Change In A Lesson Before Dying

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A character can change many times throughout a novel, or film, whether it’s good or bad. It can be a character’s willingness to change or it can be a life changing journey he or she went on that made it happen. The novel, A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, talks about characters such as Grant, Jefferson, and Paul along with the life changing journey they went through in their life in Bayonne, Louisiana. In the novel, Grant said, “we are […] all of us on this earth, a piece of drifting wood, until we […] decide to become something else” (Gaines 193). Grant’s change of mind set, Jefferson’s ability to stand up for himself, and Paul wanting to be a part of the change, shows how they went from a drifting piece of wood to something …show more content…

In order for Grant to help Jefferson “stand”, he must first come to terms with his own problem which involves his old primary school teacher and predecessor. It was Matthew Antoine who told him “most of us would die violently, and those who did not would be brought down to the level of beast” (62). These were his words of warning to them to flee now while they have the chance to live a better life. For a short while Grant believed this until his mind was changed by the women in this novel such as Vivian, Miss Emma, and Taute Lou. It was Grant words when discussing with Vivian why it was so important for Miss Emma to know that Jefferson will die standing like a man rather than crawling like a hog. His reason he told Vivian was “we black men have failed to protect our women since the time of slavery. We stay here in the south and are broken or run away and leave them alone […]” (166). It was at that moment when Grant decided not to run away but to stay and fight it takes one man to start a movement but it takes a whole race to cause a change in the …show more content…

Paul is the only white character, in the novel, that truly understands the struggle of being black in the south. We first met Paul in the Bayonne jail, when he is escorting Grant to Jefferson jail cell. After Grant continuously visits Jefferson, he and Paul became closer. In Ed Piacentino paper he notice grant and Paul were becoming more acquainted with each other. Piacentino saw the white community 's segregationist and their oppressive attitude, being an individual basis and not overall. He made an interesting comment about Paul in his paper “Paul 's eyes serve as a window to the essential goodness of his character” (Piacentino 5). By the end of the novel Paul see Jefferson as a human being when he notices the remarkable transformation that Jefferson went through. Paul knowing that Jefferson will be executed soon he treats him with kindness wanting to leave Jefferson with good memories of

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