Examples Of Justice In A Lesson Before Dying

Throughout A Lesson Before Dying, a novel by Ernest J. Gaines, multiple characters give and share unique ideas of the justice (or injustice) they witness Jefferson face, or that they themselves have. Grant, the main protagonist, at first, does not necessarily hunt for justice like his aunt, Tante Lou, or Miss Emma does, and instead harbors his own resentments towards the “justice” that the white men give. Over time however, Grant searches for his own ideal of justice that does not completely begrudge against the whites and by the end of the story, Grant builds Jefferson into an inspirational figure of justice who stands against the dehumanization from the whites, but also encourages Grant into believing the idea of justice itself. At the start of the novel, Grant already possesses bitterness towards the injustice from the white court system, since he, “did not hear the verdict, [yet he] knew all the time what it would be.” Even before Jefferson’s trial, Grant recognized that the biased jury would sentence Jefferson to death, just as a punishment towards the black community rather than the fair trial that a white man would receive. While this trauma bruised the community, they took more of an outrage at Jefferson’s dehumanization that the defense attorney himself used as a morbid and ineffective defense. To Grant however, the dehumanization merely intensified his anger, and justified (in his eyes) his mounting hatred for the white justice system. Later, his rage surged when …show more content…
While invigorating Jefferson into becoming a messiah, Grant slowly begins to accept that justice can come to blacks, albeit far into the future. Eventually when Jefferson dies, Grant accepts that justice will come, just not in his lifetime, and finally finds at least one belief to