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“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” He should believe so, as Thomas Jefferson’s actions clearly characterize his individual self, while also inducing the question, Does Thomas Jefferson deserve the honor he possesses, through these eminent actions?
Hypocrisy is one of the worst moral crimes someone can commit. Benjamin Banneker's letter to Thomas Jefferson explains that he has committed this crime. He has gone back on his morale of everyone having unalienable rights by letting slavery continue to happen, and Banneker believes he is the prime contender in allowing this crime to happen and that he should be the start and make the move to stop slavery. Banneker explains this to Jefferson in such a way that the letter is both respectful and thoughtful while also being rude due to the use of how he phrases his sentences, that his argument can not be questioned because of his use of ‘Sir’ to show his respect, and his ardent choice of words which are all collectively used to explain how Jefferson is being hypocritical and show him why he should fix this.
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?...
In Ernest Gaines’ novel, A Lesson Before Dying, the author uses a third person point of view to assess the issue of racial injustice in the South during the 1940’s. Grant understands that justice is evaluated unfairly and knows that it does not favor the poor and uneducated black man. Due to Grant’s ability to be able to understand others, he successfully learns how to bring justice, while assisting Jefferson. This presents the audience the significance of the novel as a whole, embracing responsibility and facing injustice. Grant feels as if he shouldn’t feel obligated or pressured to help bring justice to Jefferson.
This passage shows how Grant was affected by these events. Grant had just recieved the news of Jefferson’s death, and if Grant had shown very little emotional connection to Jefferson thus far, and now with the word of his death, Grant is crying, showing an internal transition, to caring for Jefferson. Knowing that Jefferson’s situation was common to happen to people in the quarter growing up during this time, and that he was only teaching Jefferson to be a man because he had been asked to do so by Miss Emma, Grant had little reason to show emotions up till this point. This discovery of Grant’s true feelings for Jefferson is exciting to the reader, because it is now known that Grant is capable of having emotions for something he has been numb to for a while, because it has happened before to people in the quarter. The majority of the story, excluding chapter 29, is told from Grant’s perspective, and this allows us to really see how Grant is feeling.
This particular word choice accentuates the belief that Jefferson is simply too far below civilized humans to learn anything at all. It’s an important idea because it takes away all sense of humanity from the wrongfully accused man. Many believe the only difference between humans and every other animal lies in our ability to think critically, to learn and develop, but Jefferson is thought to not even possess that trait, making him indistinguishable from an animal. Essentially, word choices like these illustrate the societal notion that Jefferson is fundamentally inferior to humans, a way of thinking that is linked to skin tone throughout the story. Ernest Gaines also makes a point to open with words indicative of Grant’s aware, resigned attitude towards the oppression of colored people, which will later expand into the theme of fighting a seemingly hopeless battle to overcome societal expectations.
Grant recognizes that there was "no hate in his face—but Lord, there was pain." Hearing Jefferson's request to "Tell—tell the chirren thank you for the pe-pecans," Grant starts "grinning like a fool," and he "[wants] to throw [his] arms around him and hug him," feeling "like someone who had just found religion" while "[squeezing] his hand with both of mine" (Gaines, 247). The author creates vivid imagery to portray a powerful moment of connection and
When Grant was at the Rainbow Club there was a gentleman behind him making rude and hateful comments about Jefferson towards Grant and then Grant retaliated with this: “You shut up, or get up.” (199). At the Rainbow Club there was a white guy saying mean things about Jefferson and saying that he deserved to die and Grant had enough and did something that was unthinkable at that time. He wanted to fight him and that shows redemption because he stood up for and what he believed in. In the same way that Grant achieved redemption by standing up for Jefferson he also shows redemption by showing his determination to Jefferson.
A Lesson Before Dying: An Analysis of the Definition of Manhood A Lesson Before Dying is a historical novel written by Ernest J. Gaines. The novel is set in the late 1940s on a plantation in Louisiana. A young, black man known as Jefferson is wrongly convicted for murdering two white men. The main character is Grant Wiggins, a teacher at a church school. Grant is being forced by Jefferson’s Godmother, Miss Emma, to convince Jefferson that he is a man.
“Censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable. Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance .
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.
This proves how Jefferson meets the final quality of a champion of change because he recognized his activism and the effects it would have on people. Jefferson recognized his activism through asking the people to tell his Nannan he walked because he knew it was a serious matter to her. He knew that his Nannan wanted him to walk in order to prove he was as much of a man as anyone else in the room, and by asking the room to tell her, he acknowledged that him walking was proving his manhood to everyone. Jefferson met the qualities of effectively enacting change and recognizing his activism by showing his strength when he walked to his death in front of many white people and asking them to share his story. Jefferson is a champion of enacting change and recognizing what he’s
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.
Grant needs Jefferson more than Jefferson needs Grant, but they both do need one another. Grant needs someone to believe in and he finds that in Jefferson as they grow closer. From Jefferson's perspective, Grant could be considered a savior for him, making him understand that he didn't deserve to die, that he was an actual human being, not a hog. Both Grant and Jefferson find hope in one another, as well as the black community find hope in them. Jefferson's death would not go unnoticed or just passed off in the black community, it would mean something, and Grant is a significant reason for this.
His original goal was to help Jefferson become a man, but through the process, Grant grows as well. At the beginning of the novel, Grant often takes out his frustrations in the wrong ways, one being his attitude toward his students. He was very cold with them and didn’t care about their feelings, often thinking about himself before he thought about them. This is portrayed when, after comparing his students to Jefferson and vividly explaining how he’s going to die, he thinks to himself, “I knew that Jefferson was her cousin, but I didn’t apologize for what I had said, nor did I show any sympathy for her crying. ‘Either leave the class or stop crying,’ I told her again.
