The Theme Of Perfection In Ernest J. Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

Improved Essays
Although imprisonment is most commonly used to describe a person that is incarcerated, the term is also used when someone feels restricted and trapped in an emotional environment they cannot escape from. Ernest J Gaines’ novel, A Lesson Before Dying exemplifies a story in which imprisonment is a pervasive struggle throughout the lives of Grant and Jefferson. Grant and Jefferson, although never close, come from Black American families. These men come together and form a strong bond with one another when they spend a great deal of time together and develop love for each other. Their close relationship results in Grant willingly completing the task he initially is forced to do. The black heritage that Grant and the people in his community possess …show more content…
The black community in the novel, A Lesson Before Dying, has had to deal with being discriminated against and having their freedom limited all their lives. It is rare for a black American to be educated and speak English properly, so none of the white people in Grant’s area expect to come in contact with anyone that has these abilities. The black Americans are unable to work any other professional job except being a teacher, which results in their freedom being taken away from them. Grant explains to the superintendent of the school that, “ ‘ [he] [does] [not] have all the books [he] [needs]. In some classes [he] [has] two children studying out of one book. And even with that, some of the pages of the book are missing. [He] [needs] more paper to write on, [he] [needs] more chalk for the blackboards, [he] [needs] more pencils, [he] even [needs] a better heater.’ ” The superintendent, Dr. Joseph, responds with saying that, “ ‘ [they] [are] all in the same shape, Higgins’ ” (57). When the black American school’s superintendent, Dr. Joseph, comes to inspect the learning environment and how the students are progressing, Grant explains to the him that they are in need of supplies to help the students have a better learning experience. The superintendent tells Grant that the white schools are in the same condition and are also in need of supplies. He makes it seem that the black schools are receiving the same treatment as the white schools, and both Grant and the superintendent know that that was not true. The black schools are also not given as big of an opportunity to have the students become educated as the white schools, for they are given more supplies and learning resources. Having being lied to and not being given the same treatment as the white schools is an addition to what makes Grant feel emotionally imprisoned and “not

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Education in the United States went through great reform in the late 1800s to 1900s. Change didn’t come about easy and educational equality is still a popular debate today. Although educational change was talked about and seemingly in progress, equality still had a long way to go. Differences in racial and social classes became prevalent especially through schooling. Black Americans were limited and restrained with obstacles such as what schools they were allowed to attend, what classes they were to take, and by what the teachers were taught to educate on.…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a teacher, what can you do to help your students deal with this pressure? The history of African American’s is acknowledged to be one of the most unjust in society. Tracing back to the early 1600’s where slavery first surfaced, African Americans were brought to America to do free labor. In chapter three of Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality by Joel Spring, it is explained that education was highly denied to slaves due to fear that plantation owners had of a rise in rebellion against them.…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the book, A Lesson before Dying, Gaines portrays the physiological effect of discrimination using the African Americans community. Throughout the book, there are many examples of segregation such as the living quarters of the blacks were much worse than that of the whites. Not only is their housing bad, but also the schooling for the blacks were much worse than that of the whites. There were also verbal abuse of the blacks. For example, Jefferson was called a hog and id made Jefferson feel as though that he was an animal.…

    • 1246 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dignity is a quality that one learns that they are worthy of respect and honor. When people are treated like animals all their life, they tend to believe until they learn they have worth. In the novel, A Lesson Before Dying Jefferson, Grant, and Paul are characters who learn about dignity, self-worth and the hope for equality throughout Jefferson’s sentence and execution. Jefferson’s death sentence allows him to accept his own self-worth and helps him realize his value as a human; it also transforms Grant’s cynicism into hope for a better future where he and his community are treated equally.…

    • 1008 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As stated in The Challenge of Democracy, “Civil rights are powers or privileges that are guaranteed to the individual and protected against arbitrary removal at the hands of the government or other individuals.” (pg. 399). In the video, Eyes on the Prize Fighting Back, it talks about segregation in schools and how it began to ratify throughout schools slowly; however, there were certain cases that were presented in this video that went against the law and violated many of the black people’s rights because they were a different color compared to the whites. One of the most important cases, Brown v. Board of Education, ran by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to desegregate public schools. The Brown v. Board of Education had reached the Supreme Court by 1951.…

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Getting forced to work a case for a murderer is probably the hardest thing to do. Ernest J. Gaines was born in Louisiana. As a child, Gaines had always loved to write. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, Grant Wiggins is a hard working, African American teacher/lawyer and that everyone thinks is untrustworthy.…

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How can one you teach someone to be a man when you aren’t one yourself? For instance, in Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying, Grant Wiggins, black school teacher, acquires criticism for being ‘passive’. Meeting with the white superintendent, Dr, Joseph, Grant receives complaints, disapproval, and insults of Grant’s students, and even his name. Passively acting, like no true man would, Grant restrains from correcting another because he is scared of the consequences, he doesn’t tell the superintendent what is too much, and he surrenders after requesting for something he wants only once, and avoids demanding for something. You simply cannot call him anything but passive, a real man should not act passively.…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In A Lesson Before Dying, the theme of recognizing injustice and facing responsibility plays a major role in the novel. When Jefferson is misguided of a conviction he did not portray, it shapes the plot of how he significantly responds to justice. From the help of a friend, Grant, Jefferson finally finds and understands justice in himself not in the courtroom, literally, but morally as a man. Injustice is the central focus of the novel from the beginning to end. When Jefferson is awaiting his sentence in the courtroom, he does not have a voice to speak for himself as to why he is innocent in his conviction of murder.…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.” -Aristotle. The novel by Ernest J. Gaines titled A Lesson Before Dying is about the life of Jefferson, an uneducated black field worker in the late 1940s who is unfairly convicted and sentenced to death by electrocution. With regards to the accident, another man by the name of Grant Wiggins is obligated by both his aunt and Jefferson’s godmother to convince Jefferson that he is more than what he thinks he is before the day of his death. The theme of the novel is (relationships between the occurring characters as evidenced by the ongoing hatred of Grant given from Jefferson in the beginning, the equalness thought by Paul, and the complicated relationship between Grant…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Lesson before Dying is written by Ernest J. Gaines; this novel is a classical story. In this novel, Jefferson is spared by his attorney; the reader can understand that he would be a cruel when killing a man more than a hog. He feels bad himself when white men perceive the nature of blacks; the blacks are animals. Also, Jefferson releases that he haunts in his thinking, and his action seems to be a hog. He is very angry and denies talking others.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Lesson Before dying is a book by Earnest Gains that was first published in 1993, it is set in post second world war Louisiana; this book follows the narrator Grant Wiggins as he tries to convince a man on death roll of not dying as a hog, but as a man. There are many factors that play into this book 's success (for example: its written style) but the main reason is how well its setting ties into the central theme of facing racial injustice. The author 's use of events that can only be possible in the south during the late 1940s allows his readers to feel and understand more about the struggle of Negros of coping with injustice and overcoming it. These events are: Jefferson 's trial where the court sentences him to death and his actual execution.…

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Through my research I have found that Ernest Gaines and the protagonist in his novel, A Lesson Before Dying are very similar. They both live in Louisiana, are both black men who grew up on plantations post-slavery era, grew up impoverished, were raised by their aunts and both attended university. I do not believe that Gaines intent was to model Grant on his own life. Upon further research, I found that the novel was also loosely based on the non-fictional story of Willie Francis, a black man who was sentenced to death via the electric chair just like Jefferey. However, I do believe that Gaines used aspects of his own life to create Gaines and the setting of the story because he would able to tell and describe it more vividly than if he had…

    • 228 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One example this book shows is that the students of Cassie’s (main character) school were given used books and other school supplies from the white schools(Taylor). This just goes to show that the Board of Ed. and school officials don’t care too much for the black community so what they will do is give the kids hand me downs, and not to mention this is not the only thing the school doesn’t care about, as an example they don’t provide the black schools…

    • 1765 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The book in question, “Between the World and Me,” is not only detailing an important part of American History, but is also an engaging read that may enlighten some of the predominately wealthy and white students at this High School. The book is a wake up call written by a father to his son, explaining the difficulties of being black. It is an educational and emotional first hand account of the history of racism the modern United States. For the students at this school, most of which are…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Lesson Before Dying encompasses many messages and themes, but race is a glaring issue that is arduous to ignore, and it is evident that Gaines observed this impact of successful people and how the difference it made on the community. In the novel, prejudice against African Americans is prevalent and to alleviate the frustration of the thoughtless ignorance of others, community members looked to sports…

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics