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Jail In A Lesson Before Dying

856 Words4 Pages

Generally speaking, there are not many places that contrast as a jail and a church do. In the book, A Lesson Before Dying, the church and the jail could not contrast more. That is mainly because Grant, the main character and narrator, spends most of his time going back and forth between the two. It is almost as if he lives in two different worlds. Anyhow, the contrast between the church and the jail helps to show the way Grant, as well as his relationship with Jefferson, evolves throughout the story. The church is where Grant teaches. The church is where children ranging from first to sixth grade come and learn from Grant. It is where these children gain knowledge, and where Grant distributes it. It is the more meaningful part of these children’s …show more content…

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. Jefferson has the same attitude in the beginning of the book; he is mute at first. He does not talk, and does not show any sign of effort; he is very pitiful. In fact, he calls himself a “hog” and, “You brought some corn? Cause that’s what hogs eat” (Gaines, 82). Grant just wants to stick to the way he has been living and stick to teaching in the church. Jefferson has nothing to live for and is in the jail, while Grant has an exceptional life that includes the church. But as the story goes on, Grant finds a way to reach Jefferson with things such as the radio, and pencil and pad. He displays to Jefferson the true meaning of life as well as he can before it is Jefferson’s time. The contrast of the church and jail ultimately help the two men understand each other

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As a consequence, Jefferson is becoming obsessed with the idea of being no more than a hog (p.76, ll.21). Therefore he begins to act like a hog, when his former teacher Grant Wiggins and his godmother Miss Emma come to visit him. Consequently, one is faced with the task of analysing a character who is in a disastrous state of mind and has an unhealthy attitude towards himself. At the first visits of Miss Emma and Grant Wiggins the reader gets to know Jefferson as a quiet, indifferent character, who has already resigned himself to dying and lives by the mindset that nothing matters anymore (p.67-70).

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Grant has spent the past few years trying not to be the submissive black man that is expected of his current society. He is proud of his intelligence and his job, as well as his girlfriend. However, considering Jefferson’s situation, he is essentially forced to do exactly that: having to get a white man’s permission to do something, to wait for white men to stop talking, to be stripped in the jail

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I just didn’t know where else to turn to …” and she replies “ i  want you to come to me, Grant … i want you to always come to me” (31). Grant the man that everyone is counting on to make a change in Jefferson struggles and when he does he goes to Vivian. Vivian is a safe haven for Grant almost, she somehow finds a way to get Grant to open up and tell her things that he would not tell anyone else. Vivian is also a good motivator to Grant to actually do something with his life. After expressing his hesitation to visit Jefferson she uses his love for her to push him to make the visits.

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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.

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Grant does not want to lie to Jefferson, but Rev. Ambrose calls Grant out. Rev. Ambrose is tough on Jefferson as well, because in the beginning of the novel, Jefferson seemed to give up hope. Rev. Ambrose in a way told him to buck up and be a man, but to also use God’s guidance. Rev. Ambrose used tough love to get his message across to Jefferson,

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This is because he believes that Jefferson got himself into that situation. Having been pushed to help bring justice for Jefferson, Grant says, “ And I teach 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 13). In Grant’s view, this instance is none of his business. Therefore, he doesn’t believe that he should help Jefferson.

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