They Called My Boy A Hog Mr. Emma Quotes
Sijia Xu
ENG 121
May 20 2015
Address this specific quote:
"They called my boy a hog, Mr. Henri," Miss Emma said. "I didn't raise no hog, and I don't want no hog to go set in that chair. I want a man to go set in that chair, Mr. Henri."
• Why is this quote significant?
This demonstrates that she wants Jefferson to acquire pride and dignity guaranteeing him not to be a boy and a fool with a modicum of intelligence anymore but to be an example of a real man. This quote shows that why Miss Emma wants to give Jefferson a lesson. This is the reason for things happened after.
• What does it reveal about Miss Emma and about Jefferson?
This reveals that when his lawyer calls him a hog, he is really mad and takes the insult to heart. After that he
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Because Grant is a teacher. Miss Emma thinks Grant can give Jefferson a lesson and teach him to be a man.
• Why and how does Miss Emma believe visits with Grant will change Jefferson?
Miss Emma wants Grant to visit Jefferson, talk to him (or give him a lesson) and make him know that he’s not a hog, he is a man.
• Do you think Grant's visits will have an impact on Jefferson? Why or why not?
I think it will eventually. Because the books said that Jefferson will not talk with Miss Emma or Grant, but in the Chapter 11, Jefferson showed Grant how a hog would eat. I think this shows that Jefferson also mad about being called a hog and he started to talk with Grant. This is a good start for a lesson at least.
• Finally, how does this quote pertain to the final scene in Chapter Five when Grant is reprimanding his students? Do you think Grant is being fair to his students? Why or why not? What is Grant implying about the impact of education and
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He feels both connection to and a detachment from his students. He wants them to become success, that’s way he expresses frustration when students do not exhibit the concentration that will help them thrive. I think Grant is not being fair to his students. Grant wants to help his students but he is too harsh, sometimes push students for offenses. He knows that education and knowledge will help students to be successful which he wants, but he also scare environmental influences of racism. He worries that the reality will not change at all, so they work for nothing. He frequently seems disgusted by students and convinced that they cannot make anything of themselves.
After you address the questions above, consider focusing on analyzing some of the characters in the novel by addressing the following questions:
• Do you think Grant’s aunt is a significant character in the novel so far? If so, what is her significance? How does she have an impact on the plot? What is her impact on Grant, Jefferson, and Miss Emma? How would you define her character? Provide examples from the text to support your
A Lesson Before Dying Jefferson Character Analysis
1050 Words | 5 PagesAs 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).
Thomas Jefferson Quotes And Analysis
853 Words | 4 PagesGrant 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.
Passive Characters In Ernest Gaines A Lesson Before Dying
824 Words | 4 PagesGrant explains to Jefferson, “‘[y]ou’re not a hog… You’re a man,’” (Gaines
Summary Of A Lesson Before Dying
931 Words | 4 PagesJefferson is a good guy. He is helping out a friend in need and is trying his best, but it gets hard for Wiggins when Jefferson is so nasty and sarcastic about himself. Throughout these chapters, Wiggins does not know if he can help Jefferson if he is not going to take advantage of the good he is trying to do for him. Miss Emma just wants Jefferson to be happy with himself about the life he has had, so she tries to make him the best person he can be by getting the help of Wiggins. As people are visiting Jefferson in jail, he gets more sarcastic with them about the hog deal.
A Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines
807 Words | 4 PagesHowever, powerless against his aunt’s persistence and his lover’s encouragement, he agrees to go to the jail and speak to Jefferson. At the beginning of Grant’s visits, Jefferson resents and jeers at Grant and his other visitors by mimicking a hog. Grant remained distant and pessimistic about his task, as not to become too involved in case he did not succeed in making Jefferson a proud man before he is killed. However, as Grant continues to go,
Use Of Boundaries In A Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines
1268 Words | 6 PagesIn the novel it was often standard for a black male not to succeed, to be an influential figure in life, and to become educated. During the trial, the defense asked the jury “What justice would there be to take this life” (Gaines 8)? This theoretical question to the audience symbolizes how society deems the lives of African Americans to be irrelevant. To defeat the habitual cycle of history, Grant went off to the university and returned to educate the children in his childhood neighborhood, being one of the few influential male figures in the quarter. When Grant confesses to Jefferson that he is “more than a man that he [Grant] is” it is obvious that the quarter needed someone to step up and make a change and it would have to be Jefferson (Gaines 225).
A Lesson Before Dying Character Analysis
1015 Words | 5 PagesEventually Miss Emma wasn 't able to visit Jefferson with Grant because she had fallen ill. However despite Grants contemplation, he continued to go and visit Jefferson. One of the last times that Grant visits Jefferson he notices that Jefferson had been writing in a journal when he sat down to read it he saw that Jefferson had written “If I ain 't nothing but a hog, how come they just don 't knock me in the head like a hog? Stab me like a hog?...
A Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines
1584 Words | 7 PagesAlthough Grant had close relationships with others that does not mean he truly cared about what they wanted. When Tante Lou and Miss Emma first proposed the idea of Grant going to visit Jefferson his reaction was, “Now his Godmother wants me to visit him and make him know- prove to these white men that he’s not a hog, that he’s a man. I’m supposed to make him a man. Who am I? God?”
Thomas Jefferson Unlucky
199 Words | 1 PagesJefferson was an unlucky man. He was wrongly convicted of a murder and a robbery that he witnessed and was sentenced to death by electrocution. During his trial, his lawyer compares him to a hog that isn’t worth killing and he takes it to heart. He stops acting like a man and instead acts like an untamed hog. He calls himself a hog and believes his worth is equal to that of a hog.
Women In A Lesson Before Dying
1097 Words | 5 PagesGrant’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.
A Lesson Before Dying Themes
2126 Words | 9 PagesThis 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.
Summary Of Negro President: Jefferson And The Slave Power By Gary Wills
720 Words | 3 PagesThough Wills undeniably does an excellent job recounting the never ending problems of Jefferson throughout the novel, his organization and jumping of one idea to the next leave much to desire. This jumping of one subject to the other might be in place to keep the reader alert and interested, it causes for a jumble of topics that at some points make it hard to grasp the main concepts. Another flaw of Wills is not so much of the ideas but of the direct quotes from his sources that at so points in the book can confuse readers with it wide vocabulary usage. His intricate quotations help not only in supporting his ideas but allow a small challenge to be undertaken. Wills’ uses an exceedingly varied group of sources that strengthen the credibility of his book as it helps reiterate his main arguments.
Manhood In A Lesson Before Dying
670 Words | 3 PagesThe main conflict of the story is Grant convincing Jefferson that he is truly a man and that there is hope in the world. After Jefferson’s sentence is set, Jefferson doesn’t have hope for the world and thinks that he going to die anyways, so why care. Grant is teaching him that he can help others and that there is hope in the world and in the future. So, Grant is using character motivation to help Jefferson throughout the entire novel. The other literary term, diction, is repetition of a word to show its importance.
Racial Injustice In Ernest Gaines A Lesson Before Dying
813 Words | 4 PagesUndoubtedly, Grant registers the unfairness and lack of justice. Even though this is the case, Grant still continues to help Jefferson become the man he
A Lesson Before Dying Redemption Analysis
749 Words | 3 PagesWhen Grant was at the Rainbow Club there was a gentleman behind him making rude and hateful comments about Jefferson towards Grant and then Grant retaliated with this: “You shut up, or get up.” (199). At the Rainbow Club there was a white guy saying mean things about Jefferson and saying that he deserved to die and Grant had enough and did something that was unthinkable at that time. He wanted to fight him and that shows redemption because he stood up for and what he believed in. In the same way that Grant achieved redemption by standing up for Jefferson he also shows redemption by showing his determination to Jefferson.
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