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Jefferson In A Lesson Before Dying

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Imagine being in a situation where there are a limited number of options and your life can only go in one direction. Has this ever happened to you? Either way, this is the predicament that the character of Jefferson faces in A Lesson Before Dying, who is sentenced to death for crimes that he did not commit. Although Jefferson has only thirty days left to live, he learns three valuable lessons that he carries with him into his final hours. This includes learning to open up to the people closest to him, showing kindness and love to those who have shown kindness to him, and finding self-worth in the age of Jim-Crow. At the beginning of A Lesson Before Dying, Jefferson was a character that didn’t want to speak or interact with anyone, including …show more content…

Emma and Grant. After learning to open back up to his friends and family, he still gives them disrespect. A few pages after Jefferson talks to Grant, Ms. Emma comes to have a conversation with him. After she asks Jefferson how he is feeling, he doesn’t even respond or act like she’s there(pg 136), showing how much Jefferson in entrenched into the idea of not finding value in himself. Furthermore, on page 130, while Jefferson talks up to Grant, he tries to anger him by insulting his girlfriend and testing his patience. Both of these interactions take place in cases where Jefferson shows signs of opening up to others, but they are also instances of how little Jefferson loves or cares about those who care about him. On page 139, this is addressed when Jefferson has another conversation with Grant a couple of days later. When talking with Jefferson, Grant tells him, “no matter how bad off we are,’ I said, ‘we still owe something. You owe something, Jefferson. Not to me. But to your godmother. You must show her some understanding, some kind of love.” Then Jefferson tells him, “That’s for youman’s... I ain’t no youman.” Later in the book, Jefferson eventually starts to show love to his loved ones again after having a powerful, life-changing conversation with Grant. After this, he is able to eat Ms. Emma’s food and is able to hold

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“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” He should believe so, as Thomas Jefferson’s actions clearly characterize his individual self, while also inducing the question, Does Thomas Jefferson deserve the honor he possesses, through these eminent actions?

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In “A Lesson Before Dying”, there is a tension between how Grant sees himself and how others in his community see him. Grant has gone to a University and is now a teacher in the quarter where he grew up. To his community Grant is the most educated person in the quarter and is constantly being admired by them. Most of the admiration comes from Miss Emma in hopes that Grant can transform Jefferson into a man before he is executed. Miss Emma states, “I want the teacher visit my boy.

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Eventually Miss Emma wasn 't able to visit Jefferson with Grant because she had fallen ill. However despite Grants contemplation, he continued to go and visit Jefferson. One of the last times that Grant visits Jefferson he notices that Jefferson had been writing in a journal when he sat down to read it he saw that Jefferson had written “If I ain 't nothing but a hog, how come they just don 't knock me in the head like a hog? Stab me like a hog?...

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Undoubtedly, Grant registers the unfairness and lack of justice. Even though this is the case, Grant still continues to help Jefferson become the man he

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In the novel A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines Grant finds redemption by helping Jefferson, Standing up for what he believes in and changing his view on life. Grant achieves redemption by helping Jefferson become a man before he dies by helping Jefferson become a man before he dies by asking questions about his wellbeing and overall health. When Grant goes and visits

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Seemingly, it was not straightforward to get Grant the privilege of speaking to Jefferson in his jail cell. Miss Emma confronted Henri Pichot, pleading to give allow Grant to see Jefferson. Henri denied all requests from Miss Emma at first, but she did not take no for an answer (Gaines 22, 23). Emma persuaded Henri by telling him all the things he has done for the family, Henri finally agreed to get Grant a way to speak to Jefferson. Never giving up can also change the lives of others, which can be seen when Miss Emma visits Jefferson.

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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.

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Jefferson was quickly sentenced guilty after being the only man left at a crime scene. After hearing the lawyer say that Jefferson was a hog, Miss Emma, who was Jeffersons godmother, needed to make sure that he knew he was dying a man, not a hog. Jefferson had taken these words to heart and it had not only hurt Jefferson but the African American society. It attacked their intelligence. The book teaches from a different perspective, unlike textbooks.

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One way that jefferson does improve is becoming selfless. In the beginning of the novel Jefferson selfish and full of himself. ‘’Jefferson still lay on his bunk, staring up at the ceiling.

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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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Jefferson is calm because he now knows that he has a month to live. Before he would act like an animal and eat his grandma’s food off the floor and say things like “Im an old hog” and “I’m going to show you how a old hog eat” (Gaines 83). He even said rude things about Grant’s Girlfriend. In the first few visits his replies were very hostile but now they are more lax.

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Grant did his best to teach Jefferson that he had worth and it paid off. “If I ain’t nothing but a hog, how come they just don’t knock me in the head like a hog? Strab me like a hog? More erasing, then: Man walk on two foots; hogs on four hoofs” (220). This quote demonstrates how Grant made a difference in Jefferson’s life and taught him to be a man of self worth.

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He considers himself, “just a old hog they fattening up to kill for Christmas” (p. 83). Eventually, the professor, Grant Wiggins, assists Jefferson in regaining his dignity. Gradually, Jefferson begins accepting his life’s unfair outcome.. “The last thing they ever want is to see a black man stand, and think, and show that common humanity that is in us all. It would destroy their myth."

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A lesson before dying teaches a valuable lesson of becoming a man and although Jefferson does learn a lesson,Grant learns the better lesson due to the characterization that is portrayed. Grant Wiggins is a educated and sophisticated young man. He speaks very educated in terms of speaking and thinking but is very arrogant. Grant is also very selfish for example when the Reverend says “ You ever think of anybody but yourself?” Every time he visited Jefferson he came out less and less selfish and arrogant.

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