A Lesson Before Dying Injustice Analysis

In A Lesson Before Dying, the theme of recognizing injustice and facing responsibility plays a major role in the novel. When Jefferson is misguided of a conviction he did not portray, it shapes the plot of how he significantly responds to justice. From the help of a friend, Grant, Jefferson finally finds and understands justice in himself not in the courtroom, literally, but morally as a man. Injustice is the central focus of the novel from the beginning to end. When Jefferson is awaiting his sentence in the courtroom, he does not have a voice to speak for himself as to why he is innocent in his conviction of murder. Not only does he not have a voice in his own conviction, but in reality, everyone in the courtroom knew what the outcome of the trial would be because of the color of Jefferson’s skin. This comes to show how injustice is depicted in the novel and how it reflects on understanding justice towards the end.
In the beginning of the novel, the public defender refutes the prosecutor’s claim against Jefferson by responding, “Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the eletric chair as this.” Not …show more content…
Throughout those visits, Grant gives and ensures the ability for Jefferson to become accessible to others outside the jailhouse as Grant gives the latest news of when “Stella had her baby” and giving him a radio to listen to music and late night talk shows. When the visits come closer to an end, Grant gives Jefferson a diary to write down his feelings that he had or anything that came to mind. In the diary, Grant talks about Grant’s assertion that he is better than the white people think. That he is in fact a man, not a hog. When Jefferson is given the diary, he begans to realize what justice is and how all this time he has thought so little of himself. He understands justice morally that he is a human being and he is as equal as the