ipl-logo

Ernest J. Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

1304 Words6 Pages

Ernest J. Gaines originally began writing because he realized there was a lack of accurate black perspective in Southern literature (Ernest J. Gaines Center). Gaines, a black man growing up in the South, knew he could accurately represent black perspectives in literature. Inspiring him to write his first book, Catherine Carmier, originally published in 1964. The book is a love story about Catherine and Jackson, two black people. It is set in a fictional 1960s Louisiana countryside, where Gaines grew up. The book’s main focus is the racial tension between the blacks, whites, and Cajuns as they maintain an uneasy coexistence. The themes in Catherine Carmier are seen in many other of Gaines’ books such as The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, …show more content…

Gaines used the real-life case of Willie Francis to develop the character of Jefferson in the novel. Jefferson, one of the main characters of A Lesson Before Dying, is a 21-year-old black man facing death row after he was convicted of the robbing and killing of Alcee Gropé, a white shopkeeper. To build Jefferson’s character, Gaines used heavy influence from the case of Willie Francis. On May 3, 1946, 17-year-old Willie Francis was scheduled for execution by electric chair. Francis was a black male who at 16 was tried as an adult and swiftly sentenced by 12 white jurors to death for the murder of Andrew Thomas, a pharmacy owner. When the executioner flipped the switch, Francis screamed in pain as electricity rushed through his body. But he did not die. The chair had malfunctioned and Francis was somehow able to survive. Shortly after his botched execution, Willie was informed that he would be once again executed within a week. Francis’ lawyer Bertrand DeBlanc attempted to have Willie’s case overturned, citing new evidence and flaws in the original trial, but Francis told him to abstain, fearing another

Show More
Related
214 Words | 1 Pages

1. Summarize Ernest Gaines’ life in 5-7 sentences. Ernest James Gaines was conceived on the Stream Lake Manor close to the little villa of Oscar, in Pointe Coupee Area, Louisiana. His progenitors had lived on the same ranch since bondage, staying after liberation to work the area as tenant farmers. Gaines and his crew lived in the houses, tremendously extended, that had once served as slave quarters.

Read More
608 Words | 3 Pages

From when the verdict was read, Jefferson’s nanna having to beg the sheriff to let Grant teach Jefferson, and Grant having to act ignorant and unintelligent so that he does not seem too strong and intimidating. A lesson before dying the dialogue is simplified to show the education of the time period and the comments made shows the bias against black people. In the 1940s the former slaves were uneducated, Gaines shows this by the dialogue he has in his book. When Grant is talking to a white man, like the sheriff, he has to consciously dumb down what he is saying so he is not seen as disrespectful or as a threat. When Jefferson is talking in his journal everything that is said was misspelled with grammar and punctuation

Read More
813 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
90 Words | 1 Pages

The young prophet, Imam Hussein once said, “death with dignity is better than love with humiliation.” In Ernest Gaines novel A Lesson Before Dying, presents the importance of dignity through the journey of a young black man and his wrongful conviction. The lesson that dignity comes from loving and being loved through the actions and thoughts of Grant Wiggins, Reverend Ambrose, and Jefferson is taught. Who these characters love, who they care for, and how and individuals that love them, define the dignity they feel and experience in their lives.

Read More
794 Words | 4 Pages

What kind of change do people undergo during their time in jail, or do they experience any change at all? The change people may experience can change their viewpoints towards life drastically. In A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines portrays a young black man who is convicted of a false crime and sentenced to death, get thrown into jail because of his skin color. He learns an important lesson during the confinement he wrongly received, a lesson before dying. During his time in jail, Jefferson learns that he is no less human than other people, that he has the capacity to change, and the low expectations he had for himself, which shows that he has changed by learning self-respect for himself and allows him to face his fate with dignity.

Read More
1926 Words | 8 Pages

We might look at Gaines novel as just a book with racism in it but paying attention keenly you see that what Gaines showed us about racism in his novel is still

Read More
984 Words | 4 Pages

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines is a novel set in the the socially charged time of the 1940’s, showing the sad perspective of a colored man living then. The book follows Jefferson, a young black adult, as he is wrongfully accused of murder and theft, and is subsequently sentenced to death by electrocution. He is in the process made out to be less than a human, and the bulk of the story follows the black teacher Grant Wiggins as he teaches Jefferson to be a man, to walk with dignity to his death. This is just what he does at the book’s end, standing tall on the march to his demise. Over the course of these teachings, Jefferson teaches Grant just as much, illuminating to the wizened teacher just what it means to be a hero.

Read More
670 Words | 3 Pages

A Lesson Before Dying: An Analysis of the Definition of Manhood A Lesson Before Dying is a historical novel written by Ernest J. Gaines. The novel is set in the late 1940s on a plantation in Louisiana. A young, black man known as Jefferson is wrongly convicted for murdering two white men. The main character is Grant Wiggins, a teacher at a church school. Grant is being forced by Jefferson’s Godmother, Miss Emma, to convince Jefferson that he is a man.

Read More
372 Words | 2 Pages

There are many lessons we learn throughout our lives, and these lessons will help to become a better person. The novel,” A Lesson Before Dying,” the author Ernest J. Gaines creates an environment of segregation where the characters live in. This novel mostly takes place in the small community outside of Bayonne. It is the location where racially arrest and prosecution of jefferson was taken place. There is a trial going on of an African American named Jefferson for the murder of a white shopkeeper, Alcee Grope.

Read More
1462 Words | 6 Pages

ABSTRACT The novel as a genre offers great freedom both in terms of narration and space for the creative writer, not only to perfect his art but also to capture a particular movement in history and to recreate it imaginatively. Ernest J. Gaines’ novel The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman spans an era from the times of slavery in America to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.

Read More
1065 Words | 5 Pages

Ernest J. Gaines has many different works of fiction that he is known for and in these different works of fiction there are many important themes. Of these important themes in Gaines’s works of fictions is the theme of religion. Religion is a big important part of Ernest J. Gaines’s work and how he portrays his characters through his works of fiction. How Gaines portrays his character throughout his works, he is portraying how he believes in his religion. Overtime throughout Gaines’s work, his stand point on religion changed.

Read More
1097 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
141 Words | 1 Pages

A Lesson Before Dying is a story about a young black man, named Jefferson, and a black school teacher, named Grant Wiggins, in Louisiana shortly after World War II. The young man was scheduled to be executed via electric chair for a crime he did not commit, thus making his only incorrect action being standing at the wrong place at the wrong time. The white jury that was a part of his trial did not recognize this because one of the outcomes of the incident was the death of a white man, and this time period was riddled with racial problems. Jefferson’s godmother, Miss Emma, wanted Grant to try to make Jefferson mentally strong before he was put to death, and after lots of doubt and conflict from certain characters in the novel, Grant , along

Read More
1642 Words | 7 Pages

“What justice would there be to take this life? Justice, gentleman? Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this.” (Gaines 8). In the novel, A Lesson Before Dying, Jefferson’s attorney focuses his entire defense on the basis that Jefferson was too stupid to plan a robbery or murder.

Read More
1061 Words | 5 Pages

The positively inspirational novel entitled A Lesson Before Dying was writing by Ernest J. Gaines. A Lesson before Dying was originally published in 1993 and contains 256 pages. This fictional novel is set in the communities of Bayonne, Louisiana in the late 1940s prior to the Civil Rights Movement. This novel is about a 21-year-old black male named Jefferson who gets convicted of murder for being in the wrong place at the wrong time during the murder of Old Gropé, Brother and Bear. Jefferson is sentenced to death by electrocution.

Read More

More about Ernest J. Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

Open Document