1. Write a summary of the author’s personal life.
Ernest J. Gaines was born in 1933 in a small town in pointe coupee parish, Louisiana. Gaines became a brilliant writer during the 1940’s His novels focused on the difficulties African American faced in the 1940’s. All his novels were set where he lived and based on his experiences as a young man. In the novel “ A Lesson Before Dying” show the tension inherent in the lives of African American. Gaines highlights how the pull away from the south divided blacks from his or her heritage.
2. What were the major literary elements found in the novel: conflict, Characters(s), setting, or theme. The main conflict of “A Lesson Before Dying” lies within Grant himself. Grant struggles to cope