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Fear In A Lesson Before Dying

748 Words3 Pages

It is human nature for people to want to run away from their problems instead of facing them. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines, Grant Wiggins states his desire to run away from Bayonne and start a new life for himself on multiple occasions. The expectations that have been forced onto Grant and his own personal beliefs contribute to his desire to escape. Grant wants to leave Bayonne because of the expectations that the women in the quarter have for him and all the other black men. Grant complains about this to Vivian when he says, “We black men have failed to protect our women since the time of slavery...it is too heavy a burden because of all the others who have run away and left their burdens behind. So he, too, must …show more content…

When Grant asks Mathew Antoine how to be a man in the South, he replies with, “What do I know about life? I stayed here. You have to go away to know about life. There’s no life here. There’s nothing but ignorance here. You want to know about life? Well, it’s too late. Forget it. Just go on and be the nigger you were born to be, but forget about life" (Gaines Chapter 8). Antoine confirms Grant's impression that in order to experience a life free of regret and full of happiness, then he must leave the South. Antoine convinces Grant that his only options are to run away from his problems and attempt to create a new life for himself, or to stay in the South and be continually beaten up by the white racists. When Grant visits Mathew Antoine on his deathbed, Grant asks him for advice as a teacher, and he responds with, “'It doesn’t matter anymore,' he said. 'Just do the best you can. But it won’t matter'" (Gaines Chapter 8). Grant was optimistic and truly believed that as a teacher he could shape the minds of children and make a real difference, but these feelings are crushed when Antoine says there is no point in trying and that Grant will fail. The black inferiority that is constantly shown to the children is something that Antoine believes and eventually even Grant believes cannot be changed. Antoine's firm belief that blacks cannot be successful is passed on to Grant ultimately making Grant want to escape because he believes that there is nothing he can do. He feels that it is impossible for blacks to succeed due to society's belief that black people are inferior and incapable of

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One lesson that Jefferson learns from Grant is that he has the potential to make a difference to the whole town. Grant teaches Jefferson how he has as much potential as anyone else. By believing in Jefferson and giving him resources, Grant helps teach Jefferson this lesson. Jefferson changes throughout his time in prison to become more aware of his worth. One way Grant helps Jefferson realize this is by organizing his students and other people from his quarter to come and visit Jefferson, this makes Jefferson realize how he matters to his community.

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The reason why Grant, the main character in one of Mr. Ernest J. Gaines’s best work A Lesson Before Dying, does not attend Jefferson’s execution is because he is afraid of seeing his lack in acting like a man with dignity and more importantly, seeing what all black men around them have become reflecting in Jefferson. In the short 250-paged novel, we come across a few common issues that still linger in today’s society; racism and diffidence, both in which the two main characters -Grant and Jefferson- suffer from. Self-doubt and uncertainty in oneself was frequently detectable, even in the 1930’s; how the white people portrayed the black and how little they made them feel was a big cause of it. Sadly enough, Jefferson shows that he was never

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In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J Gaines, Grant is a main character that has a lot of influence over the people in his community. Some might even consider him a hero. I believe that Grant is a hero because he helps Jefferson become a man, changes himself for the better, and wants to continue changing the community. Over the course of the novel, Grant helps Jefferson become the man that he needs to be in order to walk to his death with honor. When Grant first begrudgingly went to visit Jefferson in prison Jefferson was in a really low state.

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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.

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Wayne W. Dyer once said, “judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances,” and this is evidenced in Ernest J. Gaines’ novel, A Lesson Before Dying. Jefferson and Grant Wiggins are both black men living in a racial and prejudice society. Jefferson is a falsely accused, uneducated man about to be put to his death. Grant has a chance to initiate hope for Jefferson. During the early twentieth century, even after the African Americans gained their freedom, the white population felt superior to the black population, and no one in the black community had the power to go against this wrongful thinking.

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Rotting in a cell. Counting down the days. Trying to learn how to be a man before the big day. In the book “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines: Grant Wiggins a school teacher tries to help a falsely convicted black man named Jefferson. During this time Grant release what can do to not only change Jefferson but change himself as well and he achieves redemption.

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In Ernest Gaines’ novel A Lesson Before Dying he uses third person point of views to tackle the issues of racial injustice in the South during the 1940’s. The character Grant Wiggin’s understands that justice was claimed and could not change because of this he successful change Jefferson into a man. About justice showing the audience the significance of the novel as a whole, this novel teaches the reader that in order to make a change in the world they must change themselves or help one another, just like Grant did with Jefferson.        In this novel, Grant claims that he doesn’t care for justice because he knows that it wasn’t going to get severed.

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In A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest Gaines uses the concept of manhood to describe racial injustice. In this essay, I will describe how Grant Wiggins and Ernest Gaines define manhood. At the beginning of the novel, Jefferson and Grant have two different ways they define being a human.

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“Censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable. Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance .

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Jail is a place no one ever wants to go. People go to jail for many reasons: robbery, murder, hate crimes, and there are people who are sitting in jail for a crime they did not commit. People have their different views on the justice system and how it works. People’s religious beliefs and personal beliefs in stereotypes play a major part in their convictions. In A Lesson before Dying Earnest Gaines reveals how different values and racism in a small community are seen through the characters Jefferson, Grant, and Tante Lou and their experiences and reactions.

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This 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.

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Change; it’s inevitable. It’s happening all around us at all times of the day. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, change is a significant part to the storyline. Grant Wiggins (a school teacher from Louisiana) wants nothing more than for things to change. He wants to run away from his job, his hometown.

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In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, written by Ernest J. Gaines in 1993, Grant Higgins struggles with the idea of criminal justice in the south during the 1940s. During this time in Bayonne, LA African Americans did not receive the same justice as whites. In this quotation one can see the discrimination, “Twelve white men say a black man must die, and another white man sets the date and time without consulting one black person. Justice?” (Gaines 157).

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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.

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20-21).  Miss Emma constantly refers to Grant saying “you are the teacher” (pg. 13) putting him in a higher position than everyone else. Considering that he is the only educated black man in the quarter, the community hopes that Grant is the person that can make a change for them. Everyone believed Grant was a great teacher, he however, does not believe he is doing anything to help his community. He is full of doubt and disappointment.

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