Character Analysis: A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines is story about a young man, Jefferson, who is receiving the death penalty for being wrongly convicted of murder. Grant, an African American teacher, faces the struggles of an unequally segregated education system. Throughout the story, Gaines writes about the different forms of racial discrimination and how it impacts the world of the characters in an unjust manner. A Lesson before Dying reflects the social norms and daily lives of blacks during the 1940s when segregation and views from a white’s perspective impacted the education and opportunities of African Americans in a cycle that restricted their lives.
Gaines demonstrates through his book how from years of whites controlling blacks and overwhelming racist beliefs, African Americans were still looked at as inferior and whites wrongly believed that they would be nothing without them. As
Although Grant is very educated he is reduced to a job he hates: “Thus, Grant is allowed only one profession and even this is limited by a white power structure. Not only does Grant actively hate teaching, he believes his efforts are wasted since his students will have little choice other than to become field workers” (Carmean 125). Grant really hates the fact that no matter how hard he tries to created disciplined and well taught students, he can’t teach them how to be successful as someone who is colored. No matter how hard his students worked, their career choices are still limited: “Many employers did not hire or respect African Americans regardless of their skills or education” (Koestler 20). Even though they are putting in the effort and are learning they are still held back to be doing jobs where their education is not needed. A Lesson before Dying is an excellent example of how the education system in the 1940s was truly