Racism In Ernest Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying

“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn 't matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong”(Muhammad Ali). In this novel racism is the theme of the story, every event that happens is because of how racist people were at that time. The time the novel is based on was a really hard time for America, specially for African Americans, it was the time of the Jim Crow Laws, where African Americans were supposed to be free but they weren’t. Ernest Gaines was born and raised in Louisiana, where most of his novels take place, Gaines also worked in the plantations and attended the college of San Francisco where he got many rewards.(Fiero) In A Lesson Before Dying, Jefferson is sentenced to death because he was in the wrong …show more content…
He describes a setting of a place were racism is very present and in general a really sad town. An example of that is how Grant describes the town, “There, instead of houses and trees, there were fishing wharves, boat docks, nightclubs, and restaurants for whites. There were one or two nightclubs for colored, but they were not very good”(Gaines). Here Grant expresses how much he dislikes the town where he is, and how many privileges there were for white people and not for black. In an article Fiero says, “Gaines takes his reader back to a time when racial segregation was both legan and endemic in the South, a time when black people could barely hope for recognition of their humanity, much less find justice in a court of law”(Fiero). Fiero here emphasizes on the segregation that was at the time, how it influenced te social and legal life of the African American community. Gaines uses the setting to immerse the audience in the story and also helps them understand the situation the characters are …show more content…
At one point, Dr. Joseph, the superintendent of schools, is on his annual visit and Grant said the following, “I do the best I can with what I have to work with, Dr. Joseph,” I said, “I don 't have all the books I need. In some classes I have two children studying out of one book. And even with that, some of the pages in the book are missing. I need more paper to write on, I need more chalk for the blackboards pencils, I even need a better heater”(Gaines). Here Grant expresses his frustration to his superior, but he cannot help him, all the good resources go to the white schools. In an article Knopf says, “He is convinced that his efforts to educate the children of the quarter are an exercise in futility. That he is required by social convention to conceal the signs of his own education when talking to white people intensifies his sense of hopelessness. He lives, therefore from moment to moment, in a constant, barely repressed awareness of his importance”(Knopf). He explains how Grant doubts himself, and how he feels that he isn 't helping his students. Grant gets frustrated because he doesn 't get the resources to do his job because they are African Americans, and white people get all they