A Lesson Before Dying Literary Analysis

•“She was not even listening. She had gotten tired of listening. She knew, as we all knew, what the outcome would be. A white man had been killed during a robbery, and thought two of the robbers had been killed on the spot, one had been captured, and he, too, would have to die” (4). This quote is important because it allows me to understand that Jefferson has to die because he was the only person in the liquor store and was a black man.

Grant wants Jefferson to understand that by holding his head up high, he could make Tante Lou and Miss Emma happy because even though Jefferson may act differently, he still loves them and would do anything for them. This is Jefferson’s chance to prove everyone, including himself, that he has what it takes to stay strong as he marches towards his death. It will not only impact Jefferson’s immediate family but the surrounding community as well. More importantly, it will be standing up against the whites, a task that Grant was unable to do. Grant does his best to enlighten Jefferson of this opportunity he has.

Jefferson took those words, that his defense attorney said, to heart. It isn't shown that he believes otherwise until his diary entry at the end of the book. “good by mr wiggins tell them im strong… sincely jefferson.” (234.) He takes a while to believe what Grant has been saying because he was always told by so many white folks that he wasn't good enough.

He is different from other men. He is above other men.” (pg. 191) This quote shows that Jefferson has the ability to challenge the white people’s small minded opinions and be a symbol of hope to his community. It is clear that Grant was able to make his point when Jefferson accepts the food given by Miss Emma.

Not knowing his friends would do this, Jefferson has no choice but to take cover and hope for the best. Relying on nothing but prayers, Jefferson makes it out alive and is left to answer for the actions of his friends. Later on Jefferson is taken to jail, where the judge will make his ruling on what punishment he will be receiving for the actions of the shooting and robbery. “Twelve white men say a black man must die, and another white man sets the date and time without consulting one black person. Justice? …”

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 “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.

Jefferson learns, with the help of Grant, that his life is worth something. When Grant first meets Jefferson after he is put in jail, Jefferson feels hopeless and that he is not worth anything. At first, Jefferson doesn’t know how to act or how to feel when visitors would come to the jail. The first time Grant and Jefferson’s Godmother, Miss Emma, come

Jefferson is calm because he now knows that he has a month to live. Before he would act like an animal and eat his grandma’s food off the floor and say things like “Im an old hog” and “I’m going to show you how a old hog eat” (Gaines 83). He even said rude things about Grant’s Girlfriend. In the first few visits his replies were very hostile but now they are more lax.

In that period of time frame you no 2nd or 1st person pronouns would be lucky to even have any education. They even argued on Jefferson offensce that he avoid contractions isn’t even smart / intelligent enough to even rob a store. “ a hog in an electric chair” (citation needed; Author’s last name and page #) Is what they referred to Jeff when they decided to give him the death penalty. Black men didn’t have any chance against the justice system back in that time because they were too uneducated to have any defensce for themselves. Jefferson couldn’t even make a statement that could even prove his

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.

In multiple letters and notes he wrote he expressed his guilt for the slaves and once the slaves paid off their debt and Jefferson’s he hoped to free them. Jefferson and his slaves remained in debt until the day he died. Jefferson believed that slavery not only deprived blacks of their liberty but had an “unhappy” influence on the masters and their children (Takaki 63). If a master is constantly punishing a slave and cannot restrain, the child’s master will imitate and master it, resulting in a nonstop cycle of slavery.

“Am I supposed to tell someone how to die who has never lived?” 31 Grant uses an apostrophe to convey the impact of the situation of changing Jefferson from a hog to a man. 15. “We’re teachers, and we have a commitment…. Commitment to what—to live and die in this hellhole, when we can leave and live like other people?”

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.

As his teacher Mathew Antoine said, ' 'There was no future for black people in the society. ' ' Also, Grant did not believe that he could change Jefferson in any way. He also thought that he was going to die,