Summary Of A Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines

In the analysis of Jeffrey Folks’s “Communal Responsibility in Ernest J. Gaines’s A Lesson Before Dying,” Folks attests that although A Lesson Before Dying is fictional literature, the exploration of the nature of morality and in its social and individual aspects are authentically inspired by Gaines. In fact, within the actual text, Gaines applies knowledge and personal experience to the plot of discovering answers to the complex problems associated with relationships, reconciliation, and redemption. “As an African-American writer who focuses on the problem of representing a coherent cultural tradition, Gaines has faced the central problem of the African-American Diaspora, in which a coherent African folk culture was fractured by removal …show more content…
Metaphorically traced as his diary, Gaines uses simple characters to reveal and address real complex issues. A Lesson Before Dying is about more than the challenges associated with being black in a Eurocentric society. Gaines positions the story within the context of the African American experience, but its central theme investigates what it means to be human. What is Superman’s purpose if he only saves himself? Education, love, blessings, support, and legacy are meant to be shared, recycled, and redistributed; it’s the cycle of life – the ultimate communal