Equality In A Lesson Before Dying

Equality is a basic right granted to everyone in the United States. Sadly, there was a point in time where specific people were not treated equally. The novel A Lesson Before Dying, written by Ernest J. Gaines, goes into detail about how African-Americans were treated in the late 1940’s. The reader is able to see the prejudice acted on the African-Americans through a black man’s eyes. Gaines believes that blacks were treated as an inferior race to whites and never received true justice or fairness.

The blacks did not receive the same luxuries as the whites did. For instance, the colored received less than stellar entertainment where as the whites were able to get anything they wanted, “There, instead of houses and trees, there were fishing wharves, boat docks, nightclubs, and restaurants for whites. There were one or two nightclubs for colored, but they were not very good” (Gaines 25). It was unjust to the blacks that they could not enjoy themselves as much as the whites because of their skin color. To deny the blacks the right to enjoy themselves is true a injustice. Denying anyone the right to enjoy themselves is against any natural born right.

For example, when Grant meets Mr. Henri he addresses him in a tone that Mr. Henri does not like,“‘I have no idea.’ He stared at me, and I realized that I had not answered him in the proper manner. ‘Sir”, I added” (Gaines 21). Society is so accustomed to a white person being superior to a person of color, that when a colored man addresses a white man improperly, it is considered rude. In this instance, Mr. Henri disapproves of the way that Grant greets him. It is unfair that a white man is allowed to speak in any he pleases to a black man, but a colored person must think twice about what they say to a white