Lesson Before Dying Theme
Throughout many novels authors use themes to reveal the plot. Relationships, love, and loyalty are a few themes that Ernest J. Gaines used in A Lesson Before Dying. However, the most apparent theme is racism. Jefferson is sentenced to death by a white judge and jury for a crime that he did not commit. The judge did not contemplate his decision on Jefferson's fate for long. He was quick to make a decision that would affect the lives of many in Jefferson's community.
Grant waited on several occasions to talk to Henri Pichot. Racism still exists today, in society. Though whites and blacks lived in the same town, the whites possessed the schools, churches, and movie theaters in the upskirts of town. The clerk went to see what the white woman wanted. The blacks were separated by being forced the use the services in the back of town. Though Pichot asked that Grant come to his house, Pichot still made him wait hours just so that he could continue talking to his white friends. So they stood there about ten minutes before the clerk came back to wait on me[Jefferson]" (176). When Grant went to the store to buy a radio for Jefferson he was not attended to. The other woman was not buying anything; she only wanted to talk. Grant Wiggens was a very well educated black male who was treated unfairly in many situations because of his skin color. By reading this novel and learning about the issues that the colored faced, we can help modify and change the future. However, It is not in the extreme as it was in the early 1900's.
Common topics in this essay:
Pichot Grant,
Lesson Dying,
Grant Wiggens,
Theme Throughout,
white woman,
town whites,
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