Ernest J. Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

ALBD essay Imagine how you would feel if you were to be sentenced to death for a crime you did not commit. It would be such a hard experience and something that would be hard to grasp and accept. Think about the people you would need with you to help you to accept your fate and become strong and brave. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, By Ernest J. Gaines, Jefferson, a young black man is sentenced to death after before falsely accused of murder. This book is about the people including Grant Wiggins, a teacher, who help to make Jefferson a man before he dies. Although Grant and Reverend Ambrose both have the goal of making Jefferson a man by the end of his life, their different ways of teaching him caused reverend ambrose to come out stronger because he puts his faith into something bigger than himself and chooses to have hope for the future and life after life. This helps him to make Jefferson strong in the hardest times. Both Grant …show more content…
-"I would not have been able to stand...He will be strong. He is going to use their God to give him strength" (pg 249). This shows that Grant believes that Reverend Ambrose's spiritual beliefs have helped him to succeed in life in stay strong in the hardest of times, which Grant has not been able to do. “Why wasn’t I there? Why wasn’t I standing beside him? Why wasn’t my my arm around him? Why?” Another quote is that ,“I told them that at exactly twelve o’clock they would all get down on their knees and remain on their knees until I heard from the courthouse, whether that took an hour, an hour and a half, or three hours (page 246). This shows that although grant was not there he told his children to pray which shows that he dealt with his emotions in the different way. Even though he was not physically there with Jefferson, he still shows he cared through having his children pray and also by talking to Paul after Jefferson died about his