Religious Symbolism In A Lesson Before Dying

In the novel “A Lesson Before Dying”, by Ernest Gaines, the story is set in Louisiana in the 1990’s. The story is set in the 1940’s in Louisiana. Half of the story centers on one of the main protagonist, a young black man Jefferson, is wrongly sentenced to death of crimes he did not commit. Jefferson is not only sent to death but is strip of his humanity down to that of a lowly hog. Another half of the story follows the perspective of Grant Wiggins. A teacher who has lost faith in change in his black community, is forcibly tasked with proving to Jefferson that he is a man and not a hog before Jefferson’s inevitable death. The main struggle is Grant trying to prove to Jefferson that he is a man. This novel is the representation of the injustice

One of the most obvious show of religious symbol in the novel “A Lesson Before Dying” is Jefferson being a Christ-like figure. It’s an easy fact to prove, the evidence is shown when Jefferson is sentence for execution for crimes he didn’t commit, because the people on the jury felt that one race was worse than another. This is an excellent allusion to Jesus Christ, because Jesus went through suffering and humiliation, because of how the authorities view Jesus and his people as a threat that should be killed. Another instance of Jefferson is actually in the movie version of the novel, “A Lesson Before Dying” 1999 movie. This is within the scene with Grant and Jefferson in Jefferson’s cell and the lighting is shaded yellow and the camera cuts to each of them as Grant confesses to Jefferson how he feels lost and faithless. This scene in the film, shows allegory to Jesus’s followers confess a sin that they have which is evident on how the camera cuts from Grant and Jefferson as if they were in a confessional. There are many other allegories to the bible in “A Lesson Before Dying”, but this is one of the most clearest one in the novel and