A Lesson Before Dying
A Lesson before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines is a moving, powerful novel about a black individual put on death row for a crime he did not commit. Overall, I thought the book was very inspiring and well written, but had its drawbacks. The novel is set in the 1940's, where Jefferson and two of his companions, rob a local store. Everybody was killed except Jefferson, the only man who did not fire a single shot. He is subsequently put in jail for no other reason except for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is then sentenced to death by the electric chair. His loving aunt, Miss Emma, was humiliated when the juror called Jefferson a hog in public. She hires Gran . . .
Grant was a hero to Jefferson and Jefferson was a hero towards Grant and the society of Bayonne, Louisiana. Grant and Jefferson work together and following some minor indifferences, Jefferson walked to the chair as a man in the end. Emma, and Grant was so moved by Jefferson that he could not go to the execution. Despite the Jefferson's triumph in the end, I felt a little let down. That touched Jefferson deeply, knowing that some people cared for him. The book was top notch for the theme of heroism. We see him win, but the variety of conflicts in the novel did not allow us to see the whole battle, just bits and pieces. Grant did what probably no people in that section of town would have done. The themes of the novel- heroism, faith, and perseverance- are very strong and powerful but are at times overshadowed by other conflicts and events in the novel. He was crying for Jefferson and himself when Paul told Grant it was done. Jefferson was the main hero in the novel. He set an example for all people to believe in; he showed them to not be afraid. Despite certain interesting details, such as the contrast of the two "heroes" of the novel (ones a well educated man who carries the hopes and dreams of his people, the other an uneducated man whom little if anything is expected from), this novel let me down. t Wiggins, an educated schoolteacher to help make Jefferson a man, and walk to the chair.
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