Preview

A Lesson Before Dying Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
737 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Lesson Before Dying Analysis
Professor Askassi
ENGL 102 Section 021
12 April 2010

Rodnika’s Personal Reflection on A Lesson Before Dying.
The story, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines is a awesome book so far. I can relate to this whole situation in numerous of ways. This story just bring back a time that my brother had to go through years ago and how he is still paying the price even though he guilty in all matters. I believe that the court system is full of a lot of stuff. They convict incents people for no reason. I can imagine how not only Jefferson but his family is going through. My life has change in way that I couldn’t imagine after my brother was locked up and sentence to life in prison.
My life changed tremendously on August 15, 2007 as I sat …show more content…
But, then I finally got a phone call saying that the police had locked him up and took him in. I was so shocked I knew my brother wasn’t responsible for that dangerous activity that went on. When, my family and I got down there they said there are locking my brother up because he was the key shooter of this event and they found the gun he was using. I knew my brother never owned a gun. We had to wait months for the DA to come out with evidenced that they thought they had on Rodney.

While, going through trail they explained that the fingerprint on the gun matched my brother. But, I knew that was impossible. We always question them to do another test but they ignore us every time. I believe it’s funny how the court systems lock poor innocent people up. My brother is in there surviving time for something he had nothing to do with. Till this day we are still trying to get his case back on trail so we can retest the fingerprint on the gun again. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In the story A Lesson Before Dying, I feel sorry for Jefferson a young black man that was in a situation at the wrong place at the wrong time just like my brother Rodney. They are both in the system surviving time and will never walk foot outside of a jail yard ever again. It funny the system believes and does what they want to do and thinks it alright. But, in my brother case they will not win this
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A Lesson Before Dying - Paper
    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A Lesson Before Dying - Paper

    “A Lesson Before Dying” takes place in a small Louisiana Cajun community in the late 1940’s. In the novel, Jefferson, a young black man, is an unwitting party to a liquor store shoot out in which three men are killed; being the only survivor, he is convicted of a murder and sentenced to death. To portray this novel Gaines displays respectable literary devices like setting, tone, and characterization; therefore helping I as the reader feel the emotions of Jefferson from his point of view.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Lesson Before Dying Double-Entry Journal Assignment
    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A Lesson Before Dying Double-Entry Journal Assignment

    The sheriff told Grant the date and time of Jefferson’s execution and he doesn’t understand how people can just sat a date to take someone’s life. I believe this is…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Injustice In A Lesson Before Dying
    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Injustice In A Lesson Before Dying

    How this deal affects not just their families but the person who is sent to jail and hope not to lose their saen. but there is hope by the time jefferson learns about when he going to day and has a radio and begins to talk and act human “I brought you some good old gumbo,” Miss Emma said to Jefferson. “How’s it going, partner?” I said, as I took my seat beside him. “All right,” he said. “The radio still playing?” He nodded his head. “Good,” I said ….. “He looked at me in great pain. He may not have understood, but something was touched, something deep down in him—because he was still crying. I cry, not from reaching any conclusion by reasoning, but because, lowly as I am, I am still part of the whole. Is that what he was thinking as he looked at me crying? “Come on,” I said. “Let’s have some gumbo.”(Gaines all of Chapter 24). And we went back to the table” he's no longer acting like a hog he no understates how to become a man.and what it mean to die with his name and not by an animal's name and to be…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Love And Death Analysis
    • 1822 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Love And Death Analysis

    The majority of philosophical dialogue about death considers the effect it has upon the victims…

    • 1822 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis of "A Lesson Before Dying"
    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Analysis of "A Lesson Before Dying"

    Analysis of "A Lesson Before Dying" by Ernest Gaines : Themes of Women and Community…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Death and Dying Research Paper
    • 2679 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Death and Dying Research Paper

    i. Ghosts were thought to have danced in the graveyards on Halloween. If a person encountered a ghost it was a warning that death was coming.…

    • 2679 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Death at an Early Age by Jonathan Kohl: Rare and Candid Glimpse Inside the Educational System
    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Death at an Early Age by Jonathan Kohl: Rare and Candid Glimpse Inside the Educational System

    In this book, written by Johnathan Kohl, we are given a rare and candid glimpse inside the educational system in the city of Boston in the 1960’s. As Kohl describes the treatment that minority students endured at the hands of their teachers, it becomes clear that the title of the book is an accurate depiction of the times. As we read about teachers calling students terrible names and treating minority students with contempt and disgust, it is apparent how the spirit of the students were slowly dying inside. Although this was over fifty years ago, this type of treatment still occurs everyday in schools all over the nation. Whether a child be a minority race, have a learning disability or have behavior issues, it is not uncommon for them to be treated in a way that negatively effects their self esteem, causes them to dislike school and eventually, little by little, takes away their hope. No child should be left hopeless. Everyone needs something to be proud of, whether it be one small talent they possess or just one person who believes in and respects them. It is the job of a teacher to build a child’s self-esteem and self-respect and above all, their hope for the future. Without hope, a child will not aspire or dream. There must be procedures in place to ensure that teachers know what is and isn’t acceptable in terms of interacting with children. I have experienced this first hand in my personal life. My son has Asperger’s syndrome. He can be difficult to handle. Because he misreads social cues he wold often misunderstand what his teachers were asking him and answer incorrectly. He repeatedly told me that his teacher yelled at him and didn’t like him. He wouldn’t even tell them when he was sick because he didn’t want to make them angry. One of his teachers screamed at him so loud at the end of the school day that he was literally shaking when he arrived home. I understood their frustration but I didn’t…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    As I Lay Dying Analysis
    • 1604 Words
    • 7 Pages

    As I Lay Dying Analysis

    There is no love so lasting, so strong, so disinterested, so unselfish, so devoted as the first and purest of all loves, a mother’s love. In literature, the concept of a “mother’s love” exists as an important motif, frequently referred to by authors and readers alike as the most sacred of literary loves. Written nearly sixty years apart, Beloved, by Toni Morrison, and As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, explore the motif of motherhood and a mother’s love. At their cores, Beloved and As I Lay Dying are stories about mothers and their children. Published in 1987, Morrison’s Beloved tells a heart-wrenching story of the everlasting effects of slavery in America by centering around the relationship between Sethe, an escaped slave, and the daughter…

    • 1604 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    A Lesson Before Dying Literary Analysis
    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A Lesson Before Dying Literary Analysis

    The novel, A Lesson before Dying, was written by Ernest J. Gaines in 1993. Gaines was born on the River Lake plantation in Louisiana, where he was raised by his aunt, Miss Augusteen Jefferson. Racism was prevalent shown by the whites-only libraries in Louisiana. After 15 years of living in Louisiana, Gaines moved to California, although he states Louisiana never left him. California had libraries available for the blacks also. In California, he lived with his mother and which inspired him to the point of writing about six novels and scores of short stories. In 1953, Gaines was drafted into the Army, and he later went on to study creative writing at Stanford University. While in the library, Gaines…

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    As I Lay Dying Analysis
    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages

    As I Lay Dying Analysis

    In the novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, the obstacles Bundrens suffered are not exact the result of forces being set against them, but instead, they are more sabotaging by what they did. As the last wish of a dying mother, Addie wants to be buried in Jefferson with her relatives. All of the family are committed to be on the journey to Jefferson to accomplish her funeral. But on the way to Jefferson, all the family have suffered various tragedies. Every event happens must have a reason. When they started to complain all the bad things they ever suffered, they totally forgot what they did to cause the tragedies.…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Stereotypes In A Lesson Before Dying
    • 1808 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Stereotypes In A Lesson Before Dying

    Predetermined perceptions make it difficult for the racial minorities to see any chance of a different lifestyle. In an article written by Laura Green she quotes the definition Sue Jewell’s definition of stereotypes: “Racial stereotypes are constructed beliefs that all members of the same race share given characteristics. These attributed characteristics are usually negative” (qtd. in Green). The stereotypes of African Americans is that they are violent, criminals and are unintelligent. In the novel, the minority learns to overcome these stereotypes, and prove to others that they wrong. When Jefferson goes to his execution as a man, he shows everyone that he is more than a hog. At this point he is representing more than himself, he is representing his community. By doing this, he shows everyone, especially the children at the plantation, that there is hope for the future. They could change and prove to everyone that a black man is more than an animal, more than a thief or a murderer. Before Jefferson’s execution Grant explains what is expected of him in his last weeks. He tells Jefferson that he can do a lot by daring to defeat the myth of white supremacy by going to the execution like a man. Grant Wiggins said to Jefferson, “A myth is an old lie that people believe in. White people believe that they’re better than anyone else on earth- and that’s a myth. The last thing…

    • 1808 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Grant Wiggins In Romulus Linney's A Lesson Before Dying
    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Grant Wiggins In Romulus Linney's A Lesson Before Dying

    In this riveting drama Romulus Linney brings us to a small town in Louisiana around 1948. This play is centered on a boy named Jefferson who has just been wrongly accused of murder. Jefferson was a victim of racial injustice(which is a major theme throughout the play). Because Jefferson was black and simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, he was convicted with no evidence. Jefferson’s lawyer tries to help as much as he can although Jefferson doesn’t realize it, due to the fact that his own Lawyer called him nothing but a hog. But it didn’t help and the all-white jury still finds him guilty and he sentenced to death by electric chair. This is where (in my opinion) the most important character in the story is introduced Grant Wiggins. Jefferson’s godmother enlists the aid of the local school teacher Grant Wiggins to help Jefferson die like a man. Not only during this part of the play but through the whole play it doesn’t seem like anyone gets upset enough about this boys wrongful conviction. I may just be a naturally angry person. But very little uproar is made for this boy’s life. He is being executed for…

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Lesson Before Dying
    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A Lesson Before Dying

    The theme is significantly shown throughout this novel, “The defense argued Jefferson was innocent of all charges except for being at the place at the wrong time” (7).They have no evidence that he was part of the robbery, although the society is racist, they assume he was because he was black, this is one sign of injustice because they are blaming him for his skin although there is no evidence leading against him, as well as evidence ruling against that he is guilty, “The face that Mr. Grope shot only Brother and Bear was proof on Jefferson’s innocence.”(7). People are denying facts that lead against him because of the way of his skin which isn’t right at all, another reason for injustice. The last reason that this theme is correct is because Grant sees how corrupt the society is, and not giving Jefferson a chance, which is not justice, its hatred.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Games, Earnest J. a Lesson Before Dying. New York: Vintage Books
    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Games, Earnest J. a Lesson Before Dying. New York: Vintage Books

    Summary: This story is about racism in the south and how it affects the people it concerns. It starts out with Jefferson being sentenced to death for a crime that he did not commit. He was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and because he was…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Hero's Journey (A Lesson Before Dying)
    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A Hero's Journey (A Lesson Before Dying)

    After visits to the jail, Grant becomes more interested in Jefferson. A possible connection was made when Jefferson spoke to Grant just by eye contact. “‘When are they going to do it?’... Then he looked at me. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? his eyes said” (Gaines 73). It seems that Jefferson and Grant have a lot in common. Jefferson has no feeling of fear or care in his death. Grant wants no commitments and to be free in his bitterness. Eventually Grant comes to…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More