What makes Ernest Gaines Unique?
Every good author has certain characteristics about their writing that makes them unique and special. Ernest Gaines, the writer of A Lesson before Dying, is no exception. His writing is the prime example of an author using certain techniques to make his writing stand out above all others. Ernest Gaines has been noticed for the absence of melodrama, the avoidance of the propagandistic, and the broad and generous humanity brought on by the words of his works.
First off, when Gaines work is criticized for a lack of melodrama what it means is that, Gaines doesn’t use heightened emotion to portray that feeling in a scene. What he does instead is flattens the emotions and in turn creates very strong emotions that the audience can fully understand. For example, in the first scene with just Jefferson and Grant Wiggins in the jail, instead of creating a screaming match between the two stubborn individuals who both clearly didn’t want to be there, Gaines created a lack of all that and showed pure emotion by describing Jefferson as “…grunt[ing] deep in his t...
After the Civil War ended, many blacks and whites, especially in the South, continued living as if nothing had changed with regards to the oppression and poor treatment of African Americans. Narrator Grant Wiggins, of Ernest J. Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying, possesses a similar attitude toward race relations. Through his experiences with a young man wrongly accused of murder, Grant transforms from a pessimistic, hopeless, and insensitive man into a more selfless and compassionate human being who can see the possibility of change in relations between whites and blacks.
In Gaines' A Lesson before Dying, Grant Wiggins, a black male school teacher, struggles with the decision whether he should stay in his hometown or go to another state while his aunt, Tante Lou, and Miss Emma persuades him and gives him the responsibility to teach Miss Emma’s wrongly convicted godson to have pride and dignity before he dies. The wrongly convicted man, Jefferson, lost all sense of pride when he was degraded and called a "hog" as he was sentenced to death and announced guilty for the murder of the three white men at the bar he so happened to be in. Through Grant’s visits to Jefferson’s cell, the two create a bond between each other and an understanding of the simplicity of standing for yourself or others. In Gaines’ novel, Grant, Jefferson, and everyone around them go through injustice, prejudice, and race.
Ernest J. Gaines novel, A Lesson Before Dying, the characters show transformations throughout the book and their compassion for each other. Grant and Jefferson’s transformation and compassion for each other shows in Jefferson and Grant throughout the book. The concept of change is relative to the person that is changing. In A Lesson Before Dying, Grant and Jefferson find that it is the teacher that ends up learning the lesson. When Grant is given the task of teaching Jefferson that he is not a hog, but he eventually learns a lesson from Jefferson. In the beginning of the book, Grant is confused and because of that he only wants to help himself.
From controversial events to ordinary life stories, Billy Collins writes about various topics in different perspectives just like a chameleon, changing its colors to fit with its surrounding. Collins talks in a gentle, yet humorous way; he illustrates a profound understanding through a clear observation. His writing style blends humor and solemnity in one entity. Throughout his poetry, Collins demonstrates, in a witty and satirical voice, his insightfulness towards the objects, using numerous poetic devices, especially allusions and metaphors to effectively convey his messages, most of which revolves around the theme of death.
Although the greater picture is that reading is fundamental, the two authors have a few different messages that they seek to communicate to their audiences. “The Joy of Reading and Writing” depicts how reading serves as a mechanism to escape the preconceived notions that constrain several groups of people from establishing themselves and achieving success in their lifetimes. “Reading to Write,” on the other hand, offers a valuable advice to aspiring writers. The author suggests that one has to read, read, and read before he or she can become a writer. Moreover, he holds an interesting opinion concerning mediocre writing. He says, “Every book you pick has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones” (p.221). Although these two essays differ in their contents and messages, the authors use the same rhetorical mode to write their essays. Both are process analyses, meaning that they develop their main argument and provide justification for it step by step. By employing this technique, the two authors create essays that are thoughtful, well supported, and easy to understand. In addition, Alexie and King both add a little personal touch to their writings as they include personal anecdotes. This has the effect of providing support for their arguments. Although the two essays have fairly different messages, the authors make use of anecdotes and structure their writing in a somewhat similar
The book A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, published in 1993, follows a story about how one black teacher (Grant), and a black man accused of murder (Jefferson), work together to change the history of their community by showing dignity, sacrifice, redemption, and legacy. The changes in Grant throughout the book are how he shifts from having no consideration and hardly caring, to becoming more determined, and lastly, becoming completely confident and hopeful.
Wright, Richard. "The Man Who Was Almost a Man." Literature and the Writing Process. Ed.
For this synthesis, I am choosing to write about “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. I am choosing these specific passages because of their tone and narratives. These two short stories are written near a century apart yet still share an unceasing ominous and sepulchral tone throughout. The focus of death surrounds each story but the purpose of writing each is different and is obtained with different and quite contrary narrators and narrative voices. “The Minister’s Black Veil”’s purpose is to leave the reader questioning while “A Rose for Emily” has a purpose of surprising the reader. It can be argued that Hawthorne’s use of narrative voice is more effective than Faulkner’s when it comes to telling the story and this is what I intend to prove throughout this essay.
Conflicts are the backbone of any novel, without conflict stories would not be nearly as interesting! Conflicts can be caused by many things, in this novel the main problem is racism. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines is a novel based off of many internal conflicts between the characters, causing the characters to make different decisions and actions; this is important because the story is circled around racism causing many conflicts.
In William Faulkner's famous Nobel Prize speech he speaks of the writer's duty, something that pertains to writers all across the world. Faulkner specifically points out that he dislikes writing “leaving no scars”, and then continues to define what he thinks is the modern writer’s duty. The writer's duty is to write of things that are timeless, explore basic human values, and reach the audience through a unique approach. These three characteristics of the writer's duty are clearly demonstrated in a passage that quotes Frederick Douglass in James W. Davidson’s The Best Fourth of July Speech in American History.
The early-1800s were one of the most turbulent times for the United States of America. As a result of these events, there was an abundance of writers, and Frederick Douglass (an ex-slave who managed to escape to freedom) was among the greatest of them. Recounting his experience as a slave, he wrote an unforgettable book that portrayed his feelings toward slavery and conveyed a clear message to those who were ignorant to the adversities of the oppressed African-Americans. A powerful theme of a book is only shown when it is very well written, and Douglass did so by using a multitude of stylistic devices to his fullest abilities. In the autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the author most strongly uses vivid imagery
As a writer, the success of most authors’ comes from their power to convert common thoughts or knowledge into something which can enlighten the reader. An author thrives on being unique and imaginative. With this originality comes differentiation, when one compares two authors who have used the same literary device in their writings, this becomes apparent. J.D Salinger’s writings involve an enormous amount of childhood concepts and loss of innocence. Mark Twain is also known for his use of innocence in his novels, specifically The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Although the concept behind innocence is basically the same with both authors, each author applies his own interpretat...
Antwone Fisher was an individual that endured so many things. He faced a lot of challenges that may have seemed impossible to recover from. This story was an example of the many things that some children may experience. Antwone was not raised in an upper crust home. He did not grow up in a home in which his mother and father was present. Instead of having positive role models, he had to live with individuals that were abusive to him. When observing Antwone’s personality, one may refer to two different theorists such as Bandura and Rogers.
In the short story “A Rose for Emily,” death plays a major role in developing the story. It also shows how the death of one person can change a city as a whole. However, if this story is compared to the life of the author, William Faulkner, people can see how death in his life can contribute to why he wrote the story the way he did. The death of the people is used to add to the meaning of the work altogether. William Faulkner’s experiences add meaning to his work, “A Rose for Emily,” through several deaths and Emily’s ultimate demise.
“Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him (Bierce 1-2).” Death was ultimately present throughout much of both short stories, his sudden and striking hand took the life of many during the Civil War. Each moment of battle was soiled with sweat, blood, and tears of the soldiers. The bodies of fathers, brothers, and friends littered the battlefield, and often the death passed over members closer to home. Not only were those whose lives were lost affected, but the families of the brave men were affected devastatingly as well. The author Mark Twain approached the suddenness of death in his story “A Private History of a Campaign that Failed”. Ambrose Bierce also captured the sharp essence of death in his tale of Peyton Farquhar in “An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge”.