Themes In A Lesson Before Dying

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,

      ‘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.

The most racist characters in the novel are the whites. Paul is the exception to the stereotype. Paul does treat all African Americans with respect and compassion (Poston A1). He befriends Jefferson, Miss Emma and Grant. In the end of the novel, Paul offers his hand to Grant as a symbol of their friendship. No other white man in the novel would have dared to do such a thing. “Grant despises the way they still seem to be treated like slaves-especially when they are forced to

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 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,

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

In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, racism and prejudice are clearly evident and talked about throughout the novel. The novel expresses the oppression of the blacks under a white-ruled society through the narrator, Grant. Grant is a well-educated black man who struggles to free himself from the oppression he has felt from the white community. Despite the fact that he is educated and a teacher, he initially lacks the vigor needed to take the first step against black discrimination. He has all this intellect, but does not realize until later on that it is not only intelligence he needs to overcome the oppression, but self-assertion, too. Education does not prove your intellectual worth in society; rather, it is what you do during difficult times that define your intelligence and strong character not just to yourself, but to the world.

Through Grant’s actions it is easy to see he is not comfortable with his life. He lives in a small, racially discriminated and prejudiced town, and is a college educated man treated like a man who hasn’t finished elementary school. Adding Jefferson’s situation on top of all that, it is easy to see how Grant desires to simply give up and run away with the love of his life, Vivian. But Grant realizes that the issues at hand are bigger than just him; the way Jefferson dies will have a lasting impact, much like Christ’s crucifixion, on the local community. He understands that the dignity Jefferson shows in

In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines there are many themes and motifs to be taught. A reader could acquire so much knowledge from reading this book but if anything they will learn the most important lesson to learn before dying. The most important lesson to learn before dying is that everybody can make a difference in life. Three characters that learned this lesson includes Vivian, when she helped Grant when he was having hard times, Grant Wiggins, when he knew that he accomplished his goal which was helping Jefferson regain his humanity and Jefferson, when he realizes himself that he has much more potential than a hog.

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

After the Civil War ended, many blacks and whites, especially in the South, continued living as if nothing had changed with regards to the oppression and poor treatment of African Americans. Narrator Grant Wiggins, of Ernest J. Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying, possesses a similar attitude toward race relations. Through his experiences with a young man wrongly accused of murder, Grant transforms from a pessimistic, hopeless, and insensitive man into a more selfless and compassionate human being who can see the possibility of change in relations between whites and blacks.

A Lesson before Dying, one of Ernest J. Gaines later works, was written in 1993. Some of his earlier works include A Gathering of Old Men and In My Father’s House. The novel covers a time period when blacks were still treated unfairly and looked down upon. Jefferson, a main character, has been wrongly accused of a crime and awaits his execution in jail. Grant, the story’s main protagonist must find it within himself to help Jefferson see that he is a man, which will allow him to walk bravely to his fate that lies in the execution chair. A Lesson before Dying captures the tale of a young teacher, who by helping another mistakenly finds his own soul. This paper explains the literary background of Gaines, facts about the novel, literary

After the civil war ended many blacks and whites especially in the south, continued living as if nothing had changed with regards to the oppressions and poor treatment of African Americans. Narrator Grant Wiggins, of the novel A Lesson Before Dying, By Ernest Gaines, finds himself in a similar situation towards racism. Through his experience Grant is forced to transform Jefferson who was wrongly accused of a murder from a “HOG” into a man. Although Grant was forced to make jefferson a man, he himself became more of one as a result. Grant transformed from an ignorant pessimistic person into a sensitive and compassionate human being.

Jefferson is a peculiar character in that the story is centred on his existence and, although his thoughts and opinions are seldom expressed, the lessons he learnt are completely unambiguous. As the tragic story goes, he is a very young black man unjustly condemned to death for a crime he did not commit. Furthermore, he is dehumanized in his defence when he is called a “hog” and this detrimentally affects his self esteem throughout a significant portion of the novel. However, this melancholic situation he is thrust into and his initial reaction to it is contrasted against his final moment which unashamedly reveals just how much he has learnt in his incarceration period. Jefferson, through the guidance of Grant, learns about the notion of dignity, a peculiarity that drives people towards the pinnacle of human

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.