Preview

A Lesson Before Dying: Love and Family Relationships Essay Example

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1723 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Lesson Before Dying: Love and Family Relationships Essay Example
Love and Family Relationships
In A Lesson Before Dying, Mr. Grant Wiggins' life crises were the center of the story. Although he was supposed to make Jefferson into a man, he himself became more of one as a result. Not to say that Jefferson was not in any way transformed from the "hog" he was into an actual man, but I believe this story was really written about Mr. Wiggins. Mr. Wiggins improved as a person greatly in this book, and that helped his relationships with other people for the most part. At the start of the book, he more or less hated Jefferson, but after a while he became his friend and probably the only person Jefferson felt he could trust. The turning point in their relationship was the one visit in which Jefferson told Mr. Wiggins that he wanted a gallon of ice cream, and that he never had enough ice cream in his whole life. At that point Jefferson confided something in Mr. Wiggins, something that I didn't see Jefferson doing often at all in this book. "I saw a slight sm... Love and motivation from people around Grant in A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines are all directly linked for his eventual change away from the resentments and uncertainties. Without people like Miss Emma or Tante Lou, it seems likely that Grant would have festered in his desolation and spent his life feeling angry and ill-tempered. Ever since, Emma and Tante Lou forced Grant to go visit Jefferson and keep him motivated to stick with the task they've assigned him, it can be said that they are the real force in the novel behind Grant. Vivian, while an equal force in Grant's eventual change in attitude in A Lesson Before Dying, seems to have a different effect. While Grant tends many times to be withdrawn away from interaction with his aunt and Miss Emma, he opens up to Vivian at the end and admits his weakness by laying his somnolent head in her lap. The first line of A Lesson Before Dying when Grant states offers one of the most important quotes from A Lesson

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The hog comment really got to Jefferson and his behavior changed a lot at the jail. Jefferson started to act like an actual hog to prove to grant that he was in fact a hog and what the attorney said was actually true. In the jail during their first visit Jefferson is distant, when asked if he wanted food by Miss Emma he declines and says that nothing matters anymore. Being there in jail under his circumstances he wanted to give up and he even considered eating unimportant. The next few trips were as uneventful as the first but on the fourth trip Miss Emma faked being sick so Grant would go alone from then on. When Grant got there he asked Jefferson if he wanted any of the food Grant brought he answered but not in a way anyone would expect. He asked Grant is he brought any corn, Grant said no and then asked why. Then Jefferson replied it was what hogs eat and got on all fours and ate from the bag of food as a hog would. Jefferson was convinced he meant no more than a hog to anyone. The racism in the book affected Jefferson’s head dramatically.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the movie, it was Grants idea to have Jefferson in the day room and have the children from the school visit him for the last time. The children gave him gifts and some even gave Jefferson hugs. Miss Emma cried while witnessing all of that happening. In the book, it was Miss Emma's idea to bring Jefferson into the day room.…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    After church, Reverend Ambrose stopped by the house to talk to Grant. He wants to teach Jefferson about God but the only way he could do this is if Grant helped. Jefferson seemed to only listen to Grant whenever they visited the jail together. Grant refuses because he does not want to lie to Jefferson and pretend that he believes in God but he does not.…

    • 66 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J Gaines depicts the life of a young African American who was just in the wrong time and place. Jefferson's race and culture has an important role to the following series of events being found guilty, losing hope, losing dignity, and sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. Jefferson undergoes a journey along with Grant in the little time he has to redeem himself from the loss of his dignity and hope from his what his culture has caused him. Moreover, in the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J Gaines, Jefferson is deprived of his dignity from the harshful remarks and comparisons that were made against him by his defense attorney. In the first chapter of the book Jefferson is…

    • 247 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    (p.21). Grant's understanding of the title is that it is his responsibility to teach Jefferson…

    • 1538 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Grant was taught to love someone other than himself, that he could make a difference in someone's life, and also that he could make a difference in the community he was living in. At the beginning of the novel, nothing mattered to Grant other than himself. He had many feelings about how the community was but never make any moves to change the community in any way. By the end of the novel, Grant learns a lot from Vivian and Jefferson. Grant learns to love others, other than himself. He learns that other people actually need help and that he could actually give help to someone even when he thought that he couldn’t. Grant also realizes that he could strive for a…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In reading the book A Lesson Before Dying, I believe that many lives were changed by Jefferson. The days before his persecution impacted many lives in the community. From the children Grant taught, his family and friends to the jailor that worked at the courthouse. Jefferson was a poor African-American young man who was uneducated, had a low self-esteem, and he worked on the plantation since he was a child. One day he was at the wrong place at the wrong time and was found guilty for the actions of his friends that had attempted to rob a store. Both of his friends were killed in this robbery as well as the store owner. During the court hearing, his own lawyer compared him to being no better than a hog. This statement was the eye-opening statement…

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both the novel and the film adaptation of Ernest J. Gaines , A Lesson Before Dying illustrates the theme of coming of age ; however in the novel this theme is better discussed. Through the use of lighting , soundtrack ,and camera angles the director is able to portray the theme of coming of age. While , in the novel Ernest J. Gaines uses dialogue and characterization to express this theme. As some scene’s are better developed than others the watcher and reader are able to receive specific feedback and the portraying of different emotions.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines there were several conflicts among characters existing at various points throughout the book. This novel takes place on Bayonne, Louisiana in the late 1940s. Vivian Baptiste is a school teacher just like Grant, but her personality and background are dissimilar from him. Vivian has “light brown skin and high cheekbones and greenish-brown eyes” (28). About that time, racial division and superiority is depicted; the churches, schools, bathrooms were all segregated. And…

    • 80 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Professor Wiggins in a Lesson Before Dying is the very educated black man. He has been to college and got a degree. And after he got a degree he come back home to teach at the same school that he went to growing up. Professor wiggins went to school in the deep south part of Louisiana where the school systems are not good. This showed how he wanted to make a difference and give the kids a good education instead of nothing. But later in the book he sees his work as being going to nothing. Because the african american are not getting equal rights, and how the kids were getting pulled out to work.…

    • 192 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Lesson Before Dying-Setting In A Lesson Before Dying, the book takes place in a town called Bayonne, located in Louisiana. The geographical location of the story and its setting have an influence on different aspects of the novel, including character, plot, theme, and symbolism. The main character, Grant, and the other African-Americans in the story suffer from racism.…

    • 178 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    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
  • Good Essays

    In A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. In a town in Louisiana, where segregation between blacks and whites are at its highest point. The protagonist in this novel, Grant Wiggins. Grant is the son of sugarcane cutters who labor on a Louisiana plantation. Grant escapes this labor and attends college. He returns to his hometown, educated, becomes a school teacher.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin with, in the novel “A Lesson Before Dying” Jefferson went through a lot of tough times during his life, his godmother always cared and loved him but he never realized that until Grant explained him. Jefferson’s Godmother asked Grant to turn Jefferson into a mature man and make him realize that there are many people out there who care and admire him. Grant made the right choice, before it was too late by listening to Jefferson’s Godmother. Due to that, because of Grant, Jefferson started to develop his…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Lesson 3 Essay

    • 1038 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Conflict situations are an everyday occurrence. With the understanding of the underlying factors of positive and negative communication conducted in situations of conflict, will only enable one to become more solution oriented in times of battle. The three perspectives discussed in chapter two of Working through Conflict are the following: psychodynamic, emotion-based, and the social cognition perspective. The three perspectives each depict different situations of conflict and how to deal with each one separately. Even though, through classification, the perspectives are different; I would like to argue that all three, yet are still so very similar.…

    • 1038 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays