Symbolism Of Butterflies In English Literature

From the start of the story it is known that there is a lesson to be taught. We learn very quickly that Jefferson is the one in need of learning the lesson and that the one teaching him will be local school teacher Grant Wiggins. Jefferson was sentenced to death by electrocution and was told that he would die like a hog rather than a man. Grant was asked to teach Jefferson that he was a man before his execution. In order to show Jefferson how to ‘become a man,’ Grant himself must know what that means.
From the very beginning we know that Grant never wanted to have to bother with Jefferson or to have to teach him such as lesson as he saw no point in having to do so. Grant is a very cynically natured person who believed that even bothering with Jefferson was a stupid idea. Naturally, in the end he did end up putting forth the effort that others urged him to and did what he could to try teaching Jefferson that he was not a hog.
Butterflies in literature generally represent a change and/or transformation. This is the same for the butterfly that appears towards the end of the story: it is symbolic proof that both of the men had succeeded in their goals, Jefferson in dying a man’s death, and Grant in standing up against the oppressive society that he hates so