Identity In A Lesson Before Dying

In “A Lesson Before Dying”, there is a tension between how Grant sees himself and how others in his community see him. 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.

Self-worth is a value many people struggle with, rarely appreciate, and often, forget to fully understand. Its importance is undeniable, though, and the ability to express it is crucial to living successfully in many degrading societies. The intense strains that come with valuing one’s self are continually displayed in the novel, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. In the novel, two of the main characters, Grant and Jefferson, have constant, internal battles of how to fully appreciate themselves. They both have different, unique struggles, and only by being placed in extremely emotional and complex situations are they able to come to terms with who they really are. Through thoughtful reflection and passionate determination, the connection of these two characters creates a heightened sense of worth that makes them a valuable and contributing part of society.

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.

In Ernest Gaines’ novel, A Lesson Before Dying, the author uses a third person point of view to assess the issue of racial injustice in the South during the 1940’s. Grant understands that justice is evaluated unfairly and knows that it does not favor the poor and uneducated black man. Due to Grant’s ability to be able to understand others, he successfully learns how to bring justice, while assisting Jefferson. This presents the audience the significance of the novel as a whole, embracing responsibility and facing injustice. Grant feels as if he shouldn’t feel obligated or pressured to help bring justice to Jefferson.

It is human nature for people to want to run away from their problems instead of facing them. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines, Grant Wiggins states his desire to run away from Bayonne and start a new life for himself on multiple occasions. The expectations that have been forced onto Grant and his own personal beliefs contribute to his desire to escape. Grant wants to leave Bayonne because of the expectations that the women in the quarter have for him and all the other black men. Grant complains about this to Vivian when he says, “We black men have failed to protect our women since the time of slavery...

The historical fiction novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, features a falsely accused black man on death row in a small Cajun community during the late 1440s. Grant Wiggins, a college educated teacher of the black community, visits Jefferson in prison, an African American convicted of murder. During his trial, he was given a death sentence while referred as a hog. With the love of his godmother, Miss Emma, who sends Grant to teach him in proving himself a man, Jefferson receives the opportunity of representing his community as he dies. Tante Lou, a close friend of Miss Emma and Grant’s aunt, provides the assurance that Grant would prove Jefferson worthy a human. 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.

Everything in the universe of blacks is repetitive to him as showcased in the quote ”After listening to one or two of the verses, I tuned out the rest of them . I had heard them all many times.” (p.33) There was a big difference between Grant’s feelings and those of the women in his life because the ladies played an active part in the church community and he was a teacher. The church and community of women are involved in the circle of submission, Grant needs faith in these ladies who are trying to make him realize that change is occurring even if he thinks black men need to conform to the rules of a white man’s world. Throughout A Lesson Before Dying , Grant and Jefferson mature and gain new aspects about life due to the guidance of three influential women.

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.

At the school, Grant is very verbally abusive to the children and ridicules them every chance he gets. Meanwhile, Jefferson just spends every day sitting quietly in his cell, with no emotion or ambition to do anything else. The contrast of the jail and the church contributes to the work by demonstrating the different lifestyles of the two men once Jefferson is thrown in jail. Grant is at first extremely opposed to trying to teach and reach out to Jefferson. He does not want anything to do with it.

Gaines Novel A Lesson Before Dying, is able to control his own destiny because he proceed to get educated and go to an University to help the children in his community who desperately needed to further their education. Grant was able to stand up to racism in his community because the majority of people portrayed a racist attitude towards people of color. He stood up by helping Jefferson with life lessons and how to die with dignity. The members of the community thought that Jefferson was an animal but by giving Jefferson receiving an education helped him demonstrate that he was a man and not a

Since the beginning of time there’s always been some form of struggle to break away from the grasp of someone powerful and someone who strives for power between those of mankind. This is evident all throughout history in society, even during the 1940s when this novel, A Lesson Before Dying takes place. Grant Wiggins and Sheriff Sam Guidry are prime examples of two characters that struggle to separate themselves from power and strive for power and are determined to keep themselves in power respectively. Grant is the main character of the novel with quite the cynical and depressing outlook on the South, which is the place he was born and raised. He gained this attitude of cynicism from his mentor Matthew Antoine, who felt very intense feelings

What is quite interesting about this passage is that Grant knows he is smarter than Henri Pichot, “I was too educated for Henri Pichot;” yet he still obeys the proper way of being a Black person talking to a White person. Another example of the social hierarchy that was

Although Grant was supposed to be the teacher, both men perk from the relationship. At one point, Grant says to Jefferson, “You’re more a man than I am Jefferson (225).” If it had not been for the impending date of execution, Grant would have shown no interest in helping Jefferson regain his pride and confidence and would have therefore never reciprocated

“Am I supposed to tell someone how to die who has never lived?” 31 Grant uses an apostrophe to convey the impact of the situation of changing Jefferson from a hog to a man. 15. “We’re teachers, and we have a commitment…. Commitment to what—to live and die in this hellhole, when we can leave and live like other people?”

The book A Lesson Before Dying set in a small community of Bayonne, Louisiana, in the 1940’s. It tells the story of Jefferson an uneducated black man, that was wrongly convicted of the robbery and murder of a white man. After being sentenced to death, his godmother and Miss Emma convince local plantation school teacher Grant Wiggins to go to the jail to teach Jefferson to be an educated man. At the end the person who ends up learning the real lesson before dying is Grant, after him and Jefferson forge a close bond. In the story A Lesson Before Dying the author Gains never truly reveals which character, Grant or Jefferson, actually learns the lesson of being a man, but through characterization and setting Gains shows that Grant learns the true lesson of becoming a man.