Ernest J. Gaines's 'Lesson' Prompts Teens to Grapple with Stark Realities
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3/5/2015
Ernest J. Gaines's 'Lesson' prompts teens to grapple with stark realities
Ernest J. Gaines's 'Lesson' prompts teens to grapple with stark realities
By DeNeen Brown Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, May 11, 2010; C01
What lessons could a city learn from reading the same book at the same time? What lessons could be learned in a city trying to heal from senseless violence from a driveby shooting in Southeast Washington that killed three teenagers last month? Could a city heal from a book that tells a complicated story about injustice, racism and the need for second chances? What would happen if throughout the city, everyone were engaged in the same lesson? Like back in English class, when a professor asked you to think deeper, to look for symbolism in the story, for irony, character development, layers of complication? Officials at the D.C. Humanities Council and the D.C. Public Library system are participating in the "Big Read," a program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts to "revitalize the role of literary reading in American popular culture," are hoping that everyone in the city can learn from reading the same book. This year, the Humanities Council selected "A Lesson Before Dying," by Ernest J. Gaines, a novel about a black teenager living in segregated Louisiana, who is sentenced to death in the 1940s for murders he did not commit. The council and the library system distributed more than 2,500 copies of the book to programs for the homeless, juvenile correctional facilities and to schools, where questions raised by the story were explored. Film showings and book discussions related to the book are scheduled across the region, including book chats hosted by The Washington Post. On Monday, students at Calvin Coolidge High School in Northwest Washington created a dramatic play based on the novel, which paints the last days of the life of the main character, Jefferson. It tells the story of the town's only black teacher, Grant, who had been asked by Jefferson's godmother, Miss Emma, to help Jefferson gain selfrespect after suffering indignities at a trial. A racist public defender had called Jefferson "a hog" during the sham trial. The word rattled Miss Emma . Alyrah Davis, a 16yearold junior in an orange sweater, took the stark stage in Coolidge's auditorium to recite her lines as Miss Emma. "My baby didn't do anything to anybody," she intoned. Her class had just finished reading the book and Alyrah wrote her part last week. "My baby is not a hog. He's a man. . . . That teacher and that reverend, they are going to turn him into a man by the time he gets to that chair." Joy Ford Austin, executive director of the Humanities Council, says the book is a timely read. The organization wanted more young people, ages 13 to 24, to participate in the Big Read because the NEA http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/05/10/AR2010051004434_pf.html 1/4
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Ernest J. Gaines's 'Lesson' prompts teens to grapple with stark realities
has identified that age group as the least likely to sit down and read a book for enjoyment. Throughout the city, the book prompted discussions on the criminal justice system, fairness, life and death, pain and the burden of stereotypes. " 'How do I live, knowing I will die?' " Austin says, referring to the issue Jefferson wrestles with in the novel. "A question the teacher in this book has to confront is: 'Am I my brother's keeper?' Those are two old questions, as old as time. Young people get that. They relate to those two questions." 'Against the grain' Last week inside Cardozo High School in Northwest Washington, a strong morning light streamed in the grand windows of the magnificent school built during segregation. Schools then were built to glorify education. Arched ceilings, ornate tile, wide walls, classrooms the size of small condos. Marble floors. The school stands on one of the highest hills in Washington, with sweeping vistas. An advancedplacement literature class of 16 young black men and one student from Vietnam was analyzing themes from "A Lesson Before Dying." The English teacher, Frazier O'Leary Jr., who has been teaching 33 years, said he loves this class so much, he can't wait to get up in the morning to transfer his love of literature to young men who sit before him. The students arrived at school an hour early to take part. School officially begins at 8:45. This senior class starts at 7:50 a.m. "They destroy all the stereotypes about minority males," said O'Leary, who is white. He was preparing the students for an AP exam they were about to take, an exam he expects all of them to pass, because they have been studying literature with him for two years. Although the exam likely would not focus on this book, O' Leary asked them how they might use the story to help them ace the open question AP exam. O'Leary asked them: What are themes in the book they could explore? Are there scenes of violence in the story? Isaiah Aladejob, 18, wearing a purple shirt and black tie, raised his hand: "When Grant" the teacher in the book "starts the fight with the guy at the bar." "Good," O'Leary said. O'Leary asked the students to look for symbols of parental figures in the book, a potential exam question. "There are no parents, only parental figures," Isaiah said. "Look at Grant. He is a parental figure to Paul." (Paul is a white deputy.) "What about the reverend?" asked Shawn Arrington, 18. "Good question," O'Leary said. He moved to other potential exam questions: What about a funeral scene in literature? Is there a funeral scene in this book? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/05/10/AR2010051004434_pf.html 2/4
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Ernest J. Gaines's 'Lesson' prompts teens to grapple with stark realities
"No," said Ivan Ango, 18, who might be the class valedictorian. "It's almost as if he [Jefferson] doesn't die. And yet he was funeralized in the end of the book." The word "CAN'T" is written on a poster in O'Leary's classroom. A big red slash mark crosses out the word. Next to that poster, someone had drawn a light bulb and written the word "Epiphany." "Everybody looks at Jefferson as an inspiration," said Leroy Coleman, 19. "The title 'A Lesson Before Dying' implies that all the people in the book learn a lesson," said Long Tran, 19, who immigrated five years ago from Vietnam. "All the characters in the book were taught things by Jefferson," said Phillip Williams, 18. "There are a lot of stereotypes in here that are broken." "I've been stereotyped," said Ivan. "It's a reality in this city," said Shawn. "But you can't let anybody hold you back." "We don't get the benefit of the doubt," said Nosa Odigie, 18. "It's so common, but you have to turn it to something positive. If somebody tells me I can't, I do. People don't know I'm an AP student." "People see what is on the outside," said Shawn. "They don't take the time to see what you are all about. They generalize. People don't know that I read. Not all black boys with dreds rob people. We are just regular people." Touching a nerve The council wanted discussions like this, about stereotypes, about things that are familiar, about injustice. "We have a novel in which a young man fights for his humanity," said Michon Boston, project manager of the Big Read. "Do we offer second chances for people after making mistakes, especially youth in D.C.? What about youth in the justice system? So many people who have been through the juvenile justice system will testify a book set them free." Two days later, the council organized a forum on juvenile justice, and the topic triggered an explosion of discussion. Some men in the audience said that D.C.'s juvenile justice system was failing to change the lives of the young people it locks up in the city's correctional facility. A man told the panel that the majority of young men jailed serve their time and then are returned to the same community without adequate services and end up committing more crimes. The panel tried to offer explanation. But that was not enough for the crowd. Nardyne Jefferies, the mother of Brishell, a 16yearold girl killed in a driveby shooting on South Capitol Street Southeast on March 30, stood near the back in a white sun dress with pink flowers. "You are up there smiling," Jefferies said. "There is nothing funny about my child dying." Suddenly, she walked to the front of the room and slapped photo copies of her slain daughter on the dais. She wanted answers. She wanted justice. Her pain was raw. A father in a black polo shirt stood at the microphone and said he had lost his son to violence. His temper http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/05/10/AR2010051004434_pf.html 3/4
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Ernest J. Gaines's 'Lesson' prompts teens to grapple with stark realities
could not be contained. He refused to follow the protocol of the forum and wait his turn to speak. "I lost a son," he shouted. "I get tired of people telling us what we need. You don't know what people go through." The scene was not pretty. By then, no one was talking about the book. Still, as people filed out into the spring night, it was clear the forum had achieved a purpose. It had prompted a discussion, pricked the conscience of a community in pain, revealing no easy answers, much like a complicated book, an enduring novel without a happy ending. View all comments that have been posted about this article.
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