A Lesson Before Dying Essay Exam Prompt Lesson
Grant Wiggins has been teaching on a plantation outside Bayonne, Louisiana, for several years when a slow-witted man named Jefferson is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Jefferson claims he is innocent of the crime. He says he was on his way to a bar, but changed his mind and decided to tag along with two men who were on their way to a liquor store. Upon arriving there, the two men began arguing with the storeowner, and a shootout ensued. The storeowner and the two men died, and Jefferson remained at the scene of the crime. He was arrested and tried for murder. Jefferson’s lawyer argues in court that Jefferson is nothing but a poor fool, hardly more worthwhile than a hog, and therefore incapable of plotting such a scheme. The jury quickly brings back a guilty verdict. Grant is then assigned from his aunt, Tante Lou and Jefferson’s godmother, Mss. Emma, to educate Jefferson to be a man instead of what Jefferson thinks he is, a hog. Grant and Jefferson go down a protracted road and assimilated deep feelings and life lessons that they deal with together.
A lot of the significant parts of the book, A Lesson Before Dying, were of Grant Wiggins teaching/working. While reading this book, I really noticed how much Grant cares and gives his all to teach his students to become something in the world when they are older, because he doesn’t want them to become like half the other people in the community, begging and slaving for money. A huge lesson Grant wanted the children of the community to know was the story of Jefferson’s death. “’For every minute that you don’t spend on your knees between twelve o’clock and until I hear from that courthouse, you will spend twice that time on your knees after three.’” (Gaines p. 247). The reason I feel Grant was so strict about how long the children should stay on their knees, is because he wanted them not to just pay their respects to any man, but a man that was a part of the community; He wanted the children to learn to always be apart of the community, everyone is your friend. I think this, because as Grant was spending more time with Jefferson, he became fonder of him and started to become more and more vexed about why they were executing an innocent man. Grant then became closer to the community, with the help of his girlfriend Vivian, instead of wanting to run away from the community. A Lesson Before Dying is about life back in the late 1940’s. When reading this book it was about three main topics: education, freedom, and opportunity. I say this because; every significant part of the book connects with at least one of those three topics. Such as, the time Grant punished one of his students for staring out the window at two African-American men, sitting on a wagon being pulled by a two mules. “Henry Lewis was a short black man with hardly any teeth. His hands were the color and texture of the legs of a snapping turtle. He wore an old straw hat, a green and brown plaid shirt, khaki pants, and rubber boots.” (Gaines p. 61). Grant punished his student for looking at the two men, because of what the two men had become of their lives. Grant, didn’t want the students to see what the two men were doing as a normal job, he wanted the students to stay educated and become something of themselves. Other characters in the book were going through the same stressful wait on when Jefferson was going to be executed. Such as, Jefferson’s godmother Mss. Emma. Jefferson acted as if she was his mom and Mss. Emma acted as if he was her son. They had somewhat of a close bond, until the incident at the liquor store. Mss. Emma did her absolute best to communicate with Jefferson when he was in jail, but he would never oblige, not even make any eye contact. “She took a polo shirt from the paper bag and spread it out with both hands. But he showed no sign of seeing the shirt, or even hearing Miss Emma.” (Gaines p. 121). Miss Emma went through what no mom would ever want to go through, losing your own child. For her, to visualize that she was losing her child right in front of her and had no power to save him, it ate her inside. This is a very significant part of the book, because Jefferson is so focused on what his defense attorney claimed that a hog, such as Jefferson, could never pull a plan like this. A shocking part of the book was how the sheriff’s deputy, Paul, became affected as well to Jefferson’s execution. It’s shocking because Paul is a white man, but he shows emotions for what Jefferson is going through. “’After they put the death cloth over his face, I couldn’t watch anymore. I looked down at they floor, ‘ Paul was saying. His voice was quieter, less intense now. ‘I heard the two jolts, but I wouldn’t look up. I’ll never forget the sound of that generator as long as I live on this earth. ‘“ (Gaines p. 254) Paul is very different from all the other white characters of the book, because the other white characters such as, Henri Pichot, showed no emotion on what was happening to Jefferson. In his mind, it was just one extra person dying in the world. Paul had consideration for Jefferson. For example, when he walked in on Jefferson to tell him “it’s time” he said it gently, instead of being rude and demanding. Paul did the best he could to make Jefferson comfortable in his situation. I would say this task would be very challenging, to make a man who doesn’t know when he is going to die comfortable. In conclusion, I feel that the novel is trying to state that horrible things happen to innocent people in a blink of an eye. For us, as a community we should all pitch in to help someone such as Jefferson. Maybe not the same exact situation, but the same amount of distress that Jefferson possessed. We as a community should show each other that we all care. As did the book, the day before Jefferson was executed, the majority of the community came to pay their respects. Why don’t we as a community do that now? Why don’t we want to have a better future as a community anymore?