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Significance Of Society In Ernest J. Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

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A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines depicts how individuals assert the significance of their lives in a society that appears to devalue them. It furthers into ways the characters Grant and Jefferson find meaning and purpose in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges and societal oppression. The characters learned the importance of striving forward through difficult circumstances with the assistance of each other. The lessons acquired from A Lesson Before Dying are also supported through Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay. These texts are comparable to A Lesson Before Dying through the themes they hold. Grant gained an understanding of humanity through his interactions with Jefferson. The lesson …show more content…

The white people out there are saying that you don’t have it—that you’re a hog, not a man. But I know they are wrong. You have the potential. We all have, no matter who we are”(Gaines 191). Grant conversates with Jefferson, teaching him the meaning of certain words and lessons while also connecting with him in order to alter Jefferson’s perception. Jefferson comprehends that by dying like a man, he will challenge the unjust society that falsely condemned him because of his dark complexion. Through his interactions with Grant, Jefferson gained a profound understanding of his own humanity, refusing to let the white people define his identity. Invisible Man depicts the developing theme of isolation through the narration of invisibility. It portrays someone who has lost part of their identity through the inattention of the society that surrounds them. He is not choosing to be invisible, but rather is being forced into this state by society. “It is sometimes advantageous to be unseen, although it is most often rather worn on the nerves. Then too, you’re constantly being bumped against by those with poor vision. Or again, you often doubt if you really exist” …show more content…

Jefferson is physically isolated from his community, being falsely convicted and locked away from society. Both characters share a connection to the theme of isolation in Invisible Man, as they also question their presence and value in society. “If We Must Die” depicts the feeling of violence, dignity, and the act of resisting oppression. The structure of the poem addresses specific issues through repetition and then directly addresses the suggested action that needs to be taken.“If we must die, let it not be like hogs”(Mckay). The initial line suggests that in the worst predicament, may it not be devoid of significance, indicating the loss of their humanity. “Though far outnumbered let us show us brave, / And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!”(Mckay). This line directly addresses the action that needs to be taken in order to not die in vain. In correlation to A Lesson Before Dying, the poem depicts a conversation between Grant and Jefferson. In one of the visits between them, Grant conversates with Jefferson about the importance of his death in their

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This passage reveals the underlying causes of Grant’s anxiety about teaching Jefferson his final lesson. His own education has been based on mastering the cultural vocabulary of white America, and although he is respected in the quarter for his high level of academic achievement, Grant knows that he is only helping to perpetuate this system. Although he wants to help his students avoid the pitfalls of being black and poor in the deep South, he feels ill-equipped to do this despite his academic pedigree. This is one of Jefferson’s first pieces of dialogue that does not relate to him being a hog.

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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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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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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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Ellison shows the reader through his unique characters and structure that we deny ourselves happiness, tranquility, and our own being by the ridicule of other people, and that we must meet our own needs by validating ourselves from within instead of our value being a composite of the society that ridicules our being. Ellison's own struggle and connection to mental intemperance is the one of his great differences in the world to us and to see someone else's struggle puts our own life in context. In Invisible Man a single takeaway of many is that society turns us invisible, a part of its overall machine, but we have to learn not to look through ourselves in times of invisibility and not confuse our own blindness for invisibility as one may lead to the

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