A Lesson Before Dying Literary Analysis

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Literary Criticism Paragraph In the book A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, the motif of a hog and unequal treatment between races is highlighted when read through an economic and political lens. The book takes place in a small Cajun community in the 1940’s. The characters face lots of discrimination by the white people in their town, and get significantly less opportunities. Jefferson was wrongly convicted of murder and was given the death penalty. Grant is asked by his aunt to educate Jefferson before his time is up. This brings up the question of “How does an educated black man who struggles to construct his subjectivity help another scarcely literate black man face an unjustifiable execution with dignity” (Thompson 279). It is
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