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Passive Characters In Ernest Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

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Authors are criticized constantly; chastised for their employment of literary elements such as allusions, motifs, and word choices. Ernest Gaines has been castigated for the utilization of passive characters in his famous novel, A Lesson Before Dying. His castigation is wrongful simply as a result of the fact that I do not believe his main characters are passive for the entirety of the book. His characters are accused of refusing to fight the injustices surrounding them. While this refusal is apparent throughout his work, Gaines does a commendable job developing a form of aggression in his more passive characters. When Jefferson, a slow-witted black man, is accused of a murder he did not commit and is sentenced to death by execution, his …show more content…

He acts as a hog would because he became obsessed with the idea that he is not a human as his lawyer presented. The first of many visits was infuriating for both Grant and Jefferson. Grant, not wanting to be there in the first place, is annoyed that Jefferson is acting like an animal and not much progress is made. It takes four visits for Grant to understand that what he once thought of as an insurmountable task, is now quite realistic. On this fourth visit, Jefferson is contumacious, but a wall is broken, a milestone reached. Grant explains to Jefferson, “‘[y]ou’re not a hog… You’re a man,’” (Gaines …show more content…

Jefferson has spent the majority of his life working for very little money, doing what people tell him to do. This passive lifestyle works for him until the day of the murder; not having any part in the actual infraction, his non-aggressive personality allows him to be accused and convicted of the horrendous crime. In his last few days, Jefferson spends a lot of time writing in the journal Grant gave to him; something no one, including Grant and Jefferson himself, would have expected. In this journal, Jefferson tells of his surroundings, the noises, people, and food in the jail. He also raises some questions that makes readers question how passive this man might actually be. He asks why poor people suffer more than the rich and why the Lord caters to the whites more than the blacks. He mentions that he believes he is better than what the white men

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During the chapters 4-6 (pages 24-50), the conflict “man vs. self” was occurring. Grant Wiggins was having a couple conflicts with himself, one of which was whether to visit Jefferson in jail. Grant Wiggins was a school teacher, struggling with the decision whether to stay or escape to another state. Grant is put in an interesting position when his aunt and Miss. Emma, Jefferson’s g-dmother, wants him to visit Jefferson in the cell and educate him.

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140 An obvious allusion shown is how the date in which Jefferson was to be executed is tied to an important date on the Christian calendar, Christmas. 13. “He never could have done that. I saw the transformation. I’m a witness to that.”

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He may not have understood, but something was touched, something deep down in him- because he was still crying’ (193). At this point, Jefferson practically was a hero. It was almost his time to be executed, and when that time came around, he went down a hero. Paul came to tell Grant, and Paul was explaining how Jefferson was the bravest man in the room when he was executed (256). Jefferson took his execution like a

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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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Immediately after hearing Jefferson’s execution date, he instantly thought, “ How do people come up with a date and a time to take life from another man? Who made them God” ( Gaines 157)? In disbelief, Grant feels infuriated on how these people are capable of doing this. Therefore, he questions the justice system by pondering to himself, “ 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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He is first called a hog by his defense attorney during trial, “Justice, gentlemen? Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this.” (Gaines 10). The attorney uses this in an attempt to convince the jury that Jefferson is not a man, and due to that, it is not worth killing him. However, the idea of being a hog takes to heart in Jefferson, so much that when offered food in his jail cell, would dehumanize him by eating like a hog would.

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Benjamin Banneker addresses Thomas Jefferson, arguing that although Jefferson claims to support the Declaration of Independence, which clearly promotes equality to all people, Jefferson is “found guilty” of treating slaves unjustly, encouraging Jefferson to abolish slavery. Banneker asks Jefferson to “look back… on the variety of dangers to which” Jefferson has overcome. Banneker flatters Jefferson with his noble deed of supporting equality, in order to acknowledge his trust and support for Jefferson, building his gratitude so Jefferson will be more likely to take his criticism. Quickly Banneker sheds light on the cutting truth: Jefferson left out a group from equality. Slaves.

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They made me come with them. You got to tell the law that Mr. Gropé.” (6). Unfortunately for Jefferson, Mr. Gropé dies. Jefferson goes to trial and is quickly found guilty: “A white man had been killed during a robbery, and though two of the robbers had been killed on the spot, one had been captured, and he, too would have to die” (4).

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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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In the novel it was often standard for a black male not to succeed, to be an influential figure in life, and to become educated. During the trial, the defense asked the jury “What justice would there be to take this life” (Gaines 8)? This theoretical question to the audience symbolizes how society deems the lives of African Americans to be irrelevant. To defeat the habitual cycle of history, Grant went off to the university and returned to educate the children in his childhood neighborhood, being one of the few influential male figures in the quarter. When Grant confesses to Jefferson that he is “more than a man that he [Grant] is” it is obvious that the quarter needed someone to step up and make a change and it would have to be Jefferson (Gaines 225).

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Jefferson didn 't do anything, but he was going to steal money from the cash register. Jefferson was there but at the wrong time. The police thought that it was Jefferson because he was black. Jefferson should of stand up for himself or told the judge that it wasn 't him. This book is told in the 1940’s so it makes sense that Jefferson didn 't have a say in what happened.

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They form a brotherly bond as Grant tries to help Jefferson find his dignity again. The book powerfully illustrates the injustice of Jefferson's wrongful conviction, the limitations of education, and dehumanizing treatment

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Imagine be sentenced to death knowing you did nothing wrong. Imagine having to figure out what legacy you want to leave on this world when you haven't even been alive in this world for 25 years. In a Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, this is what a 21 year old black man is expected to do when he is wrongfully accused of a crime he did not commit. He is sentenced to death and Grant and Reverend Ambrose have taken on the challenge of making this boy into a man who will die as a Christ figure the way a man should. The purpose of Jefferson’s diary at the end of the novel is to show his growth, and to prove that Grant and Reverend have done their job of making Jefferson into a man before his execution, throughout the chapter it shows his

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