Lesson Before Dying
A Lesson Before Dying written by Earnest Gaines is a novel about good and evil. A quote that relates to the novel is, "In literature, evil often triumphs but never conquers." This quote is saying that even though there maybe evil present in everything, but it will never win the final battle and overcome all. In the novel there are many examples of this. Miss Emma and Grant are fighting the evil of the word "hog" that has been placed upon Jefferson. Along with Grant becoming friends with a white man and Jefferson overcoming the evil "myth" of prejudice in the society, these are all examples of how evil can be present, but never win in the end. Miss Emma is a passionate woman. She is very intelligent and she knows how to stop evil from conquering. In the novel, Miss Emma fought the evil of the word "hog" spoken by Jefferson lawyer. This one single word "hog" was the evil that kept a whole community of black people in fear and shame.
Jefferson was a strong man even though he thought he was a hog at one point. People would make bets on if Jefferson would die a man or a hog, this was part of the evil "myth" of prejudice that was all around his society. The myth was that the white people were always prejudice of black people. There was racism within every society, and this was the evil that was said to conquer. The myth was proved wrong and the evil was stopped the minute Jefferson realized he wasn't a hog. Everyone gained more respect for him, the black people looked at him differently, as a hero. Even some white people seemed to gain a little more respect for him, thus the myth being broken. In the novel, there is a lot of "hidden prejudice." This is the evil that everyone thought would win in the end, but they were wrong. Grant, a black man, was the target for racism for long periods of time. He was never offered drinks, called by the wrong name, and always treated badly by the white peopl
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 658
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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