When Was Grant Learned In A Lesson Before Dying

They never told me how to keep a black boy out of a liquor store.”(13). Although, Grant is a teacher that helps the poor of the village to read and write, he is not doing this job from his heart .This is the only way he can survive in the place rather than working in the fields because he is an educated black men. This quote provides the evidence that his aunt thinks he can change Jefferson in becoming a man just because he is a teacher who can understand and change people but she doesn’t like it when grant says no to her request so she is giving an example of him being a teacher and being able to at least teach people something. Furthermore, grant also has some dreams to live rather

The relationship between Grant and Jefferson is centered on relieving Jefferson’s self-hatred and giving him the means to die with human dignity. During Jefferson’s trial, his defense attorney begged the jury to “‘look at him—look at this’” and independently determine whether or not they see a man sitting there who has a “modicum of intelligence” (Gaines 7). Jefferson’s wrongful conviction for murder, sentence to death by electrocution, and his own attorney blatantly addressing him as a hog by claiming he would “‘just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this’” reached Jefferson at an astoundingly abysmal level, resulting in depression and seclusion from visitors while in jail (Gaines 8). Grant was coerced by his aunt to visit Jefferson in his cell in

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,

Of law, education and religion, one had to empower Jefferson and Grant. The law was clearly outside their realm of influence. However, education opened the door for Jefferson and Grant to share dialogue and to explore who they were and how they could be empowered. It was religion, their search for a greater meaning and a higher power, which allowed them to begin to think not of what white men thought of them, but rather what God and what they thought of themselves. With this new way of thinking, they forged a bond and both began to understand the simple heroic act of resistance in defying the expectation of white society that they were members of a lesser race " ‘Do you know what a myth is, Jefferson?’ I asked him. ‘A myth is an old lie that people believe in. White people believe that they are better than anyone else on earth—and that’s a myth. The last thing they ever want is to see a black man stand, and think and show that common humanity that is in us all. It would destroy their myth’ " (192).

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 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

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

Jefferson can’t escape from the hands of the government because he's in jail and will be getting the chair because he is found guilty for murder. As the novel progresses, Grant decides to visit Jefferson despite the fact he does not see the purpose. The visits do not go well at first, however; the visits start to get better.

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

Throughout Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying the main character Grant Wiggins struggles greatly with anger over the circumstances of African American lives and his desperation for it all to change. Despite being surrounded by joyfulness and faith of something bigger Wiggins still shows how hopeless he feels at the Christmas program: I was not happy. I had heard the same carols all my life, seen the same little play, with the same mistakes in grammar. The minister had offered the same prayer as always, Christmas or Sunday. The same people wore the same old clothes and sat in the same places.

Grant is still being sent by Miss Emma to go and teach Jefferson what it is like to be a man. Though Grant isn’t sure yet what Miss Emma means by that, he goes to talk to Jefferson. At first, Grant doesn’t know how to get through to Jefferson, because he literally thinks he is a hog, and doesn't seem to care what happens to himself. Grant, however, starts to get through to Jefferson during one of their meetings in the jail cell. On page 184, Grant says “Maybe I could bring you a little notebook and a pencil, you could write your thoughts down and we could talk about it when I come back….

Grant’s future will not change unless he gains faith in himself, changing his current perspective. After the completion of Jefferson’s transformation, Grant learns from him. Right before Jefferson’s execution, Grant says to Jefferson that “[Jefferson is] more a man than [he is]” (Gaines 225). Because of everything Grant went through with Jefferson, he is now able to admit the truth. Grant’s character has drastically changes from selfishness to honesty.

Since Grant was one of the smarter people in the town, most people counted on him for everything. He wasn’t happy with his life. Grant has been working at the school for very long. When Grant had finished college he came back to his town to teach the younger generation. After Jefferson was convicted his murder Grant says “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. I'm supposed to make him a man. Who am I? God?" (27). Grant was asked to go and visit Jefferson, but he didn’t know why. Grant was talking to Vivian after his long day expressing his frustration of why people looked up to him as he was god. Grant feels like that’s all people see him for, like he can’t do anything else. Another example is Grant meets up with Vivian every once in awhile. He talks to her about how he just wants to get up and leave. He wants to pack up and disappear with her. There’s so much going on with the Jefferson situation he feels overwhelmed. He expressed his feeling to Vivian saying “ I need to go someplace where I can feel I’m living, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life teaching school in a plantation church. I want to be with you, someplace where we could have a choice of things to do. I don’t feel alive here. I’m not living here. I know we can do better somewhere else”(25). Grant feels like he isn’t really making a difference in his town. He teaches kids school work but he doesn’t teach them how to make a change in their life, how to learn to “love” themselves. Grant expressed that he only teaches because its really the only job he could get as a black man. Grant feels as thought life is a cycle. We know that he feels that the men

The Right to Be Free In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, although Grant is an educated black man in the era of a racist society he has struggles greater than most men of his decent. I feel sorry for him because of his limitations, even though I view him as a coward. He cannot break free of his background and family. The three main female characters in the novel, Tante Lou, Miss Emma, and Vivian, restrict and limit Grant's choices. Grant realizes that freedom means leaving his small town and creating a new life, yet each woman holds a chain that keeps him from his destiny and the right to be free. First, Tante Lou, his aunt holds Grant from his dreams by refusing to let him go his own way. Tante Lou wants Grant to stay

Becoming a highly analyzed novel, many critics speak about their feelings. Carl Senna, one a literary critic, discusses the reasons for lack of communication in A Lesson before Dying. A large part of their communication problem comes directly from their class differences. Although Grant is not considered rich, he is well educated and lives rather comfortably, whereas Jefferson is nearly illiterate and has been a struggling farmhand most of his life. This gap that separates them makes it very difficult for them to speak. Neither one of them is at fault for this, but it frustrates Jefferson to the point where he often wants to leave the jail cell and not return. Also Grant speaks with Jefferson "reluctantly, prompted by his aunt, a moralizing scold and a nag"(Senna 5). Another good point Senna makes is that because of the time period, blacks were struggling to become equals and were more engrossed with their own wants and needs than worrying about Jefferson. Yes, they all realized that he is innocent but they are not at a time where they can fight for the innocence of this young boy. Therefore Grant "becomes their instrument in trying to save him[Jefferson] from disgrace"(Senna 5). Jefferson was not seen as much to these