Ernest J. Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

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. Gaines’s writing about religion started out as a disconfirming concept but overtime Gaines changed his thinking about religion to a more convincing concept. This change in Gaines’s writing is portrayed through the preachers

In Gaines’s work of “A Lesson before Dying” Miss Emma is faced with the death of her godson and has to find a way to accept it. Miss Emma accepts his death from all the faith that she has in her religion. As much as this faith helps Miss Emma, in other works of Gaines the religion is not as strong and does not help the people. Gaines shows both sides of a religion where one uses religion to find good but the other uses religion to as an influence of bad. “Despite these resonances with Gaines’s other novels, however, in A Lesson we find that religious adherence does more good than harm.” (Nash) Unlike Gaines’s work of “A Lesson before Dying,” where religion is used as an aspect that helps Miss Emma, but in “The Sky is Gray” James faces a religion that is kind of shaking or has bad influences. Unlike Reverend Ambose, the unnamed reverend in “The Sky is Gray” is shown as a guy who has a one tract mind and is not looking out for the good of others. This unnamed reverend that is given in this novel is the opposite of Reverend Ambose. He does not look out for the good of his community but rather looks out for what he believes in and what he thinks is