“I saw the transformation,” the prison guard tells Grant near the end of the novel, declaring himself a witness to Jefferson’s extraordinary progression. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, written by Ernest J. Gaines, the main character, Jefferson had to overcome all odds against himself, and try to become a man in a very short period. This may not look very tough though, but this is especially hard for Jefferson, as he was sentenced to death by electrocution, and was called a hog by his own defense attorney, and believes this for much of the time until weeks before the execution date. Grant, the teacher, Reverend Ambrose, family members, and even God, have to help this man become a man in the little time he has left on this earth. Through …show more content…
Justice, gentlemen? Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this.”- Jefferson's defense attorney, (Gaines 8). Jefferson, falsely accused of murder and punished to death by electrocution, more likely than not viewed this situation any better until he heard this said by is defense attorney. Jefferson took this as literal and not helpful from the defense attorney for trying to get him out of a jail sentence. When Jefferson’s Godmother, Godmother’s friend, Grant the teacher, and Reverend Ambrose, visited Jefferson, he was always had very red eyes which many believe means he was crying because of the death sentence and being called a hog or even acted like a hog. One of the visits Grant came all by himself, and brought food for Jefferson from his Godmother, when Grant asked him if he wanted any food Jefferson replied, “hogs don’t eat human food” and later replied “did you bring corn, cuz that’s what hogs eat”. Grant tried telling Jefferson that he was a human, but Jefferson filled with all of this anger, gets on the floor and begins to eat like a hog of the picnic basket, and Grant recalls Jefferson as this “he got down on the floor, and began to eat like a hog, even with all the real noises.” Jefferson, at this point of the story looked like he had no chance of being turned into a man before the end of the novel, but that does not stop Grant and the others from coming up to the jail cell and trying desperately …show more content…
The first thing that Grant Wiggins does is that he brings Jefferson a pencil and notebook that Jefferson could write in for Grant to read after Jefferson was dead. This shows that Jefferson is transforming because, many of the sheriffs and deputies were finding it humorous that Grant was bringing a notebook for a “hog”. Although Jefferson is illiterate, he still writes in the diary that shows he is improving as a man. The second thing that Grant and reverend Ambrose do is to have Jefferson accept God, and believe it so him and his godmother can be in heaven together when they both pass, and Jefferson does this. The final event that actually makes Jefferson a man is when Jefferson tells Paul to tell Grant that he walked to his death as a man, which shows that Jefferson went to his death as a man.
The whole novel, Jefferson’s friends and family try to make him become a man, and the readers see his improvements through the beginning, middle, and end of his life in the prison cell. Paul the deputy at the jail, saw the impact that Grant had on Jefferson for him to become a man. How can a man who believes in something so strongly, to become a man who believes in another thing that contradicts what he believed before. Many say, “God can change everything” and that could be true after reading