Commitment In A Lesson Before Dying

Sometimes individuals must face tasks that might be against their will, but agreements made in life are promises that people have to follow up on. When an individual has an emotional attachment to something they must do, it becomes a commitment. Ernest J. Gaines’ novel, A Lesson Before Dying, tells the story of Jefferson, an uneducated, young black man, and Grant Wiggins, a male school teacher, who both struggle in a racist southern community. Living in Louisiana in the 1940s, blacks lead lives that are viewed as minor from a white’s perspective. Although Grant has duties that must be fulfilled for the benefit of himself and others, he finds them difficult because he feels irrelevant to the world. Grant initially feels obligated to see Jefferson …show more content…
Grant feels trapped in the community. His education causes him to see himself as superior to other black men. He teaches students at a local plantation but he does not find his job to be rewarding. Grant “[knows] who would say what, just as [he] [knows] what each child [will] wear to school, and who [will] or [will] not know his or her lesson” (34). The lack of change throughout the years among the students makes Grant feel worthless. After working men bring wood to the school, Grant instructs his students to go cut the wood. As he watches the children he thinks to himself, “[the students] are fifty years younger, maybe more, but doing the same thing those old men did who never attended school a day in their lives. Is it just a vicious circle? Am I doing anything?” (62). Despite the fact that Grant is a respectable, educated black man in society, he feels as though he needs to escape in order to make a difference in the world. However, being with Jefferson and teaching him how to live a purposeful life changes his point of view on education. When Grant goes back to the classroom full of students after he receives the news that Jefferson is dead, “[he] went up to the desk and turned to face [the students]. [Grant] was crying” (256). It is not only Jefferson’s death that has emotionally affected Grant, but also the change that he has made on Jefferson. He realizes that although Jefferson would not …show more content…
At first when Grant runs away from the south to go to California, he realizes how great life is versus the racist south. He wondered what kind of God would allow blacks to be so inferior to whites. When he returns to the south to live with his aunt, she pushes him to go to church. He feels like he 's “running in place” (15). The huge difference for blacks in California versus the south make Grant lose religion. That is until he finds himself through Jefferson. Jefferson’s miraculous change in jail from being withdrawn in society to believing in his self worth makes Grant realize what a huge impact Jefferson has. Grant teaches Jefferson that “[he] can be bigger than anyone [he] [has] ever met” (193). Jefferson is seen as a Christ figure by the black community. People look to him for saving. Grant knows how influential Jefferson can be if he holds his head high and shows the whites that “[he] [is] as much a man- more a man than [the whites] can ever be” (192). After being with Jefferson and coursing him throughout the last months of his life, Grant realizes that God helps in smaller ways like with Jefferson and saving him from being sullen rather than big ways like abolishing racism in the