Bryana Ramirez-Macias

PAS 113B

Professor Broadous

April 23, 2012

                                           A Lesson Before Dying: Grant Wiggins

Grant Wiggins was a well-educated, bitter, and hypocritical young man. He was in his mid-twenties and was an elementary school teacher for the plantation church. He has lost all faith in his church, his community, and himself. The reason for that is because of the way his community was segregated and racist. In A Lesson Before Dying, Grant is forced by Tanta Lou to help transform Jefferson into a man, he resents helping Jefferson but then learns to deal with the responsibility and opens his eyes to his surroundings.

            The novel starts off with Jefferson`s trial, Tante Lou and Miss Emma, who were sitting side by side watching Jefferson sit at the defendants table. Grant sat next to them as well, he says he was not there but yet he was there. Grant recalled everything that happened in that courtroom, he could picture Jefferson telling his story and his attorney slamming him down with insults. The twelve white men in the jury were about ready to jump up and say that he was guilty of first degree murder and robbery. The lawyer called Jefferson a hog, that remark made Miss Emma cry, but for Jefferson, he felt that name marked him until the day he died.

Grant had a very peculiar relationship with his aunt, which he called Tante Lou. Grants parents lived in California, Grant felt he should be there with his parents, but instead he stayed with his community hating every bit of it. Tante Lou didn’t want Grant to leave, she already resented him leaving to the university and becoming a teacher. Grant was well more educated than his aunt but she didn’t care, instead she taunted him for being more educated than most of his community and looked at him as though he was a weak man. She knew he was a coward at times, especially when she forced Grant to look after Jefferson and help him see he was a man and not a hog.

Tante Lou wanted to break Grant, break him down into the cowardly and hateful man he was. Grant was so young and he already had so much hate in his heart, he had no faith and refused to go to church. Tante Lou did not force him to go to church, especially after he told her that he didn’t believe in his religion anymore. That was another reason why she hated the fact that he went to that university and basically became an outcast to his community. Grant spoke out in rage to Tante Lou at one point about the way she treated him, “Everything you sent me to school for, you`re stripping me of it….they were going to break me down into the nigger I was born to be. But he didn’t tell me that my aunt would help them do it.” (Gaines, pg. 79)

Grant was hard on his students, he would walk around with his ruler whipping any kid that wasn’t proper. Right after Grant was forced to go and visit Jefferson and help him die a man, he was nerve wrecked and angry that he had to take that kind of responsibility. Grant yelled at a young girl for writing crooked sentences, whipped a boy on his hand for wasting chalk, and whipped a boy on his scalp for playing with a bug. He scolded the children and told them everything that Jefferson was going through out of rage. He knew that all the children knew about Jefferson but not about the electric chair, he felt for some reason that they should all know what would become of Jefferson.

Grant had only one reason to stay there in his community, and it was Vivian. Vivian was a teacher for an elementary school, she taught the fifth and sixth graders. Vivian was separated from her husband and had two children. Grant loved her with every inch of his heart, she was the only thing in his life that made him come to terms of what is right. He wanted to leave and never come back, he did once, he left to California where his parents are but he came back for Vivian.

Vivian often hated whenever Grant would talk about leaving and how horrible it was in their community. He didn’t want to be like every other black man, enslaved and treated with no dignity. Grant had no respect for anyone anyways, especially when it came to sheriff Guidry. He knew the sheriff did not like Grant, he knew that he hated Grant for going away to that university and not speaking with improper grammar as all the other niggers did. Grant knows that every other white man would look at him as though he needed to be reminded as to how much more superior they were than him.

 Grant was forced to visit Jefferson with Miss Emma, he felt as though it was a waste of time. Jefferson would only speak a few words and just lay back in his bunk looking at the ceiling, or more accurately, looking through the ceiling. By the fourth visit, Miss Emma pretended to be ill so that Grant can go on his own and talk to Jefferson. Miss Emma would always make Grant feel bad by telling Tante Lou that Grant didn’t have to go if it was such a burden. Grant went to visit Jefferson as planned and tried to make small talk with him.

Grant didn’t know how to react when Jefferson knelt down on his knees and stuck his head in the basket of food and ate like a hog. Grant kept telling Jefferson that he was a man not a hog, but in a way Grant didn’t mean what he said because he felt it was hopeless. Grant bought Jefferson a comb so that he could comb his hair and look somewhat descent. Jefferson didn’t care about the way he looked, he was just waiting for the day that they would execute him. Grant felt he wasn’t making any progress with Jefferson, he was very stubborn and Grant had felt that there really was nothing he could do or say to make him understand.

Sheriff Guidry had Deputy Paul sent Grant to his office after an uneventful visit with Jefferson. Grant wanted to slug Jefferson for making a rude remark about Vivian, but Grant noticed the pain on Jefferson`s face and relaxed his fist. Jefferson knocked over the food and said, “Food for the living too.” (Gaines, pg. 130) Grant followed Deputy Paul into the sheriff`s office, Sheriff Guidry asked Grant the same question he`s asked him for about a month, if h had made any progress with Jefferson, and Grant still had no real answer to that.

Sheriff Guidry accused Grant of trying to hide something from him, he told Grant about how Tante Lou and Miss Emma came to the sheriff`s wife and how they refused to sit down. Sheriff Guidry knew Grant was too smart for his own good and he needed to remember what color his skin was. Sheriff wanted Grant to just give up and stop this nonsense of trying to change Jefferson`s ways. Grant couldn’t of agreed with him more, but it was his aunt and Vivian that were counting on him to bring Jefferson through and knock some sense into him. Grant had no hope though, he only went to visit Jefferson so Miss Emma wouldn’t think that it was such a burden for him, he hated whenever Miss Emma would try to make him feel bad with her remarks.

As Grant continued to visit Jefferson, he knew that Jefferson was running out of time to come to realization of who he really is, Jefferson thought the same. Grant tries to teach Jefferson about dignity, but instead Jefferson says that dignity is for “youmans,” and not for hogs )Gines, pg. 83). Grant maintains so much patience for Jefferson, only because he feels sorry for him, otherwise he would have snapped at him as though he was like every other man in the community. Grant finds a break through in conversation with Jefferson when he admits that he wants a gallon of vanilla ice cream, although as much as Jefferson loves ice cream, he`s never had more than a couple of scoops. Grant felt a little closer to Jefferson after that conversation, he granted Jefferson the ice cream as his last meal.

Although Grant has so much hatred for his surroundings and for the people around him, he has a kind heart but it is overshadowed by his aggression. Grant tried not to get close to Jefferson since he wasn’t going to live very long. Grant never even imagined breaking through to Jefferson because of how stubborn Jefferson was and the fact that Grant saw all of this as a waste of not only his time but everybody`s time. Grant thought he couldn’t be much use to the young man but Tante Lou didn’t care what Grant wanted and if anything made Grant feel overwhelmed with this responsibility. After a while, Grant started to care for Jefferson and wanted to really help him die with the dignity that he deserved rather than the hog that all of the white men see him as.

Grant wanted to do something nice for Jefferson out of the kindness of his heart and not by what people forced him to do. Grant went around the community asking his fellow neighbors and friends to spare a little bit of money so he could buy Jefferson a radio. After that visit, Grant decides what he wants to ask Jefferson upon their next meeting. Grant brought Jefferson a notebook and asked him to write down any thoughts that he had that would come to mind, Jefferson promised he would do so. When Grant came back to visit Jefferson, he had filled most of a page with a bunch of thoughts that concerned a topic on the difference between hogs and men.

Although, Grant was having a bit of a success breaking through Jefferson, his relationships with the ones around him began to falter. Vivian started to dislike Grants tendency to only think of himself and showed that he didn’t really care about any of Vivian`s needs. All Grant can think about is running away with Vivian and escaping all of his troubles he has there in the South. Even Reverend Ambrose tries to get through to Grant and tells him to put aside whatever beliefs he has and try to save Jefferson`s soul. In a way he wants Grant to lie for the good of others even though all of this goes against what Grants feels is right.

Jefferson asked Grant a question that caught him way off guard. Jefferson asked him if he believed that there was a heaven, and without hesitation, Grant replied saying that he did not believe. Grant told Jefferson that he falls under the category of being an Atheist, but that did not make him a good man at all. Grant told Jefferson that he has the chance to not only save Grants soul but as well as all the sinners on this earth. Grant told Jefferson that when his attorney called him a hog, he basically attacked the strength and intelligence of their entire black society.

Grant assured Jefferson that with everything that has been happening, Jefferson has been seen as a symbol to his people in the community on how he faces his death. Grant wanted to make a difference in Jefferson`s life, even though he didn’t have much of a long way to go. Grant encouraged Jefferson to keep writing in his journal and write down any thoughts that came to mind and to express them in any way possible through writing. Jefferson`s execution was to be two weeks after Easter, and as people saw how compassionate Grant was towards Jefferson, people of all ages began to visit Jefferson. On the day that he was to be executed, Grant did not show for he had grown attached to Jefferson, instead he had his students kneel down and pray in honor of him.

Grant feels remorse for not attending Jefferson`s execution but over the course of time he spent with Jefferson made Grant realize how much he cared about him, which made it harder on him. Once Grant heard the execution was over, he realized that he was crying for not only a man that died young, but for a man that was his friend. The execution took a toll on him and made Grant see things clearly. He decided to stay in the South because no matter what that was his home, his roots. He wanted to run away with every inch of his soul, but he felt that staying was the right thing he could do, not only for himself but for the people that cared about him.    

                                   

                                                 Work Cited      

1). Gaines, Ernest J. 1993. “A Lesson Before Dying.” New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

 2). Poston, Leslie. “An analysis of the human connections in A Lesson Before Dying, by Gaines”, American Fiction. Web August 3, 2006. http://leslie-poston.suite101.com/a-lesson-before-dying--gaines-e-a5006

3). Ramsay, Courtney. “Louisiana Foodways in Ernest Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying”, Folklife in Louisiana.  web 1995. http://www.louisianahttp://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/main_misc_gaines_foodways.html

4). Stone, Dan. “A Lesson Before Dying,” The Big Read. Web. http://www.neabigread.org/books/lessonbeforedying/index.php

5). “Sparknotes: A Lesson Before Dying” Sparknotes. Web. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lessonbefore/context.html

6). “A Lesson Before Dying”, Wikipedia. Web, April 18, 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Lesson_Before_Dying