A Lesson Before Dying Themes

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In A Lesson Before Dying, one of the most pronounced themes or issues in the book is regarding people’s natural longing for power. The author uses the character of Grant Wiggins to reveal the need most encounter for authority over their peers. It is through Wiggin’s character that the audience truly understands how little remarks and condemnations significantly shape a person’s outlook and personality. Not only through comments made to Wiggins is the theme, a desire for power, exemplified, but also through dominance driven remarks made by Wiggins himself. The struggles of Wiggins and Jefferson to free themselves of a racist and power operated society displays a natural desire for dominance, how the power of the individual is greater than what society believes, and how continuous subjugations have an overwhelming effect or influence. Throughout the novel, a craving for power is presented through the selfish acts of Henri Pichott and Sheriff Guidry. What seemed like …show more content…

Soon before the jailing of Jefferson, his attorney told the jury that allowing him to be sentenced to death would be similar to putting an innocent “hog in the electrocution chair” (8). While the comment did have a detrimental effect on Jefferson’s outlook on himself, he soon used it to create a power shift towards the end of the book. Using the journal Wiggins gave to him, Jefferson was able to reconnect with his humanity. His thoughts allowed him to realize how one-sided society was, and what he could do with his limited time to help. Using a moment that was supposed to make Jefferson feel inferior because of his race, Jefferson became “the strongest man in that crowded room”(253), and walked to the electric chair allowing his death to have meaning. A shift in power provided the black community with hope for a better future and a better understanding of how not to let power driven comments affect their mentality and

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