A Lesson Before Dying, starts out with Grant Wiggums explaining a coutroom in which his mother’s long time friend, Miss Emma’s godchild is being charged with robbery and murder. Jefferson, a black man is being convicted of murdering a liquir store owner and then stealing the money from the register of the liquir store. He admits that he did in fact steal liquir and money from the store, however he is not the one who killed the owner. That death falls on two people, Brother and Bear, who he hitched a ride with and as an affect was in the wrong place at the wrong time. In a desperate attempt to convince the all white jury of Jefferson’s innocence, Jefferson’s lawyer pleads with them to keep Jefferson alive because killing him would be like killing a hog, worthless. He says Jefferson cannot even be called a man. Nevertheless, Jefferson is given death by elecricution. After the sentence is told, Miss Emma and Grant’s aunt, Tante Lou, return home. When Grant comes home he knows that Miss Emma and his aunt are in the kitchen, but he can’t face them, particularly Miss Emma quite yet. However Tante Lou knows he returned and forces him to come to the kitchen so they may discuss a matter regarding Jefferson. They want him to teach Jefferson so he doesn’t die a hog like the lawyer had referred to him as. Miss Emma wants to have him die the man that he is. Although he is against it Tante Lou makes him go along with it. They go to Henri Pichot’s house to ask for permission for Grant to be allowed to visit Jefferson. He gives them no answer and seems not to care either. After driving Miss Emma and Tante Lou home Grant goes into Bayonne. He meets Vivian, a female friend who he loves very much. He talks to her about the trial and what Miss Emma wants him to do, and also about leaving town and starting over somewhere else. She refuses for many reasons all stemming from commitment, to her family and to their jobs as teachers. The next day he is at school teaching his children at the plantation. He explains how because of the events of the previous day, he is not in a good mood at all. His students find this out the hard way, after he hits a student with a ruler because she doesn’t write in a straight line. When he sees a student playing with a bug rather than studying he hits the child across the head and explains to the children that a man is going to be killed because he neglected his studys and is now referred to as a hog. He goes into very vivid details about how a person dies in the chair. Later in the day Henri Pichot’s messenger comes to Grant and says that Mr. Henri would like to see him.
This section of the book so far focuses heavily on the stereotype back then that blacks were unable of being successful in life. This shows through when Grant arrives at Henri Pichot’s house to hear the answer about him teaching Jefferson. As he waits in the kitchen for two hours when the white townspeople are about to come out he can’t decide if he should be smart, but not to smart, or be dumb as everyone already assumes. This shows up again when a school superintendent visits the school at which Grant teachers, as he is leaving he suggests that Grant send the children to fields so they can make money. The superintendent Dr. Morgan, seems to think that black people can not make it in life while Grant has done this, he has set educationally equal probably even greater than many whites, however he is still only seen as being black. The last time this is shown is when Grant visits his boyhood teacher, Mr. Antoine, who during there visit tells Grant to try his best but in the end blacks have really one option, to run away. The visits to Jefferson start as Grant and Miss Emma go to the jailhouse. The visits are very uneventful with few words being exchanged. Jefferson says nothing matters asking when he is being killed. After a few visits Miss Emma eventually stops going saying that she is sick, however Grant still goes.
This section starts out with Grant going to the jail to visit Jefferson, as stated earlier, this is the first time he is going alone. Upon arriving at the jail he sees Jefferson talks to Jefferson and Jefferson makes comparisons to himself as a hog. Obviously affected by the jury’s verdict from the trial. Grant is not overly shocked at this, but knows he cannot tell Miss Emma about this behavior. He goes to the local bar in Bayonne, where he remembers how black people always only have one hero, in this case it was Jackie Robinson. He then goes to visit Vivian at the school in which she teaches. When he arrives home he is interrogated by the plantation reverand, Miss Emma, and Tante Lou. They question what he and Jefferson talked about at the jail, if in fact he even went to the jail. The next day, Sunday, Grant sees that Vivian has come to the quarter, this act is very unlike her, seeing as she is in the middle of a divorce and does not want a judge to think the husband deserves custody. They go for a walk through town, and once they arrive home Tante Lou is also coming home from church. When she sees Vivian she is highly upset, but doesn’t show it. Tante Lou and her friends shower Vivian with many compliments, while paying no attention to Grant who excuses himself from the situation. Grant announces that Vivian is the one whom he will marry, this just adds to Tante Lou’s fury. This book is okay right now, it seems like nothing important is happening, and right now it’s halfway done. I’m not sure though it might be one of those books where it’s like after you read it you look back and understand the topics that they brought up at the begining and they all make sense. The cover says it’s in Oprah’s book club so it must have a pretty good meaning later on.
Here it becomes apparent that Grant is not going to the jail just because he has been told to, the reader starts to see that he is starting to care about Jefferson. This is shown when he asks the deputy about how Jefferson has been, not just for conversational reasons, but because he cares about Jefferson. Not too much happened in this section, the only real change was that instead of meeting in Jefferson’s jail cell, they are allowed to meet in the day room where they can all sit down as opposed to standing. Jefferson still seems to care about nothing and no one. Maybe he is trying to separate himself from his friends before he dies, so it is easier to let him go. At the end of this Grant goes on about how everything is always the same every year and nothing changes, as if in his words he feels he is running in place.
A Lesson Before Dying 20-23 The very first thing that happens this section is the date of Jefferson’s execution is set. It is to be two weeks after Easter which is only a little over a month away. Grant goes to visit Jefferson and see how he is doing, while there he talks to him and really starts to connect with him, he ends up promising him he will buy him a radio, which he does. He drops it off at the jail to be given to Jefferson. Upon returning at the weekend is out he learns that Jefferson has not turned off the radio even when Miss Emma, the preacher, and Tante Lou visit. When Grant returns again he asks Jefferson to please talk to Miss Emma and comes up with the idea to write his thoughts in a notebook so he can discuss them with Grant when he comes in the days to follow.
In this part Jefferson and Grant are able to connect a lot better, Jefferson does as Grant asks to eat his aunts food. He also writes his thoughts in a notebook for Grant. It becomes more apparent that Jefferson is a Christ figure here. He and Grant talk about how he has to take up his cross and die being a good man to his aunt and the reverend so they must rest easier. All the things he does at the jail are not for him, they are for everyone else. That is his cross to do something so another is happy. It is mentioned that the chains brought Jefferson down in the dayroom, I think that was because he was there to help someone else, carrying his cross for them. When he is in the room with Grant and he says he will do his best to help everyone be okay after he leaves Grant thinks, “…I saw him standing there under the window, big and tall, and not stooped as he had been in chains” (page 225). This was because he accepted his fate openly although it was not in his best interest. Much like Jesus did.
In these three chapters, there are no direct confrontations between Grant and Jefferson. It starts talking about a notebook, which Grant gave Jefferson which contains all his thoughts during the last month or so of his life. It is implied that Grant sees Jefferson more times than spoken of in the book, from what Jefferson writes in the book, however no more meetings are described. After reading Jefferson’s thoughts in the notebook, it talks about the chair in which he is to be killed arriving. It goes on to tell how everyone is feeling the day of the execution. Grant is not going to be there when it happens. He says it is because he would embarrass Jefferson by his weakness. He goes to school and at 12 o’clock has all his students go to there knees until it is over. He however goes to Henri Pichot’s yard and waits. After he knows it is all over he heads back to school where he meets the deputy, Paul. Paul says how Jefferson was so strong today, calling him the strongest in that room. He says Grant did that to him, Grant denies, but Paul continues believing the truth. He delivers the notebook belonging to Jefferson to Grant to have just as Jefferson requested. A man went to that chair just as Miss Emma had wanted no hog was in that room that day at twelve o’clock. Only men.
Didn't the passage of background information say that Antigone was a victim of Creon's hubris? Some of you are suggesting that Antigone is the tragic hero. Thoughts on that.
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A Lesson Before Dying
Chapters 1-5
A Lesson Before Dying, starts out with Grant Wiggums explaining a coutroom in which his mother’s long time friend, Miss Emma’s godchild is being charged with robbery and murder. Jefferson, a black man is being convicted of murdering a liquir store owner and then stealing the money from the register of the liquir store. He admits that he did in fact steal liquir and money from the store, however he is not the one who killed the owner. That death falls on two people, Brother and Bear, who he hitched a ride with and as an affect was in the wrong place at the wrong time. In a desperate attempt to convince the all white jury of Jefferson’s innocence, Jefferson’s lawyer pleads with them to keep Jefferson alive because killing him would be like killing a hog, worthless. He says Jefferson cannot even be called a man. Nevertheless, Jefferson is given death by elecricution.
After the sentence is told, Miss Emma and Grant’s aunt, Tante Lou, return home. When Grant comes home he knows that Miss Emma and his aunt are in the kitchen, but he can’t face them, particularly Miss Emma quite yet. However Tante Lou knows he returned and forces him to come to the kitchen so they may discuss a matter regarding Jefferson. They want him to teach Jefferson so he doesn’t die a hog like the lawyer had referred to him as. Miss Emma wants to have him die the man that he is. Although he is against it Tante Lou makes him go along with it. They go to Henri Pichot’s house to ask for permission for Grant to be allowed to visit Jefferson. He gives them no answer and seems not to care either. After driving Miss Emma and Tante Lou home Grant goes into Bayonne. He meets Vivian, a female friend who he loves very much. He talks to her about the trial and what Miss Emma wants him to do, and also about leaving town and starting over somewhere else. She refuses for many reasons all stemming from commitment, to her family and to their jobs as teachers.
The next day he is at school teaching his children at the plantation. He explains how because of the events of the previous day, he is not in a good mood at all. His students find this out the hard way, after he hits a student with a ruler because she doesn’t write in a straight line. When he sees a student playing with a bug rather than studying he hits the child across the head and explains to the children that a man is going to be killed because he neglected his studys and is now referred to as a hog. He goes into very vivid details about how a person dies in the chair. Later in the day Henri Pichot’s messenger comes to Grant and says that Mr. Henri would like to see him.
A Lesson Before Dying
Chapters 6-10
This section of the book so far focuses heavily on the stereotype back then that blacks were unable of being successful in life. This shows through when Grant arrives at Henri Pichot’s house to hear the answer about him teaching Jefferson. As he waits in the kitchen for two hours when the white townspeople are about to come out he can’t decide if he should be smart, but not to smart, or be dumb as everyone already assumes. This shows up again when a school superintendent visits the school at which Grant teachers, as he is leaving he suggests that Grant send the children to fields so they can make money. The superintendent Dr. Morgan, seems to think that black people can not make it in life while Grant has done this, he has set educationally equal probably even greater than many whites, however he is still only seen as being black. The last time this is shown is when Grant visits his boyhood teacher, Mr. Antoine, who during there visit tells Grant to try his best but in the end blacks have really one option, to run away.
The visits to Jefferson start as Grant and Miss Emma go to the jailhouse. The visits are very uneventful with few words being exchanged. Jefferson says nothing matters asking when he is being killed. After a few visits Miss Emma eventually stops going saying that she is sick, however Grant still goes.
Chapters 11-15
This section starts out with Grant going to the jail to visit Jefferson, as stated earlier, this is the first time he is going alone. Upon arriving at the jail he sees Jefferson talks to Jefferson and Jefferson makes comparisons to himself as a hog. Obviously affected by the jury’s verdict from the trial. Grant is not overly shocked at this, but knows he cannot tell Miss Emma about this behavior. He goes to the local bar in Bayonne, where he remembers how black people always only have one hero, in this case it was Jackie Robinson. He then goes to visit Vivian at the school in which she teaches. When he arrives home he is interrogated by the plantation reverand, Miss Emma, and Tante Lou. They question what he and Jefferson talked about at the jail, if in fact he even went to the jail. The next day, Sunday, Grant sees that Vivian has come to the quarter, this act is very unlike her, seeing as she is in the middle of a divorce and does not want a judge to think the husband deserves custody. They go for a walk through town, and once they arrive home Tante Lou is also coming home from church. When she sees Vivian she is highly upset, but doesn’t show it. Tante Lou and her friends shower Vivian with many compliments, while paying no attention to Grant who excuses himself from the situation. Grant announces that Vivian is the one whom he will marry, this just adds to Tante Lou’s fury.
This book is okay right now, it seems like nothing important is happening, and right now it’s halfway done. I’m not sure though it might be one of those books where it’s like after you read it you look back and understand the topics that they brought up at the begining and they all make sense. The cover says it’s in Oprah’s book club so it must have a pretty good meaning later on.
A Lesson Before Dying
Chapter 16-19
Here it becomes apparent that Grant is not going to the jail just because he has been told to, the reader starts to see that he is starting to care about Jefferson. This is shown when he asks the deputy about how Jefferson has been, not just for conversational reasons, but because he cares about Jefferson. Not too much happened in this section, the only real change was that instead of meeting in Jefferson’s jail cell, they are allowed to meet in the day room where they can all sit down as opposed to standing. Jefferson still seems to care about nothing and no one. Maybe he is trying to separate himself from his friends before he dies, so it is easier to let him go. At the end of this Grant goes on about how everything is always the same every year and nothing changes, as if in his words he feels he is running in place.
A Lesson Before Dying
20-23
The very first thing that happens this section is the date of Jefferson’s execution is set. It is to be two weeks after Easter which is only a little over a month away. Grant goes to visit Jefferson and see how he is doing, while there he talks to him and really starts to connect with him, he ends up promising him he will buy him a radio, which he does. He drops it off at the jail to be given to Jefferson. Upon returning at the weekend is out he learns that Jefferson has not turned off the radio even when Miss Emma, the preacher, and Tante Lou visit. When Grant returns again he asks Jefferson to please talk to Miss Emma and comes up with the idea to write his thoughts in a notebook so he can discuss them with Grant when he comes in the days to follow.
A Lesson Before Dying
Chapters 24-28
In this part Jefferson and Grant are able to connect a lot better, Jefferson does as Grant asks to eat his aunts food. He also writes his thoughts in a notebook for Grant. It becomes more apparent that Jefferson is a Christ figure here. He and Grant talk about how he has to take up his cross and die being a good man to his aunt and the reverend so they must rest easier. All the things he does at the jail are not for him, they are for everyone else. That is his cross to do something so another is happy. It is mentioned that the chains brought Jefferson down in the dayroom, I think that was because he was there to help someone else, carrying his cross for them. When he is in the room with Grant and he says he will do his best to help everyone be okay after he leaves Grant thinks, “…I saw him standing there under the window, big and tall, and not stooped as he had been in chains” (page 225). This was because he accepted his fate openly although it was not in his best interest. Much like Jesus did.
A Lesson Before Dying
Chapters 29 – End
In these three chapters, there are no direct confrontations between Grant and Jefferson. It starts talking about a notebook, which Grant gave Jefferson which contains all his thoughts during the last month or so of his life. It is implied that Grant sees Jefferson more times than spoken of in the book, from what Jefferson writes in the book, however no more meetings are described. After reading Jefferson’s thoughts in the notebook, it talks about the chair in which he is to be killed arriving. It goes on to tell how everyone is feeling the day of the execution. Grant is not going to be there when it happens. He says it is because he would embarrass Jefferson by his weakness. He goes to school and at 12 o’clock has all his students go to there knees until it is over. He however goes to Henri Pichot’s yard and waits. After he knows it is all over he heads back to school where he meets the deputy, Paul. Paul says how Jefferson was so strong today, calling him the strongest in that room. He says Grant did that to him, Grant denies, but Paul continues believing the truth. He delivers the notebook belonging to Jefferson to Grant to have just as Jefferson requested. A man went to that chair just as Miss Emma had wanted no hog was in that room that day at twelve o’clock. Only men.
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