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A Lesson Before Dying Feminist Analysis

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A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines, is about Grant and Jefferson who are two black men that have drastically different views on life as one of them is college educated, while the other has no formal schooling. They refused to change their old ways and stayed closed minded throughout most of the novel . Being African American in Louisiana during the 1940s facing racism didn’t help Grant and Jefferson since whites did everything they could to degrade them. Towards the end, they evolved into caring and brave characters due to the influence of motherly-like women such as Grant's aunt Tante Lou and Miss Emma, who is Jefferson’s godmother . Miss Emma and Tante Lou, were influential female role models who instructed Grant to visit Jefferson and see him stand up for his rights, and so did Vivian, Mr. Wiggin's girlfriend who encouraged her significant other to follow Miss Emma’s and Tante Lou’s advice. …show more content…

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Normally in other cultures, the part a female plays in her community isn’t as highly regarded as in the African American community. Also, Grant and Jefferson become familiar of communal values that African American’s upheld themselves by observing the actions of a female in the colored world . Some of these are respecting elders and not degrading women just because white society see them as caretakers. To Blacks, ladies are wise and one of the main forces of change in the treatment their men receive from whites, as a result of these lessons, women expected the men to provide for

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