How can someone be truly free? Freedom can be achieved by anyone willing to make positive change for themselves or for others. The ability to achieve freedom is a multifaceted issue because some people believe freedom is a choice while others think freedom is decided for you. In Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying, Jefferson and Grant struggle over what it means to be free. In the novel, Jefferson, a convicted murder set to be executed, and Grant Wiggins, a school teacher, are trapped either literarily or figuratively. Jefferson is trapped physically by his jail cell and his belief that he is a worthless human being. On the other hand, Grant is trapped by the black community that has suffered for hundreds of years. Each character learns to …show more content…
One thing is clear: initially both Jefferson and Grant struggle to find freedom in a discriminatory society because they cannot understand what they need to become free, but ultimately only Jefferson is able to create change and overcome obstacles to achieve freedom.
Although Jefferson was stripped of his freedom by the whites in his town, he ultimately found purpose in his life by understanding how to achieve the freedom that he has been longing for. Jefferson initially believes freedom is an inherent characteristic that he is unable to achieve, but ultimately he learns freedom can be achieved by anyone no matter their race or status. During Jefferson’s trial, his defense lawyer argued that he was nothing but a “hog”. For Jefferson this hog reference highlighted that most believed he has no purpose in life and showed that he had internalized the hatred that the white community spewed at him during the trial. When Jefferson remarks, “You brought some corn? That’s
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Grant hates the racist, white-dominated society in which he resides, but he disconnects from the black community and threatens to leave his hometown to escape from the vicious cycle of black men struggling among a white population. However, Grant’s love for his family and friends keep him from leaving when his girlfriend, Vivian, says, “You love them more than you hate this place” (Gaines 94). Although Grant cannot bear living in Louisiana any longer, he is similar to Jefferson in that he would lose purpose in his life without a family that cares about him. If Grant follows the cycle of black men abandoning their family to pursue other interests, it would be ironic because he decries the actions of the black men that came before him. Instead, Grant wants to reverse the cycle by remaining in his hometown to teach the black children in his school to live life as humans with equal status. Grant hopes that he will achieve freedom by helping his students discover their freedom, which is similar to Jackie Robinson inspiring black men around the country by breaking the color barrier. Grant’s belief in the future of his society is akin to that of Jackie Robinson when he says, “I believe in the human race. I believe in the warm heart. I believe in man’s integrity” (Robinson). As Mr. Robinson lists his beliefs, he shows hope for
Jefferson is trapped in a racist and ignorant place, this is shown countless times throughout the book, for example when Jefferson's defendant said ”A cornered animal to strike quickly in fear a trait inherited by his ancestors in the deepest jungles of blackest Africa...What you see here is a thing that acts on command. A thing to hold the handle of a plow, a thing to load your bales of cotton”(Gaines 7) .
For Jefferson, racial injustice is present in court. Because of the color of his skin, Jefferson was automatically found guilty by those 12 men. “12 white men say a black man must die, and another white man sets the date and time without consulting one black person, Justice?” (157) The jury that decided his sentence was made up of 12 white men. Jefferson’s trial was unfair because the verdict was made by all white men. Jefferson was really just at the wrong place at the wrong time, but the biased jury saw him as guilty before finding any real evidence. This scene from court is an example of how Jefferson is treated unfairly because of the way he is viewed by others.
In Ernest J. Gaines novel A Lesson Before Dying, a young African-American man named Jefferson is caught in the middle of a liquor shootout, and, as the only survivor, is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. During Jefferson’s trial, the defense attorney had called him an uneducated hog as an effort to have him released, but the jury ignored this and sentenced him to death by electrocution anyways. Appalled by this, Jefferson’s godmother, Miss Emma, asks the sheriff if visitations by her and the local school teacher, Grant Wiggins, would be possible to help Jefferson become a man before he dies. The sheriff agrees, and Miss Emma and Mr. Wiggins begin visiting Jefferson in his jail cell. Throughout the book, Jefferson has two seemingly opposite choices in front of him; become a man, and make his godmother and other relatives proud by dying with dignity, or, remain in the state of a hog with the mentality that nothing matters because he will die regardless of his actions. The choices Jefferson is faced with, and the choice he makes, highlights the book’s idea of having dignity ...
With the combination of the above mentioned, the freedmen had many basic rights stripped away from them. They couldn’t vote, were killed and preyed upon mercilessly and many other terrible matters. White Southern Democrats took advantage of their over whelming power in Congress and didn’t pass rights to protect the freedmen; groups such as the KKK and White Leagues intimidated and killed freedmen and those who supported them; and Congress didn’t have a plan for the slaves when they freed them. With all of these events together, the freedmen had far from equal rights. They were ‘separate but equal’. With the mixture of these incidents, the consequence was that Congress ultimately failed in their efforts to provide equal rights for freedmen.
...hile African Americans went through journeys to escape the restrictions of their masters, women went through similar journeys to escape the restrictions of the men around them. Immigrants further strived to fit in with the American lifestyle and receive recognition as an American. All three groups seemed to shape up an American lifestyle. Today, all three of these perceptions of freedom have made an appearance in our lives. As we can see, the transition of freedom from race equality to gender equality shows that freedom has been on a constant change. Everyone acquires their own definition of freedom but the reality of it is still unknown; people can merely have different perceptions of freedom. Nevertheless, in today’s society, African Americans live freely, women are independent, and immigrants are accepted in society. What more freedom can one possibly ask for?
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.
In A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, Grant Wiggins is asked to turn Jefferson, a young man on death row, into an honorable man before his execution. Grant faces many difficulties when Jefferson is unresponsive and refuses to comply with Grant and Aunt Emma’s request. Throughout the story, Grant struggles to find motivation to keep working with Jefferson as he faces the difficulty of racism and prejudice. The author of the novel, Ernest J. Gaines, uses characterization to prove the theme that a lack of compassion in individuals can prevent people from uniting to form a better society, because they do not try to understand one another. In the beginning of the novel, Miss Emma and Tante Lou are threatening Grant into going to visit Mr.
Jefferson feared the immigrants could explode into “unbounded licentiousness” doing so would bring down the curtains of the new republic. He also feared that unless men obeyed their moral sense and exercised self-control they would “live at random” and destroy the republican order. In Jefferson’s view, slavery was not only a violation of black’s rights to liberty, it also undermined the self-c...
Thomas Jefferson, an educated, well respected career man, served as governor of Virginia, secretary of state, and president of the United States. The Revolutionary era, during the 1770's, proved to be one of America's most victorious times. Despite the casualties the American colonies suffered, they proved to be stronger than their ruling land, Britain, and won the right to be a free land, becoming the United States of America. Living through this difficult turning point in history inspired Jefferson to write "The Declaration of Independence." Once again, nearly two hundred years later, America faced yet another turning point in history. Watching America struggle through racial integration in the 1960's, King was outraged by how Blacks were being treated, not only by citizens, but by law enforcement. Police brutality became increasingly prevalent, especially in the South, during riots and protests. As a revered clergyman, civil rights leader, and Nobel Prize winner, King's writings sprung from a passion to help America become the land Jefferson, among many people, had promised it to be. ...
Firstly, Jefferson is an example of a person who never gave up. He is young black man that is sent to jail under the false charges of murdering. During the court session, he was referred to as a hog. This made him believe that the word “hog” defines him as a person. However, after a few long talks with Grant Wiggins he started to stand up for himself as a proud black person. We begin to see this happen when Jefferson did not refer
“All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights,” (Thomas Jefferson) This is the famous statement made by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. He is being extremely hypocritical here considering he himself owned a near two hundred slaves. The slaves are still owned and treated as ‘property’. Thomas Jefferson did not have care for the slaves. The equalities discussed in the Declaration were not aimed to all men, they were aimed at specific white men. Frederick Douglass a former slave excellently asks in reaction to Jefferson; “Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?” What he means by “Us” is African American, it could also mean slave considering he was one. It is just so perfectly put because it is obvious the beliefs of Jefferson were not extended to African American’s or slaves. He continues on rather sarcastically “confess the benefits”, this is important because there was very little benefits. (Frederick Douglass, 1852,
Douglas starts begins defining freedom with his recounting of his mistress stopping his lessons. “Education and slavery were incompatible with each other” (Douglas, 25). This simple statement highlights the necessity of ignorance in maintaining slavery. Slaves, so long as they remain oblivious of their lacking freedom, will remain slaves. Much akin to Davis Wallace’s “This Is Water” speech, fish are ignorant of the existence of water, likewise slaves are ignorant of their status as possessions. How can someone possible comprehend that their existence lacks freedom and basic rights, if one doesn’t even know of these rights to begin with? It follows then, that as Douglas begins his self-education, he would learn of his disposition in the world. As Douglas so eloquently puts it, “in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell” (Douglas, 25). This statement presents the idea that the mere realization of one’s position allows one to begin the journey to liberate oneself from their enslavement. Douglas begins his own journey then, taking into his own hands his education, he befriends the local white boys and continues to learn to read. As his knowledge continues to improve, Douglas begins to make plans to escape and make for himself a new life. Thus, it can be drawn from Douglas’s argument that freedom is directly related to one’s awareness of one’s own existence. Through education we free ourselves from being trapped in a loop of inequality and gain the tools necessary to free ourselves from our bindings. The truest mark of this link between freedom and knowledge is demonstrated in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit
Lucy believes that even though she has gone through so much pain throughout her life, it can always be worse; there are people having more difficulties in their lives. For example, she brings up this ideology when she is watching the horrors of Cambodia loomed on TV. She expresses that “she feels lucky to at least have food, clothes, and a home” in comparison to these people that have nothing. In addition, she mentions how great would it be if people stop complaining about their situations and see how much they have already; “how they have health and strength.” Likewise, James expresses a positive view about the African American outcome after the slavery period. He realizes that the acceptance of the black man in society “not only has created a new black man, but also a new white man.” He’s not a stranger anymore in America; he’s part of a new nation. Because of this achievement, he concludes, “this world is no longer white, and it will never be white
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. Which shows how even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed the African Americans from slavery, they still are not free because of segregation. He then transitions to the injustice and suffering that the African Americans face. He makes this argument when he proclaims, “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream”.