a lesson before dying

A detailed Summary of a lesson before dying


In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, Grant and Jefferson are black men in the era of a racist society; but they have struggles with a greater dilemma, obligation and commitment.

They have obligations to their families and to the town they are part of. They lived in

a town were everybody knew everybody else and took care of each other. "Living and teaching on a plantation, you got to know the occupants of every house, and you knew who was home and who was not.... I could look at the smoke rising from each chimney or I could look at the rusted tin roof of each house, and I could tell the lives that went on in each one of them." [pp. 37-38] Just by Grant's words you can tell that that is a community that is very devoted to each other. It was a little bit harder for Jefferson to remember his commitment to his nannan and to the town. He had been charged with a crime he did not commit and didn't know how to deal with it. They were asking a lot from a man who knew he was going to die soon."Me, Mr. Wiggins. Me. Me to take the cross.

Your cross, nannan's cross, my own cross. Me, Mr. Wiggins. This old stumbling nigger. Y'all axe

a lot, Mr. Wiggins." [p. 224] It takes a str


himself. Even in the courtroom Grant wasn't even paying attention to what was going on. "I was

going to break me down to the nigger I was born to be. But he didn't tell me that my aunt would

cycle black people had been repeating for generations. "We black men...stay here in the South and

someone else when your in the position that Jefferson is in. It took a while; but Jefferson did what

kitchen.... Now going up to that jail.... Anything to humiliate me. All the things you wanted me to

heavy the burden is and how hard it must be for Jefferson to take on the burden of stopping the

as long as they can. Not realizing that their holding on will break me too." [pp. 166-67] Reverend

cares about. If he didn't have that loyalty he wouldn't have gone to the jailhouse at all. He has



Some common words found in the essay are:
Grant Jefferson, Emma Vivian, Jefferson Grant's, Professor Antoine, Reverend Ambrose, Tante Lou, grant jefferson, Miss Emma, , reverend ambrose, heavy burden, miss emma,

Approximate Word count = 1667
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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