Two works of literature can convey the same theme, but have completely different story lines. Although they have their similarities, in this case, the message that is conveyed, the difference lies in the role of the characters and how they take the message and roll with it. In the novels, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, they convey multiple similar themes but are very different because of the characters’ attitudes towards the different conflicts. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel told from a perspective of a grown southern woman, Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, who experiences racism as a young girl and hardly deals with it emotionally. The novel starts out with the fact that Jeremy "Jem" Finch, …show more content…
The plaintiff, Bob Ewell, threatens Atticus in downtown and instead of attacking Atticus himself, he attacks his children at night when they are walking back from the Halloween pageant, and this attack leads to the fracture of Jem's arm. A Lesson Before Dying is a novel told from the perspective of an African-American teacher, Grant Wiggins, whose mission is to teach an imprisoned African-American, Jefferson, that he is a man and not a “hog”. The two novels have very similar themes, which are courage and injustice, but the difference between both novels is the characters’ attitudes.
In both stories, the way the themes are portrayed and the way the characters feel about it and use it is similar, too. At the beginning of A Lesson Before Dying, Tante Lou and Miss Emma talk to Grant about teaching Jefferson in the cell and they have a conversation in which they say, “...And I can’t raise the dead. All I can do is try to keep others from ending up like this-but he’s gone from us…” (14). At first Grant is very doubtful about going to change Jefferson’s mind because he thinks that it is unnecessary since he is going to the electric chair; either way Grant goes to teach Jefferson, which in turn shows how courageous he is for taking the time to teach