i reread a lesson before dying. i remembered it not at all. all i remembered was that there were many conversations between someone and someone else, the latter of whom was about to be executed.but i remembered wrong. there aren't many conversations between the two. in fact, they barely exchange a few hundred words. and, in the balance of the book, the scenes in which they meet take very little space.which saddened me at the beginning, because i was in the mood for some good writing about how you talk to someone who's about to die. i was in the mood for a description of the process through which two people come to bond deeply, get really close, truly comfort each other. i think i felt like being comforted.this is not a comforting book. it's uncomfortable and existentialist and tortured. if we squint through the last few pages, where gaines becomes a little too sentimental even for my very sentimental tastes, it is a deep bitter text about doubt and failure and meaninglessness seen through the always handy lens of race.grant is a young(ish?) black man who lives on a louisiana plantation with his aunt louise. it's the 40s and jim crow is rampant. having gone to college, grant is now the plantation's schoolteacher. of course he could have stayed away, never come back, but he didn't stay away and his continuing life in the plantation is a source of intense distress and despair to him. he feels tremendously and inescapably trapped. his pedagogical approach will make the modern teacher bang her head against the wall, it is so brutal, abusive, and ultimately useless, but he thinks he's doing the best he can for his wards. at the same time, he is entirely hopeless about them. he knows by experience that most if not all are destined to a life of slavish manual labor or crime and dissipation in the streets of some american city. many will die young and violently. grant takes his rage and frustration out on the children, who seem to respect him but not love him. the classes are daily exercises in cruelty, boredom, and futility. grant hates teaching, yet he believes that, as an educated black man, teaching is the only thing he can do. maybe there is also a sense of angry, powerless, inevitable calling to his teaching.grant's profound discontent in his job as an educator is never resolved in the pages of the book. by the end of the book he is not nicer to the children than he was at the beginning. there is no indication that he believes in them a jot more, either, though i have to admit that that *may* be left open by the sentimental ending i mentioned above. grant's aunt lou, who brought him up after his parents left for california, decides that bitter, disillusioned grant is the best person to help the 21-year-old man who's about to be executed to "become a man" before he dies. young jefferson is an ex-student of grant's and a particularly daft one at that. he is broken by the hard work he did since he was a boy of six, and got caught on the scene of a crime he didn't commit out of carelessness and probably stupidity.why aunt (or tante) lou should choose grant to bring jefferson up to speed with human dignity and self-respect is the mystery that lies at the core of the novel. with his education grant has lost all respect for the christian faith that sustains the plantation community and gives it its values, and can't and won't help jefferson "be a man" in the christian terms his aunt and jefferson's godmother would prefer.in fact, the meaning of this "becoming a man" is entirely what's at stake in the novel. no one knows exactly what that means: not grant, certainly not jefferson, not tante lou and not jefferson's godmother either. the idea is that young jefferson should shake the despair and indignity inflicted on him by the unfair and deadly verdict and by the vicious racism that was generously poured on him at his trial. but it is not clear to anyone what should take the place of this despair and lack of self-worth. grant and tante lou are on the warpath the whole book long. tante lou is entirely furious at grant from the first to the last page. yet, albeit reluctantly, grant does exactly what she wants him to do. in fact, he never questions her requests. he humiliates himself in order to gain permission to visit jefferson in jail and then accomplishes this task punctually and responsibly. the conversations between grant and tante lou are a mirror of the conversations between grant and jefferson: they are marked by diffidence, inability to communicate, despair, and lots of silence. tante lou spends most of the book glaring at grant and burning holes in his head or his neck or the side of his face while grant ignores or avoids her. what does she want that grant is not doing? more graciousness? a sense of cooperation and togetherness? more kindness?i see at least two issues at stake here: one is a confusion on the part of all involved concerning the definition of the community's values; the other is the great dilemma of black masculinity. apart from the sentimentality of the ending, i don't think gaines solves either of these problems. grant cannot give jefferson the faith and abandon in god he doesn't have, and he cannot give his aunt and jefferson's godmother the compliance they require of him. he can be kind and tender only with jefferson, the man who has nothing to lose, the man who's already at death's doors, and he can be tender and vulnerable with his fair-skinned, educated girlfriend. but he cannot relinquish the facade of faux toughness he has built for himself in front of the plantation community -- and that includes his aunt, especially his aunt, the woman who raised him and, we can say, made him a man.the most meaningful conversations that take place in the novel are the silent, angry ones between grant, aunt lou, and jefferson's godmother. in these conversations the dilemmas of black history and of the relation between men and women in the black community are constantly being negotiated.ultimately, therefore, what happens to jefferson, and between grant and jefferson, is an aside. even what happens between jefferson and lovely vivian is a distraction. there is no solution to the dilemmas of this novel until there is a reckoning between the people who survived the harsh plantation life and continue in its tradition and the new folks who teeter on the line between plantation culture and the promise of a new life that looks very much like white life has looked all along. and since these dilemmas are not solved in the least bit, the titular lesson falls entirely flat.
Ernest J. Gaines' 'A Lesson Before Dying' is a tedious read that has a good story, but ultimately falls flat mainly because of shallow characters and flat writing.However, if you are looking for a short, quick-read novel about African-Americans and whites during racial segregation in the style of 'To Kill a Mockingbird', this might be your cup of tea. But ultimately, there is nothing enlightening, heart-wrenching, or poignant about this novel. Many of the issues lay within the main character, Grant Wiggins, a bitter school teacher who complains about being in his 'stifling' Louisiana town, complains and berates family members and students, yet ultimately doesn't do anything about his situation regardless of what he says or does. I have never encountered a character more bitter, cold, or just plain selfish than Grant Wiggins. Nothing ever seems to please him, and everyone seems to be at the sword's end with Grant - from his aunt and her friends, to his pupils, and even sometimes his girlfriend.While the book is supposed to be about Jefferson, a young black male sentenced to death, there are actually few moments when the reader encounters Jefferson - most of the time, it's just Grant, and what he doesn't like, and how his Aunt and her friend are looking at him, how he wants to leave but doesn't leave, how he acts 'smart' with the whites and they don't like it, so on and so forth. There is so much conflict and anger that rolls off the pages whenever Grant is narrating it becomes tiresome and boring. This is not a page turner, and it takes several chapters to get into the actual story. The characters, other than Grant, are not very memorable and lack depth and clarity - they seem to be simply the dumb marionettes while Grant is the smart and superior, albeit angry, craftsman.Mr. Gaines' writing also does not help to make this book even somewhat-passable by any standards. It seems almost dull, bored, and disinterested - as if he wasn't really invested in the writing from the start. The beginning of the book gives you hope, but after that, it all falls downhill from there and picks up too late, only until the absolute end. Thus, the writing leaves an empty hole in the center of what should be a fiery sea of emotion and personal connection.Basically, 'A Lesson Before Dying' is a diamond that was never completely polished. It never really made a personal connection with me, and was such a difficult and disappointing read for me, and even today, it still fails to touch the part of me that will leave you thoughtful for the rest of the day, and many to come.
What do You think about A Lesson Before Dying (1997)?
A Lesson Before Dying is a novel written Ernest J. Gaines. Set in a small rural community in Louisiana during the late 1940s, the book concerns itself with the injustice perpetrated on a young black man who was sentenced to death for a crime that he did not commit. Jefferson, who was accused of murdering a white liquor store owner during a robbery, happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Two of his associates decided to rob the store when Jefferson was with them, and ended up being killed in the robbery attempt. Jefferson was found with some money that he had taken from the cash register. The all-white jury sentenced him to die in the electric chair. Grant Wiggins, the main character of the novel, is a young black teacher who finds himself living with his elderly aunt in the rural community where he grew up. He is full of resentment at having to teach the children living on the plantation and takes out his frustration by hitting the children who misbehave or fail to do their schoolwork properly. He is a selfish, arrogant bastard who now feels he is trapped, having once hoped to escape by attending college and getting a teaching degree. His parents live in California and Grant had spent some time with them when he was younger, but for some reason that the novel does not fully explore, he returned to rural Louisiana after graduation. Grant’s supposed redemption begins when his aunt asks him to drive Miss Emma, Jefferson’s godmother, to the jail so she can visit her godson. Grant resents having to perform this task and behaves boorishly. He resents it even more when Miss Emma wants him to visit Jefferson in jail on his own every week, because she is elderly and it is too much of a strain on her to go to the jail more often. Jefferson spends most of the time in his jail cell staring at the ceiling and is unresponsive when Grant, Grant’s aunt and Miss Emma go there to visit. He refuses to eat the food that Miss Emma brings, comparing himself to a hog that is being fattened up before slaughter. (As a defense strategy, his attorney had likened Jefferson to a brute animal during the trial, claiming that he was incapable of murder for that reason). Miss Emma hopes Grant will convince Jefferson that he is a man, not a hog, before he is executed so her godson will behave with dignity. Grant reluctantly complies with Miss Emma’s wishes and starts to visit Jefferson in jail, gradually gaining his confidence and helping him pass the time more purposefully. The novel is really about Grant’s transformation to a better person than he was at the beginning, but I already disliked him so much that I didn’t really care what happened to him. As a victim of Southern injustice and bigotry, Jefferson should have been a more sympathetic character, but I didn’t care much about him either because he was so unresponsive at the start. The first 100 pages of the novel were boring and repetitious. I have to admit that the book got better after that, but I wouldn’t have stuck with it if it hadn’t been assigned as a selection for the book discussion group that I attend.
—Patricia
Someday I will die. That I am sure of. But I do not think about it, at least, not consciously. I wouldn't want to think that a time will come when light, breath, and little breezes are things I will not experience. And never again see that little, oh, so beautiful smile in her eyes. But it will come, all the same. When? Tomorrow? Next year? Fifty, a hundred... well maybe say seventy years at the most. That was a passing thought. Sad it was caught on record. Well, think of a man who knows that he shall soon die. And the date is set. He counts the days, and in his solitary confinement has to deal with the ever present fact that the clock is still ticking, closer to the appointed day. The day he will meet his death, in an electric chair. This knowledge, the thoughts it inspires, is more torture than anything I can imagine. Take this man. Be him for a second. And remember that you are innocent of the charge against you. And helpless. Utterly helpless. (sob, sob.)His name, your adopted name for the second, is Jefferson.He is at the wrong place when a crime happens, and being the sole survivor of a liquor store robbery he is arrested and convicted of murder. Bring in Mr. Wiggins, a teacher whom the community expects so much from, and ask him to teach this man a lesson before, well....His narrative voice, sad but deepened by wisdom as it is sharpened by doubt and pain, is like seating by a fire and listening to an old man whose tranquility exudes and soothes. Now,I want to listen to a sad song:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnL1e4...Totally unrelated, by the way. Just sad. Why is it that I had not heard of Ernest J. Gaines before reading this book? I have such an affinity for African-American fiction, some books of which, like Beloved, are a treasure. This author clearly meant business here. And this book is worth every minutes you spend with it.
—Moses Kilolo
This is the second book I've read by Gaines, the first being A Gathering of Old Men, and I'm pleased to say that I found both to be quite good reads.The story, which is told in simple and understated prose, is centered around a young black school teacher named Grant Wiggins who has been charged with what seems like the impossible task of teaching a wrongly convicted and uneducated black man (Jefferson) how to be a "man" before he is executed in the electric chair.Set in a small Cajun community during the late 1940's, this tragic tale tackles racial issues from several angles, including Jefferson's unjust conviction and Grant's own personal struggle as an educated black man fighting to liberate himself from his race's painful legacy. But aside from the racial issues, Jefferson's story also explores the morality of the death penalty and is sure to resonate with those who oppose capital punishment while possibly garnering some sympathy from those who support it.It's certainly a tear jerker, though not in a contrived way.Would recommend to those who enjoyed Gaines' other books, or appreciate the merits of simplistic story telling that tackles complex issues.Favorite excerpt (view spoiler)[ "Yes, you know. You know all right. That's why you look down on me, because you know I lie. At wakes, at funerals, at weddings---yes, I lie. I lie at wakes and funerals to relieve pain. "cause reading, writing, and 'rithmetic is not enough. You think that's all they sent you to school for? They sent you to school to relieve pain, to relieve hurt---and if you have to lie to do it, then you lie. You lie and you lie and you lie. When you tell yourself you feeling good when you sick, you lying. When you tell other people you feeling well when you feeling sick, you lying. You tell them that 'cause they have pain too, and you don't want to add yours---and you lie. She been lying every day of her life, your aunt in there. That's how you got through that university ---cheating herself here, cheating herself there, but always telling you she's all right. I've seen her hands bleed from picking cotton. I've seen the blisters from the hoe and the cane knife. At that church, crying on her knees. You ever looked at the scabs on her knees, boy? Course you never. "cause she never wanted you to see it. And that's the difference between you and me boy; that make me the educated one, and you the gump. I know my people. I know they gone through. I know they done cheated themself, lied to themself---hoping that one they all love and trust can come back and hep relieve the pain." (hide spoiler)]
—Shaun
