Essay On A Lesson Before Dying

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Literary Essay. In a story the setting can play a key role in inciting emotion or allow the reader to connect with the important ideas the story is trying to convey. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines the novel is set in the 1940s in the small town of Bayonne, Louisiana. This setting is extremely important to the central theme because it allows the readers to understand the relationships within the community, the historical significance of this time period, and the way racism was accepted into everyday society during the story. Without the setting the reader would have a harder time relating and understanding the theme of the story. Setting is crucially important to the theme of A Lesson Before Dying. In the novel the …show more content…

In the 1940’s in Louisiana people of color were subjected to racism on a daily basis and were seen as less human than whites and therefore were given fewer rights and freedoms. As well at that time in the southern United States racism and segregation were still a part of everyday life. Because this was considered the norm in the 1940’s it helps to explain why Jefferson was still charged despite being innocent. Jefferson’s family rather than fight the false charges, which they know is not socially accepted because of their skin color, have to divert to an alternative option to help Jefferson. They try to help him gain some dignity before he dies because they know that as colored people in the 1940’s they cannot help Jefferson any other way. This shows how the racism within the community was accepted by everyone, despite the fact the Jefferson was innocent colored people knew they could not fight a racist system and white people didn’t care because all they saw was the color of his skin. Overall the setting allows the reader to understand how racism was acceptable within this society. To conclude the setting in the novel A Lesson Before Dying is extremely important to the central theme of racism because it allows the readers to understand the relationships within the community, the historical significance of this time period, and the way racism was accepted into

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