Talk:A Lesson Before Dying
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This discussion page is being set up as a place to discuss topics in the book. Some topics are obvious and some are not so obvious. I invite everyone who has read the book to add their interpretations to anything written here.
Contents |
[edit] Major Themes
[edit] Racism
It is Gaines' intention in the writing of this book to imply that racism is not gone today, just not in the spotlight anymore.
[edit] Religion
The purpose of religion in this book is to bring community to a very segregated people.
[edit] The Measure of a Man
In the book, Gaines has to teach Jefferson how to be a man, and in turn learns, himself, what it takes to be a man.
[edit] Minor Themes
[edit] Transfiguration
Throughout the course of the novel, Grant undergoes a transformation. Once he starts teaching Jefferson how to ‘become a man,’ he realizes that he himself has not truly become a man.
As Grant was growing up, his school teacher was very influential in his life, but he never thought he would ever grow up to be just like him. Inside, Matthew Antoine,
“He hated himself for the mixture of his blood and the cowardice of his being, and he hated us for daily reminding him of it.”
Grant did not understand that what his former school teacher felt was a sense of guilt. He felt that he had let himself and his other black community members down by not standing up for himself and the unfair things that happened in the town. Racism and prejudice ruled the opinions of others, and Matthew Antoine did not do anything about it. This in turn left him feeling worthless and bitter.
Along with this feeling, the school teacher felt that it was a curse to be educated. He said to Grant,
“Good, good you want to learn? Good, good here is the burden.”
Being educated, meant you had the knowledge of how cruel the government, court, and world were towards the African American race. In saying this, he was trying to save Grant from going through the pain and remorse that he has lived through. Matthew knew Grant wanted to learn, and knew that if he just went outside and chopped wood like all the other children and was able to retain his innocent nature, than he would live a happier life.
Once Grant starts to teach Jefferson, he is able to realize that all these years he has been just like his former teacher, cowardly and not able to stand up for what is right. After he had the courage to take a stand and help Jefferson on his way, he was able to see the gratification he felt in knowing that he was able to make a difference in the way society perceived blacks.
Sources
Gordon-Yarbrough, Jane (1995). The Antioch Review. The Antioch Review, Inc.
Gaines, Ernest J. A Lesson Before Dying. New York: Vintage Books, 1993
[edit] Isolation
Ernest J. Gaines novel, A Lesson Before Dying, transcends the racial barriers presented in the story. Not only does Gaines speak to the long, harsh history of white oppression of blacks, but to the unjust oppression in preset day society. Gaines exemplifies the mental and behavioral effects of poverty-specifically lack of education and the prison system. The character of Jefferson serves as the prime example of the detrimental problems in society.
"There were two elementary schools uptown, one catholic, one public, for whites; and the same back of town for colored." (p. 25)
Though this may have a huge effect on Jefferson’s ability to understand his trial, Gaines shows that Jefferson is still very aware of his unjust sentence. The ability to comprehend justice transcends one’s education to a certain point. While Jefferson does not know exactly who to blame for his trial, he does know he has not been treated humanely.
"Then he looked at me. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? his eyes said. They were big brown eyes, the whites too reddish. You know, don’t you? his eyes said again. I looked back at him. My eyes would not dare answer him. But his eyes knew that my eyes knew." (p. 73)
This scenario is often observed in the violent revolts by lower class citizens in third world countries. Though the people know they have been treaty wrongly, their response is not always aimed at the appropriate persons, which is understandable.
Once Jefferson is locked up, his humanity is further degraded. After being called a hog at his court case by his defense attorney, without anyone to tell him otherwise he soon begins to believe he is not human.
"That’s for youmans," he said. "I ain’t no youman. Hogs don’t give nothing. Hogs don’t leave nothing. Hogs don’t worry. Hogs just know," he said. "Hogs don’t know anything, Jefferson," I said. "Only human beings know. Only human beings worry." "This hog knows. Fattening up for Christmas. Kill him at Christmastime," he said. (p. 140)
The physical and symbolic isolation of Jefferson’s jail cell from society only further contributes to Jefferson’s eroded mindset. All of the prisoners in the jailhouse are distanced from the other prison workers by numerous flights of stairs and multiple long hallways. The black prisoners are again separated from the white prisoners. Jefferson’s cell is located at the end of the hallway, apart from the rest of the jail prisoners. His location is symbolic of the sentiment that he is not even fit to be amongst the regular black prisoners. Jefferson’s jail cell is small, and furnished with the basic necessities to live, but not to live comfortably. Everything is grimy, the quarters are cramped, and the window is too high to even receive sunlight. His single connection with the outside world is as minimal as possible.
"We followed him down a long, dark corridor, passing offices with open doors, and bathrooms for white ladies and white men. At the end of the corridor we had to go up a set of stairs. The stairs were made of steel. There were six steps, then a landing, a sharp turn, and another six steps. Then we went through a heavy steel door to the area where the prisoners were quartered. The white prisoners were also on this floor, but in a separate section. I counted eight cells for black prisoners, with two bunks to each cell. Half of the cells were empty, the others had one or two prisoners. The cell was roughly six by ten, with a metal bunk covered by a thin mattress and a wooden army blanket; a toilet without seat or toilet paper; a washbowl, brownish from residue and grime; a small metal shelf upon which was a pan, a tin cup, and a tablespoon. A single bulb hung over the center of the cell, and at the end opposite the door was a barred window, which looked out onto a sycamore tree behind the courthouse. I could see the sunlight on the upper leaves. But the window was too high to catch sight of any other buildings or the ground." (p. 71)
These bleak living conditions soon begin to alter Jefferson’s mindset. Without interacting with other people, Jefferson loses his grip on reality. Jefferson is reduced to the lowest level on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. While his physical needs are met, he is left without any healthy social relationships. To fill this gap he begins to behave erratically and cruelly. Even tactless social communication is more than he would have otherwise. He lashes out at Grant, but it is apparent that he does this because of his need for some sort of social contact.
"Manners is for the living," he said. He looked at me awhile then he swung around and knocked the bag of food off the bunk. "Food for the living, too," he said. We looked at each other, and I could see in those big reddened eyes that he was not going to scream. He was full of anger-and who could blame him?- but he was no fool. He needed me, and he wanted me here, if only to insult me. (p.130)
Jefferson is isolated from society by all means possible, both physically and figuratively. Yet, this does nothing to rehabilitate him or improve his behavior. Instead, it sends him into a deeper spiral of need and pain. Both his actions and his cognitive processes are greatly affected by this separation from society. In A Lesson Before Dying, Gaines addresses the many institutions of isolation that still exist in today’s society and their detrimental effects to one’s humanity.
"That’s for youmans," he said. "I ain’t no youman. Hogs don’t give nothing. Hogs don’t leave nothing." "Hogs don’t worry. Hogs just know," he said "Hogs don’t know anything, Jefferson," I said. "Only human beings know. Only human beings worry." "This hog knows. Fattening up for Christmas. Kill him at Christmastime," he said. (p. 140)
Sources
Gaines, Ernest J. A Lesson Before Dying. New York: Vintage Books, 1993
[edit] Alienation
In reading Ernest J. Gaines’ novel, A Lesson Before Dying, I noticed a theme of alienation in the main character and narrator, Grant Wiggins. Grant’s actions alienate him from his family, his friends and everyone else around him. Sometimes, he does it to himself, other times it’s forced upon him by others. Grant suffers this separation from people due to his advanced education, lack of religion and desire to flee from the plantation. Most of the problems Grant has stem from his sense of not belonging.
In the 1940’s most black men were not educated beyond a few years in public school. Thus, any remarks that would indicate further education were looked down upon by those who thought themselves superior. Phillip Auger, in his article entitled, “A Lesson in Manhood: Appropriating ‘The Word’ in Ernest Gaines’s A Lesson Before Dying,” writes, “Grant makes it clear that even he, a black man who has been college educated, cannot express himself in the way he wishes in his community,” (76). Grant often encounters discrimination where he cannot express himself. In one such encounter, Grant corrects the sheriff by using “doesn’t” instead of “don’t.” (Gaines 48). In another instance, Gaines writes, “’Leave it,’ the sheriff said. ‘I’ll see that he gets it. Batries, I hope.’ ‘Yes, sir, batries,’ I said. I had almost said ‘batteries,’” (177). Grant has to speak as though he is stupid when around less educated white people simply because he has a different skin color. A lot of other people see this kind of racism and discrimination as the way things always have been and always will be. Grant rebels against his “place” in society and is shunned by white people because of his illusions of grandeur. As well, the society of the white people enjoys its position of superiority and the society of the black people is too afraid of retribution to try and change anything drastic. Grant’s education not only alienates himself from the white people, but also from those in the quarter.
Grant’s discussions with the people in the quarter are a lot like those he has with Reverend Ambrose. Reverend Ambrose resents Grant because Grant feels superior to the rest of the quarter because of his education (Gaines 214-216). Many of the people in the quarter distance themselves from Grant for this same reason. In getting his education, Grant gained a lot of knowledge, but at the same time, he lost his religion.
Religion causes much strife with Grant. Tante Lou, Grant’s aunt, feels disappointed because he lost his religion when he went off to school. Grant deals with the oppression of the times with superior knowledge whereas, “the way in which Grant’s Aunt, Jefferson’s Godmother, and Reverend Ambrose learn to deal with such oppression is through their faith and institution of religion,” (Auger 77). Grant wants nothing to do with organized religion, although he does believe in a God-like force (Gaines 223). Reverend Mose Ambrose believes, “they send you to school to relieve pain, to relieve hurt—and if you have to lie to do it, then you lie. You lie and you lie and you lie” (Gaines 218). Reverend Ambrose, in this statement, is telling Grant to lie to Jefferson so he will pray to God for forgiveness of his sins, thus going to heaven. Grant refuses to lie to Jefferson, thereby alienating himself from the reverend. Most people of the day were religious and by putting himself on the opposite side of the fence from Reverend Ambrose, he distances himself from a lot of the community in the quarter. Grant can find peace with neither the white people, nor the black people in his community. He has only one person who he truly cares about, and that is Vivian. She, unfortunately, causes him to be alienated when they don’t see eye-to-eye on matters.
Grant firmly believes that leaving the plantation area will solve his problems. Grant tells Vivian, “I don’t feel alive here. I’m not living here. I know we can do better someplace else,” (Gaines 29). This belief pushes him away from most of the community as he is the teacher, and a vital part of the community because of it. The only reason Grant has not left the area is his lover, Vivian. Vivian asks him why he hasn’t left and his only response is, “because of you,” (Gaines 29). More than anything else, he wants to leave Louisiana with Vivian and go to California or someplace and live, what he perceives would be, a better life. Vivian, however, is happy where she is. She doesn’t want to move. She feels a responsibility to her teaching job, to her students and to her children. When Grant asks her if she wants to leave she says, “we can’t. We’re teachers and we have a commitment,” (Gaines 29). Mary Ann Doyle, in her article “Educational Studies,” points out if Vivian ran away with Grant, her estranged husband would have backing on his side of the custody battle for their two children (457). For these reasons, Vivian feels she cannot easily leave the area of Bayonne and in turn Grant is torn by his desire to run and live someplace better and his desire to be with Vivian, raising a barrier between himself and Vivian.
Conflict is ripe with Grant: with both the white and black communities because he is more educated than a lot of them, with his local community and family because of his refusal to go to church and with Vivian and himself because of his desire to flee versus his desire to be with Vivian. All of these conflicts cause Grant to be alienated from everyone around him. This alienation is the root of Grant’s problems. He wants to stand up and be a man, something the whites don’t want to allow. He doesn’t go to church and denies the god the people of the quarter believe in, so he has little or no connection with his family and neighbors in the quarter. Finally, he wants to pick up and move, to leave his troubles behind him. All of this holds him back from doing anything truly great where he lives until Tante Lou forces him to make something of Jefferson. In this way, Grant actually achieves something.
Barrett writes in his article entitled, “When Teacher Becomes Student”, “Grant himself suffers a temporal dislocation that leaves him unable to live and teach in and for the present that white Louisiana crafts for black men, women, and children” (2). Grant wants things to change but feels powerless where he is to change things. He is a man of the future—a future where black is not considered to be inferior to anyone else. He could only be comfortable in such an atmosphere. Jefferson is his only source of redemption. If he can convince Jefferson to act like the man he is, his teaching will have come to some avail. This would be the beginning of Grant’s redemption from alienation. It would be a long series of events that would bring Grant back from being alienated, but the first stone would be showing the members of all communities that black people are just that. They are people. Then the blacks would think of themselves as equals to the whites and history has shown that to have happened, but it wouldn’t have happened without actions of people like Grant Wiggins.
--Dataspot
Sources
Auger, Philip. “A Lesson About Manhood: Appropriating “The Word” in Ernest Gaines’s A Lesson Before Dying.” Southern Literary Journal. 27.2 (Spring 95): 74-85.
Barrett, Peter A. “When Teacher Becomes Student”. Independent School, 57.2 (Winter 98): 98-101.
Doyle, Mary Ann. “The Social Foundations Classroom”. Educational Studies, 32.4 (December 2001): 453-470.
Gaines, Ernest J. A Lesson Before Dying. New York: Vintage Books, 1993
[edit] Disputed
It seems that the novel described in the page is not A Lesson Before Dying. A Lesson Before Dying has nothing to do with Mexico and was set in 1940's Louisiana. I am not sure what novel has been described, but it is definetly not A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines. The sources cited from Spark Notes at the bottom of the page seems to describe the correct novel. Everything in the Talk page seems to be correct too and is referencing the correct novel. Dm46607 06:30, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Vandalism
I removed the following sentence "A Lesson Before Dying is also in the process of becoming a feature length movie starring Sylvester Stallone, Angelina Jolie, and Arnold Schwartzenegger" from the section Film, TV or theatrical adaptations as it's unsubstantiated/unsourced at best and at worst seemed vandalism. SINsApple 01:51, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
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- Again reverted to an earlier version to revert vandalism. SINsApple 05:04, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
