A Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines - 1094 Words

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, Vintage Contemporaries  ©1993, 256pp. In his poignant and moving novel, A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines asks us questions that reignite our own quest for the meaning of compassion. What do you teach a man condemned to die? What lesson might be useful in the final month of a man’s life? Is there a futility that we succumb to when we accept the judgment of men? These are the questions faced by Grant Wiggins, a young, black school teacher who has returned to his small Louisiana hometown following his college education. Persuaded by his aunt to counsel Jefferson, also a young, black man who has been sentenced to die for an armed robbery in which he was an unwitting bystander. Not to exonerate him, but to teach him. To give him something to call his own before he leaves this earth: knowledge. Set in 1940s rural Louisiana, the novel is framed in a sociopolitical structure that is all too familiar and disturbingly simple: racial class structure that places Black Americans firmly under the shoes of their White counterparts. The setting was a deft choice by Gaines to illustrate his central theme, but also a necessary one. This story, set in a contemporary prison, Jefferson’s character would stretch credibility beyond the point of acceptance, making Grant’s task virtually impossible. The simplicity built into the racial divide in the 1940s the only one and makes possible everything that follows. The story is simple: Jefferson choseShow MoreRelatedA Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines1640 Words   |  7 PagesThe definition of what it means to be a human or a man, is a topic that is has been and is often discussed all over the world today. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, Gaines breaks down the meaning of what it means to be a man thought a character named Grant Wiggins. Grant Wiggins is the main character of the novel and is a very educated African-American man who is also a teacher at a local church in the town. He is trying to define and understand the concept of what it meansRead MoreA Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines1293 Words   |  6 Pageseveryone is a student and a teacher in their own discoveries about the lessons of life. As hard as it can be to assimilate in a situation where you re at a disadvantage, Grant Wiggins and Jefferson took the jaundiced community and made their mark on the static populace. Everyone deserves the right to grasp certain basic lessons, even if it is not encouraged in your society. As the title implies, in A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, Grant and Jefferson acted as both the teacher and student in orderRead MoreA Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines926 Words   |  4 Pages I found A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines a deeply moving novel, which kept me on the edge of my seat and had a hard time putting down. The novel explores various themes and concepts that surround the education system, filled with multiple emotional moments, conflicts, and surprising moments scattered throughout the storyline. However, the novel does not just focus on the education system and its underlying issues, but it also focuses on human transformation, where the emotional momentsRead MoreA Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines960 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"A Lesson Before Dying† is known as an outstanding book, in which I would have to agree on. The book has many excellent messages and morals throughout its entirety, But no other message speaks out more than the message of â€Å"Becoming a Man† and the obstacles you must first tackle before achieving that message. The author of â€Å"A Lesson Before Dying†, Ernest J. Gaines, expresses this thr oughout the book immensely. In many ways also making this the theme of the book. Miss Emma says at the beginningRead MoreA Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines1122 Words   |  5 PagesThe Power of a Strong Character 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 firstRead MoreA Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines1321 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die and when, you can only decide how you are going to live†. (Joan Baez). In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, written by Ernest J. Gaines, Jefferson doesn’t get to choose how and when he’s going to die, but he learns valuable lessons from Grant about how to live the rest of his life. This novel takes place in Bayonne, Louisiana, in the late 1940s. Jefferson is a twenty-one-year-old uneducated black man, who is accused of a robbery and murder that he didRead MoreA Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines Essay1011 Words   |  5 Pagesvery much felt that way. Blacks were oppressed in many ways including having unreachable requirements to vote, such regulations included literacy tests, poll taxes, and elaborate registration systems, but it only started there. The novel A Lesson Before Dying is about a young, college-educated man and a convict, Grant Wiggins and Jefferson. Grant is asked to make a man out of Jefferson who is convicted of killing a white man during a robbery in which he got dragged along to. Grant is asked by EmmaRead More A Lesson before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines Essay1992 Words   |  8 Pages 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 toRead MoreA Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines1419 Words   |  6 Pagesfear and pity in the audience. In Ernest J. Gaine s’s novel, A Lesson Before Dying, Jefferson conforms to four out five of the characteristics, and it is the quality that he doesn’t meet that leads to all of his problems in the first place. By meeting four out of the five characteristics, Jefferson meets Aristotle s definition of a tragic hero. Jefferson is not of noble birth, in fact in his culture his is not even average. The society in which A Lesson Before Dying takes place is one that refusesRead MoreA Lesson before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines1155 Words   |  5 Pagesthe children and run away. He still tells her how he wants to run from his problems, the South. Vivian lets him know that her coworkers know about her affair with him. Chapter 13 Plot: Miss Emma goes to church on Sunday. Grant remembers the Friday before when Miss Emma and Reverend Ambrose were sitting in the kitchen along with Tante Lou. When Miss Emma asks about his visit with Jefferson he lies and says that he is doing fine. Grant doesn’t believe in the Bible’s teachings. Grant sits at his desk