In a novel in which the inciting incident is the utterance of a single word – “hog”, it should come as no surprise that Ernest J. Gaines in A Lesson Before Dying uses numerous single words as motifs that convey multiple layers of meaning within the story itself and beyond. Simple words such as “sit”, “stand”, and “wait” Gaines uses to tell the story - but also to evocatively carry the freight of the Jim Crow era. Each single word is a keyhole which the reader can peer into both conflict and theme. Choose one word from the novel that you think is the best word to convey an aspect of either the conflict any of the characters are facing or the larger conflict of the Jim Crow era. Write a short paper of no less than 450 words and no more than
