Analysis Of The Hog In Ernest J. Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

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During slavery, African Americans were treated as possessions in the same way that livestock were regarded as possessions. The hog symbolizes the awful, dehumanizing thinking behind slavery. In Jefferson’s trial, his defense attorney refers to him as a hog, “Gentlemen of jury...put a hog in the electric chair” (Gaines 15-16). A hog symbolizes how the whites in the community treated the blacks and how they think about them socially. A hog is a filthy animal, which in the time period of the 1940’s is how most whites viewed blacks, and believed that blacks were good for nothing but to work for the whites. In A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, the author employs Jefferson as a hog to contribute to the themes and characters by dehumanizing a person far beyond what is morally acceptable. …show more content…

The trial scene shows Jefferson’s defense attorney using unorthodox reasoning to prove his innocence. He says, “I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair...”(Gaines 8). This sentence has a profound effect on Jefferson’s behavior, as seen later when Grant visits him in jail. The defense attorney also says, “...did not mean to insult your intelligence by saying man...”(Gaines 8). He insults the intelligence of a grown man and portrays him as less than such. This scene shows the theme of racism throughout the judicial system in the South during the 1940’s because the only way to prove an African American’s innocence is to prove he is too stupid to commit a