A Lesson Before Dying Personification Analysis

Marcos Nogueira Wrt 110 Dr.Ted Wojtasik November 25, 2015 A Lesson Before Dying Summary “A lesson Before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines’s fifth adult novel, is the Louisiana write’s most compelling work to date. Gaines worked on this book for almost ten years, doing most of the writing in San Francisco during the summer months between stints as professor on the English Facult at the University of Southwestern Louisiana and engagementelsewhere.” Gaines, Ernest J. A Lesson Before Dying. NY: Knopf, 1993.

Ernest J. Gaines is a man who stands out as a great author. Basing his books off of his real-life experiences and cultural background, his works are genuinely fascinating to explore. In A Lesson Before Dying, many themes have been established. From topics like racism to injustice to education, this book never fails to lose the reader’s interest. With Gaines’ intelligent methods of gauging at different thoughts of characters through diary excerpts, exploring the use of a narrator with a first-person point of view, and sufficiently telling a story with a chronological order, he establishes himself as an effective storyteller who displays the ability to make his work feasible.

The novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines contains a powerful story of racial bigotry in the southern United States. After being found at the scene of a robbery turned murder, a young black man named Jefferson is tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death. Jefferson’s godmother, Miss Emma Glenn, asks the teacher, Grant Wiggins, to teach Jefferson how to die like a man. Ernest J. Gaines uses motifs such as constructive lying, small displays of power, and Christian imagery in his novel, A Lesson Before Dying. One motif in Gaines’ novel is constructive lying.

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.

The United States is starting to live to its true meaning about how this is a country of the free and that everyone is equal with guaranteed rights. President Obama said in his speech celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Our work is not done. And so on this day, in which we celebrate a man and a movement that did so much for this country.” This quote shows how the nation has been changed so much throughout the years, but that there is still work that needs to be accomplished in order to truly be a freed nation. I agree that the nation is already equal and free, but I also believe that there is still work that needs to be accomplished to ensure that everyone in the nation is satisfied.

Gaines’s utilization of symbolism over the course of his

A good example of personification would be "as soon as he beckoned, I ran" because the author Donald justice is referring to death as a person. Another example

ESLR Intro: TKAM: In To Kill a Mockingbird the author uses motifs concerning misunderstandings in order to show that African Americans were mistreated. For example, when everyone placed sides against Tom Robinson just because he was black (Lee 128).

Bianca Galloro Mrs. Galloro ENG3UE-12 July 14TH, 2016 Literary Essay The book, “A lesson Before Dying” brings up many vital thoughts. It makes people think about life and its importance, about relationships, behaviors and about the present and past. Ernest J. Gaines novel teaches people to recognize the injustice in a community and to stand up to better the situation. He teaches to accept the past and face what is in front of you.

A month after Abraham Lincoln became president of the United States. He was pursing to abolish slavery on December 6, 1864. This was known as the 13th amendment. Lincoln did purse abolishing slavery even though he was executed in April. On December 18th, this amendment was authorized.

The author uses personification to show how the expression on Cooper 's face made Sawyer feel bad. A facial expression can not physically tug at someone 's heart which is why it is personification. Sawyer caught Cooper roaming the halls and asked what he was doing. Cooper said that he was board in trig. He took the long way to the bathroom to take up time.

“The house shuddered, oak bone on bone, its bared skeleton cringing from the heat, its wire, its nerves revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins and capillaries quiver in the scalded air.” (Bradbury 291) Was a quote from the Story There Will Come Soft Rains. This is showing how the house is moving and is still working even without humans living in it. This example is all personification because it says how the house has bone and the skeleton cringe. Obviously Houses don't have bones, or a skeleton, and, veins.

There is a large amount of literary devices in this book. Imagery is an example. “On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees-willows

In the book Watership Down, I noticed Richard Adams (author) used metaphors and similes. For example "It took Hazel some trouble to learn to grip half a carrot in his mouth and carry it, like a dog, across the field and back to the warren”(87). Richard Adams was very good with imagery as he was very descriptive of the setting and characters having good imagery. Richard Adams used personification. There was foreshadowing in the book and what Richard Adams would do he would put a quote in the beginning of each chapter that gives a hint on what will happen later in the chapter.

At the beginning of the year, I knew next to nothing about literary devices. I had heard of them because my previous teachers had mentioned them, but I'd never had to really use them in depth. This year as a reader, my understanding of devices assisted me in my reading. In past years, my teachers had asked me to find an example of personification in our books, but I had never understood them