Death In A Lesson Before Dying

Words: 622
Pages: 3
Open Document
In Earnest J Gaines’ novel, A Lesson Before Dying, a character named Jefferson is sentenced to death for murdering three men in a convenience store. Two are African American men and one is a white man. Being called a “hog” discouraged Jefferson from eating or having a conversation like an ordinary human being. However, with the help of the town’s teacher, Grant Wiggins, Jefferson is able to find his dignity. His unfair sentencing and execution illustrates the meaning of the author’s work by displaying how Jefferson redeemed himself at the time of his execution. This execution contributes to the overarching theme of Gaines’ novel by illustrating how the person whom the entire community deemed a “hog” could rise up and be a man. The entire book led up to Jefferson’s death. The climax was whether or not Jefferson would stand up to his oppressors or cower like the …show more content…
Jefferson becomes a Christ figure as he starts to fight against the racial stereotypes instead of adhering to them. Both Jesus and Jefferson are wrongfully convicted and tried. The mayor was aware of the similarity between Jesus and Jefferson. This is displayed when the mayor moves the execution date to two weeks after Easter. Grant arrays that he thinks of Jefferson as a Christ figure when he repents in front of Jefferson and says he feels lost and without a religion or a part in the community. Grant also speaks to Jefferson as if he is calling upon a savior. At the end of the novel, Grant begs for forgiveness as if he is speaking to his savior. Grant also says to him, “My faith is in you, Jefferson.” Jefferson’s death is symbolic of the crucifixion of Christ. Both Jefferson and Jesus died as martyrs. They suffered persecution in life and death for refusing to advocate a belief as demanded by society. This demonstrates how significant Jefferson’s framed death was to the people living in
Show More

Related Documents: Death In A Lesson Before Dying

Death In Ernest J. Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

In A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, death is a well-developed theme and Gaines uses it well to portray the full theme of the book; injustices in the segregated Southern United States and how it affects the lives of the black people who live there. Gaines uses Jefferson’s death to emphasize his transition from a mere hog to an independent man, using it to symbolize Jefferson as a Christ figure, and to create an atypical ending that contrasts with a ‘happy ending’. Throughout the entire…

Words 499 - Pages 2

Same Difference In Ernest Gaines 'A Lesson Before Dying'

similar roles and emulate similar attitudes. In a novel, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines, and a poem by Claude McKay, titled If We Must Die, multiple instances of this are discovered. During Gaines’s novel, a young boy is wrongly accused of murder, and the author describes the journey of a teacher who has been deemed to teach Jefferson to be a man before he dies an unjust death. During McKay’s poem, he portrays how an unjust death, such as Jefferson’s, might play out. The varying tones of…

Words 746 - Pages 3

Lesson Before Dying Themes

Can you teach a boy to be a man before a deadline? Well Jefferson, does and he succeeds.Throughout Ernest J. Gaines's fiction novel, A Lesson Before Dying has used the chair as an symbol that plays an important role in the overall theme. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, a fiction novel that is placed in Bayonne, Louisiana in the 1940s, that consists of two young African American male characters Jefferson, and Grant Wiggins. Jefferson who is a young African American who’s not educated and…

Words 138 - Pages 1

A lesson before Dying Essay

Morgan Honors English July 28th, 2013 A Lesson Before Dying Before Reading Assignment In Nicholas Sparks’ “The Guardian”, the reader is consumed into the story, falling into the small-town, comforting feel of the setting. The author makes you feel as if you are there in the way he speaks of the little town: “…quiet streets of Swansboro. It was cold; the sky had been angry for a week, and the rain made gentle tapping sounds against the window. Trees were barren, their cragged limbs curling…

Words 2295 - Pages 10

Ernest J. Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

“A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines is a historical fiction novel that deciphers the ideas of racial injustice and the human spirit. The story is about a young, black man sentenced to death in the 1940s for a crime he did not commit. Jefferon’s journey has just begun after being falsely accused of both murder and robbery. The story is shown through the three main points of beauty, purpose, and accuracy. This book is proof that not all bad news turns out to have a bad ending. Beauty Gaines…

Words 260 - Pages 2

Examples Of Racial Injustice In A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson Before Dying, a story of racial injustice. The main character in this story include a young black man by the name of Jefferson, who is being charged with murder. He has been sentenced to death by electrocution. Before Jefferson dies, Miss Emma, his nannan wants him to become a man, she wants him to walk to that chair with his head high. She asks another colored man named Grant Wiggins to teach him what he needs to be taught in order to know that he is not worthless. In A Lesson Before Dying…

Words 582 - Pages 3

Do Not Go Gentle Analysis Essay

he feels for his father to fight the inevitability of death. Several instances of man fighting against the light are stated, with each being more powerful than the last. The poem is decorated in assortments of strong diction, shifting tone, and life symbolism. The effects of these devices get the purpose of Dylan Thomas accomplished while personalizing it for the reader as well. Strong diction convinces the listener to fight against the “dying of the light”. By telling all the reasons man should…

Words 493 - Pages 2

Character Analysis: A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson Before Dying was a book that I don’t think I will ever forget. Every page was filled with emotions of the characters and Grant’s thoughts and outlook on life. A Lesson Before Dying does not have a whole lot of culture in it, but still shows that the bravest person is one who exceeds or defies expectations, in this case, expectations set by your race. The book is set in the 1940s, before the civil rights movement, which sets the story with racial conflict. Jefferson is a young black man…

Words 633 - Pages 3

Comparing If We Must Die 'And A Lesson Before Dying'

In the poem, “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay, you notice the similarities between the poem and the movie “A Lesson Before Dying.” They both express racism as a problem in the world. They also both represent how if the black people are to be killed, they don’t want it to be because the white men want them to go. They want their death to be a symbol of freedom, saying that there will be a day when everyone will be treated the same, and the white men will have to play fair. In the poem, “If We Must…

Words 279 - Pages 2

A Lesson Before Dying: Chapter Analysis

Reader Response for Chapters 24-31 In the final chapters of A Lesson Before Dying, Grant spends the last of his visits with Jefferson before his execution date. Grant has begun to ignore others’ ridicule and scolding of him and focuses solely on Jefferson. The two of them have finally forged a friendship with one another, and Jefferson has accepted his fate. He walks bravely to his electrocution, until Grant notes to himself that “it is finally over” (Gaines 252). The novel began, followed, and…

Words 704 - Pages 3