to teach Jefferson to be a man, and to die with dignity. Gaines uses Grant’s ability to transform Jefferson from a prideless animal to a man of dignity to argue that small victories can produce a significant change. When Jefferson is at his trial, his own lawyer and defendant bases his argument around the idea that Jefferson is lesser than those in the jury, he is an animal. At the time, Jefferson’s mindset concurred with his defendant’s words. He felt no better than a hog. After getting Jefferson through his mental barrier of self hate, both Grant and Jefferson find themselves changed.

The motto community doesn’t have the meaning that you would think it does. Today a community is something you get to personally choose. In this story, the meaning almost could be used as a lack of community. In their time, they had no choice of the communities they were in. They get assigned to a certain caste before they are even “fertilized”. The people are so brainwashed they do not even know there is a difference in the

A community in the U.S. is form when individuals come together base on different outlooks. “...consist entirely of refugees from other nations, that people of different,even warring religions and cultures can live, if not side by side, the on either side of the country’s Chester Avenues” (Quindlen). Despite all these differences, we can all live together as a community and form relationships based on whatever. Unlike other countries, we have freedom of speech which causes conundrum and a clique.  Though we all have different backgrounds and customs, we respect each other, even if we disagree.

The definition of a community is a group of people living in a particular local area; they may have common ownerships, share the same possessions and have an agreement to the same goals. One must be able to learn and adapt to a community before they can play a major part in it. “Gramps once showed me some of his work anthologized a book of black poetry.”(76) By learning about his family and the people around him, it allowed Barrack to engage with the people in his community better and at a different level. Gramps took me downtown to one of his favorite bars, in Honolulu’s red light district.”(77) When an individual spends time with family they can learn new things about the people you love. By knowing about your family one is able to locate the community within the family, and that is what Barrack accomplishes with his grandfather, which also led him to more interaction with his

According to Bonhoeffer, “community is a calling to serve, work, and rest with others. (Schultze 346).” There are many communities, familiar, neighborhood, and professional. We need to pursue our stations while nurturing the community.

Community... what does it mean? In my opinion it means to be part of a group with people who want the same thing that you want and care about you. These people in your community often share a common goal with you, win a game, solve a problem and many more situations. A community I have been in is the Saint John's football community, even though I have not been in it long I know what it feels like to be in it. This football community isn't just a team it's a brotherhood. The reason I am writing this essay is to talk about the values of Saint John's, humility, trust, zeal, compassion, and simplicity. These are the values that the Xaverian Brothers sponsored schools follow, these values are important to Saint John's as a school.