How Does Gaines Use The Motifs Of Religion?

The notion that religion and education must be intertwined is a dangerous one because it takes away free thinking and individuality. This is just one of the many dilemmas Grant Wiggins faces in A Lesson Before Dying. Agnostic Grant is recruited by his Christian community to help teach Jefferson, a man on death row, humanity, morals, and God, but Grant disagrees as he does not have faith in God to teach Jefferson the way his community wants him to. Through the motifs of religion and education, Gaines exposes the adverse effects that religion has on self-confidence and communities' ability to support one another.

Using the motif of religion, Gaines highlights how pressures to be religious skew one’s confidence and sense of self. Miss Emma and

He describes how “they would do.anything to humiliate [him],” and years ago, Professor Antoine told him if he stayed in his Christian, Southern town, “they were going to break [him] down to the * [he] was born to be” (Gaines 79). Grant feels hurt that the person to break him down would be his own family. The fact that his community would look down on him because of his lack of religion is infuriating to Grant because he is only staying in Louisiana to satisfy his family in his predetermined role as a teacher. The expectation belittles Grant’s belief in himself and the fact that he is a good teacher, affecting his confidence not only in teaching but in his other relationships as well. Gaines explains that people who believe in a religion look down upon others and that destroys non-believers' confidence in any sense of belonging to the community. Grant recalls how he has not been to church since college because he prioritized his education over his faith. Grant explains he “thought many times about leaving, as Professor Antoine had advised [him]” to do but he couldn’t because it “saddened [him] to see the pain [he] was

Before the Christmas show, Reverend Ambrose gives a prayer saying “no matter how educated a man is,” he is “locked in a cold, dark cell of ignorance” if he “[does] not know God in the pardon of his sins” (Gaines 146). Reverend Ambrose compares Grant’s lack of religion to a cell that he can’t escape, even with education. Without god or religion, people are destined to end up in a cell, whether literally in this life, like Jefferson, or metaphorically in the afterlife. Reverend Ambrose, Tante Lou, and Miss Emma later confront Grant about bringing a radio to Jefferson. They criticize Grant for giving Jefferson “sin company” and “turning him against god” by giving him music because they feel Grant's purpose is to aid in Jefferson's redemption, but Grant explains that the radio is “the only thing that keeps him from thinking he is not a hog,” and if they take away the radio, there is nothing they can do for his “soul of a hog” (182). This conversation creates a shift in Grant’s relationship with the Reverend, his aunt, and especially Miss Emma. Grant feels like he is finally getting through to Jefferson, and the people who pressured him to visit Jefferson in the first place are criticizing him because his methods are not Christian enough. This argument creates an even further divide between Grant and the people in his community. He feels that no one takes him