A Lesson Before Dying
by Ernest J. Gaines
Jefferson is an African-American man who witnesses a shoot-out in a liquor store in a small town in Louisiana in the 1940’s. He is an innocent bystander, and he is the sole survivor. Surviving is his misfortune.
Racism and segregation dominate life at that time and in that place. In a plea for leniency, his own attorney compares him to a hog at his trial, citing diminished capacity. Jefferson is sentenced to death. Demoralized and defeated, he believes himself to be less than a man.
His godmother arranges for her nephew, teacher Grant Wiggins, to visit Jefferson in his cell to teach Jefferson the lessons he needs to die with dignity. “I don’t want them to kill no hog,” she said. “I want a man to go to that chair, on his own two feet,” said Jefferson’s Nannan to her nephew. Jefferson, however, rejects the teacher. He rejects all visitors, in fact. Grant Wiggins is pressured into pursuing the task of getting through to Jefferson, helping Jefferson to face life and death as a man.
A Lesson Before Dying is the story of one man’s plight against bigotry, ignorance, cruelty, injustice, and immorality. It is a story that has played out many times, with just one time being too many. Beautifully written, the heartbeat of that time and place is palpable.
As I See It 