What Is The Theme Of Prejudice In A Lesson Before Dying

Improved Essays
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines takes place in the 1940’s, a time period of segregation. This was a time when blacks were often at fault for a crime they did not commit, such as what transpired in this book. A man named Jefferson was convicted of a crime he did not commit and was insulted during court. Now his family, friends, and even Jefferson himself were trying to prove the white community wrong about their beliefs that a black man is unequal and lacks dignity for both Jefferson and the black community. Not only was Jefferson going through a period of suffering on death row, but others, like Grant Wiggins and Miss Emma, were also facing their struggles as they would attempt to disprove those against them and redeem themselves …show more content…
Jefferson went to court after being accused of a crime. What was stated in court about Jefferson was, “What justice would there be to take this life? Justice gentlemen? Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this.” (Gaines 8). This is where the majority of Miss Emma’s sufferings throughout the novel came from. She was upset about this comment herself, however, she was more concerned about how Jefferson felt after hearing it. Miss Emma said, “I want a man to go to that chair, on his own two feet” (Gaines 13). Miss Emma was worried due to the fact that she does not want Jefferson to take to heart what the white people said in court. As stated in Manhood in A Lesson Before Dying by Philip Auger, “The way in which Tante Lou, Miss Emma, and Reverend Ambrose learn to deal with such oppression is through their faith and in the institution of religion” (Auger 77). These three turned to religion to help them find faith in this difficult time. Miss Emma relates to the premise of The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot in the way that people need to give alms, show sympathy, and learn self-control. For these three the only thing to keep them sane and believing that he will die a man is by showing sympathy and giving him the support he needs to become a man. Miss Emma is worried that he will remain the “hog” they called him in court and not die with …show more content…
Grant felt that he would not be able to transform Jefferson into a man when he died and yet he did. The talk he had with Jefferson in Chapter 24, “I want you to show them the difference between what they think you are and what you can be,” enlightened Jefferson and made him ease up on being tenacious. Jefferson was able to overcome his suffering and make a man of himself before he walked to his execution. Grant gave Jefferson a journal before his execution date arrived and in that journal Jefferson wrote “Good by mr. wigin tell them im strong tell them im a man” (Gaines 234). Not only did this mean that Jefferson redeemed himself after what was said about him, but Grant redeemed himself too. Grant felt that he would not be able to change Jefferson into a man when he died, however, he managed to after all. In the process, he also redeemed himself because he proved everyone wrong who told him that this would be a lost cause and that it would be impossible to change someone like Jefferson. Ernest Gaines said “What I tried to do in A Lesson Before Dying was to show the growth of two people, both a student as well as a teacher” ("NEA Big Read: Meet Ernest Gaines"). This showed that not only was this redemption for Jefferson but Grant as well. Another comment stated by Ernest Gaines was “Grant will become a better teacher and remain there to teach, to marry Vivian, and he will teach the children” ("NEA Big

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    The novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines reflects the type of life people of color had in the South. The novel explores the unjust and discriminatory system blacks lived under by narrating the story of a young black man, Jefferson, who was unrightfully convicted and sentenced to death. Since the beginning of the novel, the system dehumanizes and emasculates male characters, and it continues to be seen throughout the novel. The most affected being Jefferson, Grant, and Reverend Ambrose. Although they are dehumanized and emasculated, they find a way to express their humanity,…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Gaines describes him, “Jefferson had not been chained before, and he took long steps that caused him to trip, my aunt said. He came to the table like somebody half blind, and he didn’t sit down until Paul told him to do so” (Gaines 111). Later on he reiterates, “And I heard the chains out along the cellblock before I saw anyone. Then they came in, Jefferson in front,…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Imprisoned There are different ways that a person can be imprisoned. They do not always have to be physically in jail to feel racially, mentally and emotionally damaged by the environment in which they live. Ernest J. Gaines’s novel, A Lesson Before Dying, follows the intelligent Grant Wiggins as he tries to bring a “sense of humanity” to a wrongly convicted Jefferson. Grant Wiggins is a teacher at a local, all black plantation school.…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He attempted to draw emotional support from Jefferson. Banneker asked Jefferson to step in his shoes, to go back to that “State of Servitude” and see the “injustice of a state of slavery.” He also questioned Jefferson’s authority and honesty. Banneker reminded him that if he supports the “state of slavery,” he may as well have been “found guilty” of the “most criminal act,” the very same one that he had so “professedly detested.” Banneker calls Jefferson’s acts “pitiable.”…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The two novels; A Lesson Before Dying, Devil in a Blue Dress, and the play, Fences, all share similar lessons and themes. A Lesson Before Dying is about a young, African American man, Jefferson, who is falsely convicted of murder and sentenced to death in the late 1940s. Jefferson 's aunt and godmother ask Grant Wiggins, the town’s teacher, to give Jefferson lessons and knowledge before he dies. Devil In a Blue Dress takes place in the late 1940s, and is about an African American man, and war veteran, named Easy Rawlins. In the novel, Easy recently lost his job and is looking for a way to pay his mortgage.…

    • 1319 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 1298 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The principle of human dignity is one of the core principles of the doctrines of ethics and Christianity. The concept of human dignity plays a central role in the standard. Every human has the basic rights in respect of both himself and by others. Human dignity is possessing strong morals and being in a worthy state of respect and honor. Dignity involves respect and compromise among the people in society.…

    • 947 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
  • Improved Essays

    A great number of problems were faced by blacks in the late 1940s, which was when Jim Crow was strictly enforced and there was a new growth in the Pro- Civil Right Era. For blacks, everyday life was spent in hostile environments surrounded by conflict and injustice. The author of A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest J Gaines, created a fictional town with characters that embodied the struggles black people went through during this time period. Gaines sets the story in a fictional town known as Bayonne, Louisiana, on a cane-plantation, and it is narrated in first person from the perspective of Grant Wiggins. Throughout the story things are seen from Grant’s perspective, but the novel is about Jefferson’s story.…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Is he a man?”(Gaines 190). Jefferson had thought of himself as a hog just because a white man said so and because of that he believed it. Grant thought that Jefferson is a man and he is not just a hog. Grant also taught him how white people are not superior to black people and how he should help “chip away at that myth”. Jefferson ultimately did this by thinking of himself as a man and going up to the chair as a man.…

    • 1321 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Theme Of Injustice In A Lesson Before Dying

    • 1739 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 4 Works Cited

    However, he changes his logic while he speaks for Jefferson. He gives the juries the reason why they do not need to kill Jefferson. Jefferson is innocent because he is as ignorant as a hog and not useful as much as a hog. Then, he asks for "mercy."…

    • 1739 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 4 Works Cited
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Human Indignity “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.” (Martin Luther King Jr) Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J Gaines, and Fences by August Wilson are all pieces that are set in the South during the darkest times of segregation and racial violence. Devil in a Blue Dress takes place in 1948, a time where blacks are neither accepted nor enslaved. Although they are not necessarily slaves they are still far from being treated as equals. The main character, Easy, struggles to make a living and also cannot handle the segregation in the south, so he finds himself living in L.A. searching for a woman named Daphne Monet while getting…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What would you do as an African American in a racially segregated community, watching each generation fail to overcome the limitations set by an oppressive society? Ernest J. Gaines addresses this struggle in his novel A Lesson Before Dying. An African American school teacher, Grant Wiggins living in the Jim Crow South, is forced to help a young African American boy, Jefferson, who is wrongly accused of murder. Grant is asked to help him regain his dignity before the execution. As Grant is visiting Jefferson, Grant’s bitter and cynical view of the future of the African Americans in his community turns to hopefulness and compassion.…

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ernest Gaines a Lesson Before Dying is a novel which setting takes place in a time of discrimination for many African Americans in the south. The novel two main characters are Grant a well-educated black man who is a teacher and Jefferson a young black man who is accused of a heinous crime and is on death row. The Novel also has other main characters who play important roles in the story such as Tante Lou - Grant’s aunt and Miss Emma Jefferson’s godmother. The reader can witness that that Grant and Jefferson both undergo significant transformations through the novel. Jefferson’s transformation was even apparent to the guard whom at the end of the story who admits being a witness the progression of Jefferson.…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays