Real-life heroes these days are firemen, police officers, emergency room medics. However, there are many stories of everyday people who end up hailed as heroes. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, the main characters do not follow any of the typical ‘hero’ professions. In a small American community, Jefferson, a young black man, has just been sentenced to death for a crime he never committed by an all-white jury. His former schoolteacher Grant Wiggins is forced to visit him by his aunt Tante Lou, who hopes that Grant can teach Jefferson some dignity before he faces the electric chair. Through the actions of Jefferson and Grant we can determine whether or not they are heroes to the African-American community which, after years of suppression and apartheid, is so in need of strong idols to look up to. One of the times Grant visits Jefferson in jail, he holds a speech about what a hero is. According to Grant, “[a] hero is someone who does something for other people. He does something that other men don’t and can’t do. He is different from other men. He is above other men. No matter who those other men are, the hero, no matter who he is, is above them. […] He would do anything for the people he loves, because he knows it would make their lives better,” (Gaines 191). Grant’s definition of a hero is someone selfless who cares about others and doesn’t let the prejudice and condescension of white people affect him. He tells Jefferson, “White people believe they’re better than anyone else on earth[.] The last thing they ever want to see is a black man stand[.] It would destroy their myth. […] As long as none of us stand, they’re safe. […] I don’t want them to feel safe with you anymore,” (Gaines 192). Grant believes a ... ... middle of paper ... ...for it. These actions show that Grant does not possess or display the characteristics that make someone a hero. It is important to note that it is impossible to see Jefferson as completely heroic and Grant Wiggins as completely unheroic. Jefferson doesn’t want to help anyone at first, and makes his godmother cry by pretending to be a hog. Grant defends Jefferson in a bar fight. For this reason it is wrong to write them off as simply one or the other. In Grant Wiggin’s speech about heroes, Jefferson displays many of the qualities that, according to Grant, a hero must possess. Grant himself, for all the good he does Jefferson, is not a hero, following his own formula. However, we cannot simply say that one is a hero and the other is not. In comics and fairy tales, the divisions between heroes and average people might be clear, but in real life, the lines are blurred.
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines takes place in Louisiana in the 1940’s. When a young African American man named Jefferson is unfairly sentenced to death, school teacher Grant Wiggins is sent to try to make Jefferson a man before he dies. Throughout the novel, racial injustice is shown in both Jefferson and Grant’s lives in the way other people view them.
Grant Wiggins from A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines and Dee Johnson from Everyday Use by Alice Walker are two similar individuals who both steer away from their families’ traditional way of life, but are different in some aspects. Both characters are unique due to their personality, their education, and their appearance. Dee is a college student in rural Georgia who comes back to visit her mother and sister with her new boyfriend. Dee contradicts herself in trying to reclaim her heritage, but actually steers away from it. Grant is a plantation teacher who is recruited by Ms. Emma to help Jefferson die like a man. He feels that cannot help his family with their present issue because he is not a man himself, therefore he tries to detach himself from the problem.
The author of the article “A Call to Service in Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying” is Beatrice McKinsey. In McKinsey’s introduction, she stated her thesis statement: “whatever one’s social class, race, or education maybe, we have a purpose or a call to service. Ernest Gaines uses the main characters, Grant and Jefferson, to demonstrate how men can achieve manliness through service” (McKinsey 77). By stating this thesis statement, McKinsey shows her audience that she will be discussing the main characters, as well as their journey to becoming manly. Overall, this is seen as the purpose for her article.
African-American life in pre-Civil War America and life in pre-African-American Civil Rights Movement have many comparisons and also many differences. Some comparisons are the ideas of racism and segregation and some of the differences include the education during these two times and freedoms. These comparisons and differences are related to the novels Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass which is written by himself and A Lesson Before Dying written by Ernest Gaines. These two texts will compare and contrast how life was being an African American during these different periods of time.
Who is a hero? In contemporary times, usage of the term has become somewhat of a cliché. Over the years, the term “hero” has become representative of a wide variety of individuals, each possessing differing traits. Some of the answers put forth by my colleagues (during our in-class discussion on heroism) as to whom they consider heroes pointed to celebrities, athletes, teachers and family members. Although the occupations differed, each of their heroes bore qualities that my classmates perceived as extraordinary, whether morally or physically. Nonetheless, Webster’s defines “hero” as “a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities.” Thus, it is worth considering that individuals become heroes relative to the situation with which they’re faced.
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 black, they assumed he did it. Grant Wiggins is told to go up to the jail and convince Jefferson that he is a man. At first he doesn’t know how to make Jefferson see that he is a man, but through visiting Jefferson, talking to Vivian and witnessing things around the community, he is able to reach Jefferson, convince him that he was a man.
Jefferson exemplifies the young black male who has internalized into self-hatred the hatred shown him by white racists. Because of his court-appointed attorney 's racist remark, he sees himself as a beast — not worthy of the dignity and respect due all human beings. His lack of self-worth and self-esteem is a major factor in his apathy and defeatist attitude. In order to reach him, Grant must first break through the barrier of his self-hate.
Grant Wiggins and Jefferson, two main protagonists, were in journey to show pride, dignity, and freedom they should have as African American toward white society. Although they started on the different level of education, they both were heading for the same goal until the end as common black man who is searching for the true meaning of their life. The background of this novel was in 1940’s in little town of Bayonne, Louisiana. Even though blacks were legally freed, there was still prejudice, supremacy going on in this town. They may be physically freed, but some people were mentally slaves in their society.
Grant Wiggins is a highly intelligent person. He is the person who helped Jefferson in becoming a man even though he thought it was hopeless. The first example is when Grant visited Jefferson; he put on a hog act which discourages Grant in helping him. Grant still kept going even though he did not want to. He made his first breakthrough to Jefferson. Grant was a happy that he went through to him. The second example is when he decided to spend 20 dollars on a radio for Jefferson. He borrowed money for Jefferson’s radio even though he could not even pay for his own food. He did this because he felt that if he did not get something, Jefferson will assume that he gave up on him. The last example of Grant is that he decided to buy a pen and a notepad for Jefferson. Consequently, Grant made Miss Emma, his aunt, and the minister wait for him but he did not want to give up on Jefferson because he knew if he gives up now, Jefferson will never become a true man.
The novel A Lesson Before Dying is about a young, college-educated man and a convict, Grant Wiggins and Jefferson. Grant is asked to make a man out of Jefferson who is convicted of killing a white man during a robbery in which he got dragged along to. Grant is asked by Emma Lou to make a man out of Jefferson, so if anything, Jefferson can die with dignity. Something that he was striped of when he was tried and his attorney used the defence that he is a hog. While trying to get through to Jefferson, Grant struggles because he is so far and separated from his own community. He holds resentment toward the white man and wants to get away from his town which he thinks is an on-going vicious cycle of misery. The novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines depicts the social and racial injustices faced by African Americans in the South in the late 40...
The word "hero" is so often used to describe people who overcome great difficulties and rise to the challenge that is set before them without even considering the overwhelming odds they are up against. In our culture, heroes are glorified in literature and in the media in various shapes and forms. However, I believe that many of the greatest heroes in our society never receive the credit that they deserve, much less fame or publicity. I believe that a hero is simply someone who stands up for what he/she believes in. A person does not have to rush into a burning building and save someone's life to be a hero. Someone who is a true friend can be a hero. A hero is someone who makes a difference in the lives of others simply by his/her presence. In Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried, the true heroes stand out in my mind as those who were true friends and fought for what they believed in. These men and women faced the atrocities of war on a daily basis, as explained by critic David R. Jarraway's essay, "'Excremental Assault' in Tim O'Brien: Trauma and Recovery in Vietnam War Literature" and by Vietnam Veteran Jim Carter. Yet these characters became heroes not by going to drastic measures to do something that would draw attention to themselves, but by being true to their own beliefs and by making a difference to the people around them.
The struggles of Grant and Jefferson share a common theme, man’s search for meaning. Grant has the advantage of a college education, and while that may have provided some enlightenment, he remains in the same crossroads as Jefferson. Grant sees that regardless of what he does, the black students he teaches continue in the same jobs, the same poverty and same slave-like positions as their ancestors. Grant has no hope of making a difference and sees his life as meaningless. Though Jefferson’s conflict is more primal, it is the same as Grant’s struggle. Jefferson is searching for the most basic identity, whether he is man or animal. It is this conflict of meaning and identity that bring Grant and Jefferson together.
In the world we live in today, many people call themselves men; but are they really? Jefferson learned a lot in his life, but he also taught a lot too. He walked up to the electric chair a man, and he died a man. He taught us that no matter what happens in life, stand tall and be proud of who you are. The actions that we choose to make are what determines what kind of a person we become. In life, we all make mistakes, and at times, the consequences may be harsher than we would expect. However, it is what you do when you get to that point where you are stripped of everything you have, and know you cannot fight the system you're living in, that truly matters. When you have nothing left, and still keep your dignity and sacrifice yourself to shape a better community; that is when the hero inside you truly shines.
In this world one does not often encounter a hero. A true hero dedicated his life to putting others before himself. Through his actions as a hero, Atticus plants the seeds of morality in his community and watches them grow.
You also don’t have to kill anyone, conquer foreign land, or risk your life to be a hero. Anyone who influences anyone else by saving or helping save his or her lives is a hero. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. changed the lives of millions of people by bringing justice to minorities. Mahatma Gandhi, one of the greatest heroes, led a nonviolent revolution to free his country.