Manhood In A Lesson Before Dying

Webster’s Dictionary defines a man as an individual human, especially: an adult male human. In Ernest Gaines’ novel, this definition technically describes Jefferson though his community, being the rural south in the 1940s, doesn’t see him this way. They think of Jefferson as less than a man, so much so that they repeatedly refer to him as a hog. In A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest Gaines portrays the definition of manhood and humanity as someone's dignity and how they view themselves through the growth of Jefferson and Grant throughout the novel.

Gaines expresses the definition of manhood as someone’s dignity and their perspective of themselves through other people's views of Jefferson at the beginning of the novel. A Lesson Before Dying begins

To prove this point to the jury, he asks, “Do you see a man sitting here?... Do you see a modicum of intelligence? Do you see anyone here who could plan a murder, a robbery, can plan—can plan—can plan anything?... No, gentlemen, this skull here holds no plans'' (7). The words of Jefferson’s lawyer convey how at the beginning of the novel no one, not even Jefferson’s own lawyer, saw him as a man. He was thought to be dumb and mindless by many people, so much so that he began to believe it himself. A person’s manhood and humanity depend on their depiction of themselves and, at the beginning of the novel, Jefferson saw himself as less than a man. In trying to convince the jury that he’s innocent, Jefferson’s lawyer explains, “Gentlemen of the jury, this man planned a robbery? Oh, pardon

His original goal was to help Jefferson become a man, but through the process, Grant grows as well. At the beginning of the novel, Grant often takes out his frustrations in the wrong ways, one being his attitude toward his students. He was very cold with them and didn’t care about their feelings, often thinking about himself before he thought about them. This is portrayed when, after comparing his students to Jefferson and vividly explaining how he’s going to die, he thinks to himself, “I knew that Jefferson was her cousin, but I didn’t apologize for what I had said, nor did I show any sympathy for her crying. ‘Either leave the class or stop crying,’ I told her again. She wiped her eyes, but she did not look up” (40). At this point in the novel, Grant felt no remorse for his words, even seeing how they affected his students in such negative ways. He had little compassion for people and didn’t think through the consequences of his actions. Toward the end of the novel, he starts to think about the feelings of others. This comes in handy not only with his students, but in all scenarios. In situations where he is stereotypically meant to be inferior, he realizes that sometimes it’s better to perpetuate these norms than to fight them and upset the person he’s talking to. This is conveyed during his interaction with the sheriff when he thinks to