Throughout the course of the book A Lesson Before Dying, written by Ernest J. Gaines, Jefferson has many challenges that he faces and new concepts that he must learn for the sake of others. These challenges include becoming a man for Miss Emma. He also goes through many other small challenges such as talking to his visitors and writing in the notepad that Grant brought for him to record his feelings. Compared to other men included in this story Jefferson is seen as a wimp but through these challenges he becomes more of a man and hero than all other men. Jefferson is the most transformed and matured character that is included in this story. Jefferson must be a man for Miss Emma's sake. He must do this because she is old and does not have much time left. Thus, Grant wants to help Jefferson become a man before he is killed so it is less …show more content…
Jefferson went through an intense change and through that change he went from being a not so well know kid from the town to a hero. Compared to Grant, Jefferson is a better man, this is because Grant will not face his fears of leaving the town and will not move on with his life. Jefferson is being helped by grant but Jefferson is seen as a hero. Grant and Miss Emma see Jefferson as a hero because of the way he can sacrifice his personal happiness for the sake and pleasure of others. Compared to other and most men in the small community Jefferson is more of a man than most of them because of his ability to face his fears and not be afraid. Compared to men like Grant, Jefferson seems like a better and bigger man but to them he isn't just a bigger man but a hero. He helped him realize that in order to become a man you must face your fears and do what you want regardless of fears, and sacrifice personal pleasure for the happiness and pleasure of
Grant did his best to teach Jefferson that he had worth and it paid off. “If I ain’t nothing but a hog, how come they just don’t knock me in the head like a hog? Strab me like a hog? More erasing, then: Man walk on two foots; hogs on four hoofs” (220). This quote demonstrates how Grant made a difference in Jefferson’s life and taught him to be a man of self worth.
She raised him to be the person he is, and now he will not even talk to her. This was making Miss Emma extremely unhappy “she was ready to cry” (72), and Jefferson did not care. He is unable to maintain a healthy relationship. It is not only Miss Emma that Jefferson has a bad relationship with, but also with Grant. Grant thinks these visits are pointless and wants to know if Jefferson thinks the same.
He ends up dying for them and he dies a hero. This theme is also displayed in A Lesson Before Dying. Jefferson is accused of murder and robbery. He
There is an immense change in the way Grant acts from the beginning of the book to the end. In the early part of the book Grant was dreading having to go and talk to Jefferson. He really felt as though Jefferson was already too far gone to be convinced that he was actually a man. For the first few visits Grant was accompanied by Miss Emma to the jail to see Jefferson. Which was really the only reason Grant kept going to see Jefferson.
Jefferson presented his views based on rational thinking and intuitions. It was his personal belief that Indian and whites are equal in all aspects of life. He did not presented his arguments based on facts and figures. As Jefferson wrote in his letter that “I have seen some thousands myself, and conversed much with them, and have found in them a masculine, sound understanding.” It noticeably shows that it was belief of Jefferson that Indians and whites possess the same masculine strength and power.
His original goal was to help Jefferson become a man, but through the process, Grant grows as well. At the beginning of the novel, Grant often takes out his frustrations in the wrong ways, one being his attitude toward his students. He was very cold with them and didn’t care about their feelings, often thinking about himself before he thought about them. This is portrayed when, after comparing his students to Jefferson and vividly explaining how he’s going to die, he thinks to himself, “I knew that Jefferson was her cousin, but I didn’t apologize for what I had said, nor did I show any sympathy for her crying. ‘Either leave the class or stop crying,’ I told her again.
Grant’s girlfriend, Vivian, provides the support he needs to keep him from eluding his problems. Women in this novel play an influential part as a bridge to success in men’s lives, as Tante Lou and Vivian secure Grant 's role in the community, and as Miss Emma encourages Jefferson to die as a man. Even as Jefferson doubts the existing love for him, Miss Emma remains an influence in making him a man by going to many extents. From start to finish, she had always been the strong will who wanted the wellbeing of her godson. Knowing that the fate of her son was execution, she refused to let him die as a hog.
Emma and Grant. After learning to open back up to his friends and family, he still gives them disrespect. A few pages after Jefferson talks to Grant, Ms. Emma comes to have a conversation with him. After she asks Jefferson how he is feeling, he doesn’t even respond or act like she’s there(pg 136), showing how much Jefferson in entrenched into the idea of not finding value in himself. Furthermore, on page 130, while Jefferson talks up to Grant, he tries to anger him by insulting his girlfriend and testing his patience.
This is shown throughout the novel by showing that in the beginning of the novel, Grant wants nothing to do with Jefferson and his situation. As the book continues, he realizes that Jefferson is a human too and that he needs to realize how good he has it compared to some people. In the beginning of A Lesson Before Dying, Grant Wiggins struggles with accepting his responsibilities. This is shown in multiple examples. The two examples used in this paper were when Grant avoids all of his responsibilities and does not want anything to do with Jefferson.
Grant Wiggins and Jefferson are protagonists. Their individual survivals depend on their mutual support. It’s Jefferson's story, but it is narrated by Grant. Miss Emma and her friend, Tante Lou, are inseparable. Sometimes they seem too close that it is hard to tell which one is speaking.
A Lesson Before Dying: An Analysis of the Definition of Manhood A Lesson Before Dying is a historical novel written by Ernest J. Gaines. The novel is set in the late 1940s on a plantation in Louisiana. A young, black man known as Jefferson is wrongly convicted for murdering two white men. The main character is Grant Wiggins, a teacher at a church school. Grant is being forced by Jefferson’s Godmother, Miss Emma, to convince Jefferson that he is a man.
Undoubtedly, Grant registers the unfairness and lack of justice. Even though this is the case, Grant still continues to help Jefferson become the man he
In the novel A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines Grant finds redemption by helping Jefferson, Standing up for what he believes in and changing his view on life. Grant achieves redemption by helping Jefferson become a man before he dies by helping Jefferson become a man before he dies by asking questions about his wellbeing and overall health. When Grant goes and visits
Grant has gone to a University and is now a teacher in the quarter where he grew up. To his community, Grant is the most educated person in the quarter and is constantly being admired by them. Most of the admiration comes from Miss Emma in hopes that Grant can transform Jefferson into a man before he is executed. Miss Emma states, “I want the teacher visit my boy. I want the teacher make him know he’s not a hog, he’s a man” (pg.
Imagine be sentenced to death knowing you did nothing wrong. Imagine having to figure out what legacy you want to leave on this world when you haven't even been alive in this world for 25 years. In a Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, this is what a 21 year old black man is expected to do when he is wrongfully accused of a crime he did not commit. He is sentenced to death and Grant and Reverend Ambrose have taken on the challenge of making this boy into a man who will die as a Christ figure the way a man should. The purpose of Jefferson’s diary at the end of the novel is to show his growth, and to prove that Grant and Reverend have done their job of making Jefferson into a man before his execution, throughout the chapter it shows his