A Lesson Before Dying Analysis

1766 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Research in african american literature

A Lesson Before Dying Study Guide

As I put this book down, I felt both sad and enlightened.

As I sat there having completed A Lesson before Dying, I thought to myself that inner strength and faith cannot be taught, it comes from within.

1. Historical Context:

The story takes place in a small Cajun town in Louisiana in the 1940's. The story mainly takes place in the Quarter, area on the plantation where the black people who work there reside, and in Bayonne, the town nearest the plantation. Life for African American people in this era was one of segregation. Though slavery was over, they still were not treated with respect or equality.

2. Antebellum – A period before war. Usually associated with the Civil War.

Relating to the story, the term antebellum, I would think, is referring to this period of time before the civil rights movement began in the 50's and 60's. I believe this because of Jefferson being wrongly accused and sent to a trial of "his peers" which were all white men, his defense lawyer portraying him as non-human and unintelligent, and Jefferson being sentenced to death. I believe that this era of injustice, inequality, and prejudice is the precursor to the civil rights movement or the war against prejudice, injustice, and inequality.

3. The closing argument made by Jefferson's lawyer consisted of him telling the jury to just look at Jefferson, examine him. He goes on to say that he is not a man, even though he has reached the age of 21 which when "we" (meaning white people) civilized men are considered to become men. His lawyer called him a boy and a fool who doesn't know right from wrong. He asks the jury to look in Jefferson's eyes to prove his point that no intelligence lies there. He also refers to Jefferson as a cornered animal, a trait inherited from his African Ancestors. The lawyer's defense is that Jefferson is too stupid to have planned a robbery and murder. He asks what justice would be served by taking Jefferson's life; it would be like putting a hog in that chair.

4. My response to this argument is that I am disgusted. If Jefferson were a white man in this same situation, the defense lawyer would be looking into actual evidence to proclaim the innocence of his client. Because Jefferson is black, his lawyer doesn't bother to bring up any evidence that could get him off, he doesn't bring any character witnesses for Jefferson, he doesn't do anything that a good and non-prejudice lawyer would.

Show More
Related

  • Racial Injustice in the Book A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • A Lesson Before Dying Thesis

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Thomas Jefferson's From Notes on the State of Virginia

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jefferson’s use of strategies and language is ineffective in making his points and persuading readers of his arguments. Using hasty generalization, begging the question, and insulting language in his analysis is a huge flaw which lessens the credibility of his argument and offenses his readers. Jefferson should use other argumentative strategies and prevent himself from using insulting language in order to convince readers of his arguments.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Lesson Before Dying

    1317 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Free Essays - A Lesson Before Dying

    1289 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ganes, Earnest J. A Lesson Before Dying? New York: Vintage Books, 1993. Genre: Novel. 256 pages Setting: The story is set in a small Cajun Louisiana town in the 1940’s. The setting in this story is significant because, the whole story is about how a young black boy is treated unfairly and sentenced to death because of something he did not do.

    Read More

  • A Lesson Before Dying

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, Grant and Jefferson are black men in the era of a racist society; but they have struggles with a greater dilemma, obligation and commitment. They have obligations to their families and to the town they are part of. They lived in a town were everybody knew everybody else and took care of each other. "Living and teaching on a plantation, you got to know the occupants of every house, and you knew who was home and who was not.... I could look at the smoke rising from each chimney or I could look at the rusted tin roof of each house, and I could tell the lives that went on in each one of them." [pp. 37-38] Just by Grant’s words you can tell that that is a community that is very devoted to each other.

    Read More

  • Criminal Justice Concepts in 12 Angry Men

    910 Words  | 2 Pages

    Yet with the help of one aged yet wise and optimistic man he speaks his opinion, one that starts to not change however open the minds of the other eleven men on the jury. By doing this the man puts out a visual picture by verbally expressing the facts discussed during the trial, he uses props from the room and other items the he himself brought with him during the course of the trial. Once expressed the gentleman essentially demonstrate that perhaps this young man on trial May or may not be guilty. Which goes to show the lack of research, and misused information that was used in the benefit of the prosecution. For example when a certain factor was brought upon the trail; that being timing, whether or not it took the neighbor 15 seconds to run from his chair all the way to the door. By proving this right or wrong this man Juror #4 put on a demonstration, but first he made sure his notes were correct with the other 11 jurors. After it was

    Read More

  • Argument Analysis - Declaration of Independence

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...kes a negative attitude throughout the article. He simply states the facts, supports them, and moves on to his next point. Jefferson never appears to be angry and does not point out anything that distracts the reader from the message that he is trying to convey. He keeps a serious tone throughout that keeps the reader drawn into what he is saying the entire time. The reader feels a sense that Jefferson is serious about what he is saying and he is not to be taken lightly at all.

    Read More

  • Atticus Finch Ethos In To Kill A Mockingbird

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch was put to the test to defend juvenile Tom Robinson, an African American falsely accused of raping a white woman. Atticus fought long and hard and had he and Tom Robinson been guaranteed the right to a fair trial, they would have won. Atticus’s closing argument rendered countless pieces of evidence and did in fact catch the attention of the jury; but even in the beginning, the decision was clear. Although Atticus lost the trial, his argument was effective due to his excessive use of Aristotelian techniques.

    Read More

  • Lessons Learned In A Lesson Before Dying

    807 Words  | 2 Pages

    Life is short and it is up to you to make the most out of it. The most important lesson that everyone should follow and apply to everyday life is “never give up”. In the novel, “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines, the important lesson can be shown in the characters Jefferson, Miss Emma and Grant Wiggins.

    Read More

  • Antebellum Era Essay

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Antebellum Period in American history is the time period that directly follows the end of the War of 1812 in 1814 up until the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. This time period got it’s name from the Latin word “Antebellum,” which means, “before the war.” The Civil War is such an iconic turning point in American History. The Antebellum Period played a large role leading towards the division of North and South and contributed to making the Civil War almost

    Read More

  • Historical Events In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, illustrates the early twentieth century’s historical realities through the case between Tom Robinson and Bob Ewell. This certain case comes off as a no brainer for most of the townspeople, discerning a black man’s testimony against a white man’s. This is because of the majority of the town still in withholding of Jim Crow ideals. Nonetheless, hope was still had by Atticus Finch, who was the defenders attorney, and his family for victory seeming the plaintiff is a half crazy middle aged man, whom most of the town would rather not associate with. As Mr. Ewell had his testimony, on the other side of the hall Tom Robinson had his counterclaim ready to go against the odds. Jim Crow laws and the depression only

    Read More

  • Racial Discrimination and Injustice in the South

    1626 Words  | 4 Pages

    As in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee there was a great deal of injustice in the south in the early 1900s and before. Things only seemed to get worse when the depression. “We were always poor, but the Depression was definitely worse”(Johnson). The fiction in the book could very well be based on real facts of the way the blacks were treated in the past. Blacks of the time could not get a fair chance in real life or in the book. For that reason Tom Robinson could never have gotten a fair trial in Alabama in the 1930’s.

    Read More

  • Human Dignity in A Lesson Before Dying

    1355 Words  | 3 Pages

    Grant and Jefferson are on a journey. Though they have vastly different educational backgrounds, their commonality of being black men who have lost hope brings them together in the search for the meaning of their lives. In the 1940’s small Cajun town of Bayonne, Louisiana, blacks may have legally been emancipated, but they were still enslaved by the antebellum myth of the place of black people in society. Customs established during the years of slavery negated the laws meant to give black people equal rights and the chains of tradition prevailed leaving both Grant and Jefferson trapped in mental slavery in their communities.

    Read More

  • Racism and Sexism in Toni Morrison's Sula

    1607 Words  | 4 Pages

    The social conventions that are set up in this book play out in a small black community in Ohio called "the Bottom." The community itself formed when a white slave owner tricked his naïve black slave into accepting hilly mountainous land that would be hard to farm and very troublesome instead of the actual bottom (fertile valley) land that he was promised. The slave was told "when God looks down, it's the bottom. That's why we call it so. It's the bottom of heaven-best land there is" (4), and on the basis of this lie a community was formed. Its almost as if the towns misfortune is passed down ...

    Read More

More about A Lesson Before Dying Analysis

Open Document