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a lesson before dying

In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, Grant and Jefferson are black men in the era of a racist society; but they have struggles with a greater dilemma, obligation and commitment.

They have obligations to their families and to the town they are part of. They lived in

a town were everybody knew everybody else and took care of each other. "Living and teaching on a plantation, you got to know the occupants of every house, and you knew who was home and who was not.... I could look at the smoke rising from each chimney or I could look at the rusted tin roof of each house, and I could tell the lives that went on in each one of them." [pp. 37-38] Just by Grant’s words you can tell that that is a community that is very devoted to each other. It was a little bit harder for Jefferson to remember his commitment to his nannan and to the town. He had been charged with a crime he did not commit and didn’t know how to deal with it. They were asking a lot from a man who knew he was going to die soon."Me, Mr. Wiggins. Me. Me to take the cross.

Your cross, nannan's cross, my own cross. Me, Mr. Wiggins. This old stumbling nigger. Y'all axe

a lot, Mr. Wiggins." [p. 224] It takes a str

. . .

If he didn’t have that loyalty he wouldn’t have gone to the jailhouse at all. Not realizing that their holding on will break me too. 251: Reverend Ambrose]

If Grant and Jefferson did not have faith in themselves and have a devotion for their families, they

would not have been able to surmount their circumstances. He has

compassion for everyone in the quarter and understands how it must feel to have not been able to

leave from a place, meet new people, do new things, or further your education. stay here in the South and

are broken, or we run away and leave them alone to look after the children and themselves. They must believe, if only to free the mind, if not the

body. ong man to forget about yourself and do something for

someone else when your in the position that Jefferson is in. 79] The only reason that Grant went to the jailhouse was because he was

devoted to his aunt, Miss Emma, and Vivian. All the things you wanted me to

escape by going to school. Besides not knowing

what a man is, Grant doesn’t feel that he, a well educated man, should have to go and make

Jefferson believe that he is not a hog; which shows the amount of arrogance Grant has about

himself.

Approximate Word count = 1667
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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