ipl-logo

Themes In A Lesson Before Dying

880 Words4 Pages

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines is a novel based off the trials of being an African American in the South in the 1940s. The novel’s main conflict involves a young African American man, Jefferson, who is wrongfully accused of murdering and robbing a liquor store. Throughout the novel love is abundant and it comes in many forms and is a constant occurrence in the novel. The themes of love are teacher-to-student love, tough love, and passionate love. A teacher-to-student love is present throughout the novel A Lesson Before Dying. A teacher-to-student love is the type of love where the teacher is guides his or her students to reach the best of their abilities, to see them succeed. Grant Wiggins is an elementary school teacher for …show more content…

In working class areas, like Bayonne, tough love is what gets people ready for life will be like. People do not sugar-coat it, or their children will not survive. Grant shows tough love to his students at the school and to Jefferson because he wants them to achieve their potential before it is too late. Tante Lou expresses tough love throughout the entire novel to Grant. Tante Lou guilts Grant into helping Miss Emma with Jefferson. The reader also sees that Tante Lou is the women in charge because a few instances in the novel, Grant is put in his place by Tante Lou. Tante Lou corrects Grant in instances when he gets selfish and does not want to go visit Jefferson. Tante Lou shows that she cares about Grant, but she does through stern looks and guilt tripping him into doing things for her. Rev. Ambrose shows tough love to Jefferson and Grant. Rev. Ambrose knows Grant is a good person, but Grant is blinded by his own selfishness as seen in the end of the novel, when he does not want to tell Jefferson about salvation. Grant does not want to lie to Jefferson, but Rev. Ambrose calls Grant out. Rev. Ambrose is tough on Jefferson as well, because in the beginning of the novel, Jefferson seemed to give up hope. Rev. Ambrose in a way told him to buck up and be a man, but to also use God’s guidance. Rev. Ambrose used tough love to get his message across to Jefferson,

Show More
Related
682 Words | 3 Pages

This novel talks about how the jury wrongfully accused Jefferson of murdering Old Grope and the Bear Brother and later the jury assigns Jefferson a death penalty with the electric chair. Jefferson’s attorney has called Jefferson a hog and those words has haunted Jefferson in his mind. Miss Emma, Jefferson’s godmother, asks an educated teacher named Grant to help Jefferson to die like a man instead of a hog. Throughout this novel, Grant deals with a lot of responsibilities that’s being thrown at him such as helping Jefferson. A Lesson Before Dying has a universal theme of obligation because it is seen throughout the novel as it relates to Grant being forced to do things for the sake of others.

Read More
1113 Words | 5 Pages

In “A Lesson Before Dying”, there is a tension between how Grant sees himself and how others in his community see him. Grant has gone to a University and is now a teacher in the quarter where he grew up. To his community Grant is the most educated person in the quarter and is constantly being admired by them. Most of the admiration comes from Miss Emma in hopes that Grant can transform Jefferson into a man before he is executed. Miss Emma states, “I want the teacher visit my boy.

Read More
90 Words | 1 Pages

The young prophet, Imam Hussein once said, “death with dignity is better than love with humiliation.” In Ernest Gaines novel A Lesson Before Dying, presents the importance of dignity through the journey of a young black man and his wrongful conviction. The lesson that dignity comes from loving and being loved through the actions and thoughts of Grant Wiggins, Reverend Ambrose, and Jefferson is taught. Who these characters love, who they care for, and how and individuals that love them, define the dignity they feel and experience in their lives.

Read More
747 Words | 3 Pages

In Ernest Gaines’ novel A Lesson Before Dying he uses third person point of views to tackle the issues of racial injustice in the South during the 1940’s. The character Grant Wiggin’s understands that justice was claimed and could not change because of this he successful change Jefferson into a man. About justice showing the audience the significance of the novel as a whole, this novel teaches the reader that in order to make a change in the world they must change themselves or help one another, just like Grant did with Jefferson.        In this novel, Grant claims that he doesn’t care for justice because he knows that it wasn’t going to get severed.

Read More
670 Words | 3 Pages

The main conflict of the story is Grant convincing Jefferson that he is truly a man and that there is hope in the world. After Jefferson’s sentence is set, Jefferson doesn’t have hope for the world and thinks that he going to die anyways, so why care. Grant is teaching him that he can help others and that there is hope in the world and in the future. So, Grant is using character motivation to help Jefferson throughout the entire novel. The other literary term, diction, is repetition of a word to show its importance.

Read More
902 Words | 4 Pages

“We can’t heal the world today but we can begin with a voice of compassion, a heart of love, and an act of kindness.” This quote by Mary Davis encapsulates the essence of Gaines’ lesson on humanity in “A Lesson Before Dying,” emphasizing the crucial role of embracing each other with love and support to cultivate an improved society that is united. In the face of Jefferson’s oppressive circumstances and impending death sentence, Grant’s community urges him to guide Jefferson towards manhood, after Jefferson was called a hog, a responsibility initially resisted. However, as Grant reluctantly teaches Jefferson, a bond forms between them, leading to mature growth that inspire one another and the rest of the community. Gaines highlights the profound

Read More
1214 Words | 5 Pages

Jefferson was quickly sentenced guilty after being the only man left at a crime scene. After hearing the lawyer say that Jefferson was a hog, Miss Emma, who was Jeffersons godmother, needed to make sure that he knew he was dying a man, not a hog. Jefferson had taken these words to heart and it had not only hurt Jefferson but the African American society. It attacked their intelligence. The book teaches from a different perspective, unlike textbooks.

Read More
1268 Words | 6 Pages

Many influential figures in African American history were prevalent during this time period including Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, who were both involved in the civil rights movement during the mid-1950s. While attempting to make a man of Jefferson, Grant explains that having his current actions should make his ancestors proud instead of participating in the “vicious circle” of what seems to me normalcy (Gaines 62). The cruel cycle of regularity chosen by the superior race makes it difficult for an individual to do as they please without being judged. The demoralizing act of the superintendent inspecting the students’ hygiene is an example of the ruthless disrespect towards the families and the children’s’ morals, assuming that the African American race does not stand for anything and is not able to amount to half of what other races are capable of (Gaines 56). The same reasoning applies to the defense in the initial trial misnaming Jefferson as a “fool” and persuading the audience and jury that his only skills were “loading bales of cotton”

Read More
2126 Words | 9 Pages

In the second chapter, when Grant gets home from school, he tries to avoid talking to Miss Emma, but Tante Lou tells him that Miss Emma wanted to speak to him. He knew right away what she wanted him to do and he did not want to do it. He did not want to take on the responsibility of teaching

Read More
84 Words | 1 Pages

Change; it’s inevitable. It’s happening all around us at all times of the day. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, change is a significant part to the storyline. Grant Wiggins (a school teacher from Louisiana) wants nothing more than for things to change. He wants to run away from his job, his hometown.

Read More
1859 Words | 8 Pages

The overarching theme and lesson present in each text is responsibility and the lengths one is obligated or feels obligated to pursue to fulfill the engagements they are assigned. In A Lesson Before Dying, Grant is given the unpleasant task of connecting with a young man destined for death; yet, he continues the work because he feels a sense of duty if not for Jefferson, the accused murderer, then for his aunt and Jefferson’s Nannan. In an attempt to finally connect with the unreachable Jefferson, Grant speaks to Jefferson about his responsibility to himself and the entire African American population to stand tall and act like a ‘man’ while walking to his demise to prove that the white man was wrong about him. Grant states, “A hero does for others. He would do anything for people he loves, because he knows it would make their lives better.

Read More
1196 Words | 5 Pages

Normally in other cultures, the part a female plays in her community isn’t as highly regarded as in the African American community. Also, Grant and Jefferson become familiar of communal values that African American’s upheld themselves by observing the actions of a female in the colored world . Some of these are respecting elders and not degrading women just because white society see them as caretakers. To Blacks, ladies are wise and one of the main forces of change in the treatment their men receive from whites, as a result of these lessons, women expected the men to provide for

Read More
481 Words | 2 Pages

The white man? You want him to win?”(Gaines 84). Tante Lou, the second part of the triad, has different power from Grant. Tante Lou has coercive power which allows her to influence people's decisions by punishment or forced power. Since Tante Lou is Grant’s aunt, she is using her maternal influence with Grant to visit Jefferson in the prison.

Read More
828 Words | 4 Pages

When his godmother, Miss Emma learns of this, Grant begins to visit Jefferson in prison to make him a man. The importance of dignity is shown through the fact that Jefferson becomes a man through his own contemplation of life’s meaning and the actions of Grant. Jefferson becomes a man in part

Read More
691 Words | 3 Pages

Things like that.’” (Pg. 170) He does this and is immediately able to connect with Jefferson. This action helps Jefferson start along the path to knowing who he is and why he will die. Grant shows his strength in connection in this, which is something the Reverend just doesn’t have.

Read More

More about Themes In A Lesson Before Dying

Open Document