An Analysis Of Lessons Learned In Ernest Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

Throughout the course of someone’s life, he or she may learn many lessons stemming from the act of teaching. Lessons can also be taught and learned through reading. In Ernest J. Gaines’ novel, A Lesson Before Dying, many lessons can be taught and acquired through knowledge. In the novel, the most important lesson to learn is realizing the struggle and conflict of racism in the past. Racism is brought up over and over throughout the novel and is continuously ignored by the white population in the community. Racism is shown when Jefferson is wrongly convicted of murder during a liquor store shootout, the power and conflict between one race over another, and lastly, the injustice of the black community. To begin, Jefferson is innocently convicted of a murder he did not partake in. In the beginning of the novel Jefferson gets caught up in an unlucky situation and is wrongly convicted of a murder he did not commit because of the colour of his skin. After being held captive by authorities, a reporter says, “A white man had been killed during a robbery, and though two of the robbers had been killed on the spot, one had been captured, and he, too, would have to die” (1.1). The murders in this case, were killed because of the death of a white man which proves racism plays a factor in his conviction. …show more content…
Racism is presented when Jefferson is wrongly convicted for a crime he did not commit, the power and conflict of the white people over the black, and the injustice of the black populace in the community. In the novel, A Lesson Before Dying, the most important and valuable lesson to learn is understanding the struggles and conflicts of living as a black person in the past. Many people fight for acceptance and many people die for acceptance, in this case, Jefferson was unjustifiably killed because of racism, but he was accepted into the community more than anyone could have