A Lesson Before Dying
In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, published in 1993, Ernest J. Gaines goes back in time to the late 1940’s and creates a scenario that we all know too well. A black man named Jefferson is found in the middle of a crime scene and all the evidence is against him. Even though he did not commit the crime of killing two men in a liquor store, he is the only living witness left. Jefferson is innocent of all the allegations that are being charged against him, yet there is no way to prove it. This ends up turning many people against him.
Jefferson eventually ends up going to trial to try and prove his innocence. While in court, Jefferson’s lawyer calls him a hog. This not only upsets him, but it also upsets the ones who love him. This puts the idea that maybe he really is a hog and doesn’t deserve to live a “normal” human life in his head, which ends up putting him into an all-time low. Jefferson starts living a life where he doesn’t talk much and allows people to feed and move him around as if he really was the animal his lawyer called him.
A man named Grant Wiggins who is a school teacher starts to help Jefferson with not only the trial, but with his self-esteem as well. Jefferson is sentenced to death but that does not stop Wiggins from visiting and helping him. Wiggins talks with Jefferson, and lets him know that he is not alone and that he can talk to him about anything. Eventually, Wiggins raises Jefferson’s self-esteem and Jefferson tells him “I want me a whole gallona ice cream” (page 170, chapter 22) which seems like nothing, but this shows that not only does Jefferson start talking, but he is also realizing that he is not the animal his lawyer called him.
Throughout the end, Jefferson starts writing in a diary. The majority of the words in it are misspelled and an excessive deal of the entries seem as though they were made as letters to Grant. When his execution starts coming near, more and more people start to visit him. On the day before his death will come, he is served a meal of his choice which ends up being food from his grandmother and some vanilla ice cream for dessert. He also takes a nice shower to go along with it. The last diary entry Jefferson writes, he says “tell them im strong tell them im a man good” (page 234, chapter 29) and asks someone to give his diary to Grant. This shows that Jefferson finally realizes he is a person whether others think it or not.