In the novel A Lesson Before Dying a man named Grant Wiggins has to help a young, black male by the name of Jefferson become a man before he dies. In Ernest J. Gaines novel, A Lesson Before Dying, Grant Wiggins uses the concept of flight to avoid his personal responsibilities. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, Grant Wiggins wants to get away from his problems. Grant getting away from his problems shows that he does not want to deal with them. He tries to avoid his problems in many ways, one of them being wanting to leave for the weekend or even move away with Vivian. One example to show this would be that when Vivian and Grant are in the bar, Grant suggests packing their clothes and leaving, “You want to go home and pack your clothes and get the children and leave here tonight?” (29). Grant also says that: I need to go someplace where I can feel I’m living; I don’t want to spend the rest of my life teaching school in a plantation church. I want to be with you, someplace where we could have a choice of things to do. I don’t feel alive here. I’m not living here. I know we can do better someplace else. (29) Grant saying this shows that he does want to get away and start a new life. This also shows that he has a problem with commitment when he says, “You hit the nail on the head …show more content…
He uses it to get away with Vivian, to leave his family and other personal responsibilities and even goes to Bayonne when he needs to breathe or even when he needs time for himself. The examples to show that he does use flight to avoid personal problems would be that Grant wants to pack up and leave, how he wants to get away for the weekend, when he tells Vivian he wants to leave, when Tante Lou is telling Grant he cannot leave, Grant goes to the Rainbow Club after he has been told Jefferson has been given death, and finally when he wants to tell Vivian what good news he had about