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# 2020-11-18 - A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines | |
A friend of my Dad recommended this book. He used it as an analogy | |
for the general population in the United States. Basically, we are | |
facing an inevitable death sentence because of climate change. At | |
the same time, as a whole, we are ignorant about what our situation | |
is and the reasons for it. We believe that this is just our lot in | |
life, and this is the way it has to be. | |
The writing reminds me of classic American literature that i read in | |
high school. It is easy to read and yet deep and thought provoking. | |
I appreciate the minimalism in the writing style. It felt as though | |
this story were crafted, and each word was carefully chosen. | |
The story is set in 1948 in Louisiana. It describes bleak and | |
hopeless living conditions. The story touches on a theme that i have | |
been encountering in my recent reading. That theme is about carrying | |
on, even when the situation is hopeless and all efforts seem doomed | |
to fail. | |
> No matter how bad off we are, we still owe something. | |
Another recurring theme is that of "girding one's loins" and "facing | |
the music." In Jefferson's case, he must come to terms and reconcile | |
his humanity with his unjust death sentence. For some reason this | |
brings to mind a totally different character. In The Kin of Ata Are | |
Waiting for You, the main character Bryant is an anti-hero who is | |
also out of touch with his own humanity. Where Jefferson was | |
innocent, Bryant is guilty. Like Jefferson, Bryant has to be dragged | |
against his will to his own salvation. | |
The story also reminds me of Flowers For Algernon. I could not tell | |
whether Jefferson had intellectual or developmental disabilities, but | |
he was terribly uneducated. Like Charlie, Jefferson presents himself | |
in a way that clearly shows his disadvantages. Like Charlie, | |
Jefferson has sudden personal growth and transformation. | |
What follows are excerpts, [my notes in brackets], and, of course, | |
spoilers. | |
# Chapter 1 | |
[This chapter tells the story of how Jefferson came to be tried for a | |
murder he did not commit. He was in the wrong place at the wrong | |
time. Jefferson's defense lawyer pleaded that he was too foolish to | |
be held accountable, and basically denied that he was really a | |
person.] | |
"Gentlemen of the jury, be merciful. For God's sake, be merciful. | |
He is innocent of all charges brought against him." | |
"But let us say he was not. Let us for a moment say he was not. | |
What justice would there be to take this life? Justice, gentlemen? | |
Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this." | |
On Friday the all-white jury returned a guilty verdict after a lunch | |
break. On Monday, the judge sentenced death by electrocution. | |
# Chapter 2 | |
[In chapter 2, Jefferson's god-mother Miss Emma meets with Lou and | |
her nephew Grant, who is a teacher. Miss Emma asks Grant to teach | |
Jefferson be a man. Already feeling trapped and overwhelmed in his | |
teaching position, Grant accepts this request out of obligation.] | |
"Called him a hog." | |
... | |
"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." | |
I had told her many, many times how much I hated this place and all I | |
wanted to do was get away. I had told her I was no teacher, I hated | |
teaching, and I was just running in place here. | |
# Chapter 3 | |
[Miss Emma Lou and Grant go to the plantation where they used to | |
live. There, they ask the plantation owner Mr. Henri to speak to his | |
brother-in-law, the sheriff, to arrange visitation rights for Grant. | |
The Mr. Henri is not at all sympathetic, but he agrees to speak with | |
the sheriff.] | |
"They called my boy a hog, Mr. Henri," Miss Emma said. "I didn't | |
raise no hog, and I don't want no hog to go set in that chair. I | |
want a man to go set in that chair, Mr. Henri." | |
... | |
"I need you speak for me, Mr. Henri," Miss Emma said. "I want the | |
teacher visit my boy. I want the teacher make him know he's not a | |
hog, he's a man. I want him know that 'fore he go to that chair, Mr. | |
Henri." | |
"And what do you plan to do?" he asked me. | |
I shook my head. "I have no idea." He stared at me, and I realized | |
that I had not answered him in the proper manner. "Sir," I added. | |
"You think you can change him from a hog to a man in the little time | |
he's got left?" | |
"I have no idea--sir," I said. | |
"But you're willing to try if I can get Mr. Sam to let you go up | |
there?" | |
"That's what she wants, sir." | |
"But you didn't put her up to this?" | |
"No, sir, I did not," I said. | |
He was finished talking to me. Now he wanted me to look away. I | |
lowered my eyes. | |
# Chapter 4 | |
[Grant called his girlfriend Vivian and asked her to meet him at a | |
night club located in the "colored" part of town, which is literally | |
on the other side of the railroad tracks. She arranged for a baby | |
sitter and then met Grant at the night club. Vivian listened and | |
provided emotional support. Grant is apologetic for burdening her | |
with his struggles. Vivian encouraged Grant to keep coming to her | |
for support. She also encouraged him to accept the job of teaching | |
Jefferson.] | |
"Suppose I was allowed to visit him, and suppose I reached him and | |
made him realize that he was as much a man as any other man; then | |
what? He's still going to die. The next day, the next week, the | |
next month. So what will I have accomplished? What will I have | |
done? Why not let the hog die without knowing anything?" | |
"I want you to go up there," Vivian said. ... "If they say yes, I | |
want you to go for me." | |
"For you?" | |
"For us, Grant." | |
# Chapter 5 | |
[This chapter is primarily a description of the miserly conditions of | |
the school that Grant teaches in, plus the poverty of the students. | |
Grant is hard-pressed to teach all of the students, and can only | |
accomplish it by having some of the upper-class teach the younger | |
class, freeing Grant to teach the upper-class. In other words, his | |
schedule is full. At the end of the chapter, Grant is summoned to | |
speak with Henri.] | |
# Chapter 6 | |
[Grant pays a visit to the plantation at the time specified by Henri. | |
However, Henri keeps him waiting two and a half hours late. The | |
sheriff decides to allow Grant to visit Jefferson between 10 AM and 4 | |
PM beginning after two weeks, but first he engages in a little verbal | |
sparring.] | |
Inez left the kitchen as soon as the white men came in. I tried to | |
decide just how I should respond to them. Whether I should act like | |
the teacher that I was, or like the n***** that I was supposed to be. | |
I decided to wait and see how the conversation went. To show too | |
much intelligence would have been an insult to them. To show a lack | |
of intelligence would have been a greater insult to me. I decided to | |
wait and see how the conversation would go. | |
... Believe me, Mr. Guidry, if it was left up to me, I wouldn't have | |
anything to do with it at all," I said. | |
"You and I are in accord there," he said. "But my wife thinks | |
different. Now, which one you think is right, me or her?" | |
The fat man snorted. He thought Guidry had me. | |
"I make it a habit never to get into family business, Mr. Guidry." | |
The fat man didn't like that quick maneuver. I could see it in his | |
face. | |
"You're smart," Guidry said. "Maybe you're just a little too smart | |
for your own good." | |
I was quiet. I knew when to be quiet. | |
# Chapter 7 | |
[During the first week, the superintendent paid a visit to the | |
school. He is terribly out-of-touch, patronizing, and racist at | |
times. This chapter seems to underscore the hopelessly impoverished | |
conditions of the school and the students.] | |
# Chapter 8 | |
[During the second week, the school got a load of wood for heat | |
during the winter. The students had to saw and chop the wood into | |
stove-sized pieces after it was delivered. Grant has a flashback to | |
the time when he was a student chopping firewood instead of studying. | |
Grant has a flashback to his own cynical college professor.] | |
... Well, you will believe me one day. When you see that those five | |
and a half months you spend in that church each year are just a waste | |
of your time, you will. You will. You'll see that it'll take more | |
than five and a half months to wipe away--peel--scrape away the | |
blanket of ignorance that has been plastered and replastered over | |
those brains in the past three hundred years. You'll see." Then he | |
would be quiet for a long time, while we both stared into the fire. | |
# Chapter 9 | |
[Grant and Miss Emma pay their first visit to Jefferson in jail. He | |
is neither communicative nor cooperative.] | |
# Chapter 10 | |
[The next two visits go pretty much the same as the first one did. | |
Miss Emma left each visit crying. The fourth visit, Miss Emma cannot | |
bring herself to accompany Grant, but his aunt "makes" him go anyway.] | |
As I stood there listening to her, I realized that this had been | |
planned from the beginning. All that other stuff I went through was | |
to lead up to this day. ... Didn't she say it that first night at | |
Pichot's? "I'm old. My heart won't take it. I want somebody else | |
to take my place." Didn't she say it? Sure she did. Because it was | |
planned even then. But she had had help. My aunt. | |
# Chapter 11 | |
[During the fourth visit, Grant and Jefferson have a confrontational | |
conversation. Jefferson insists that he is a hog and not a human. | |
Miss Emma cooked enough food to feed Jefferson and all his fellow | |
inmates. Jefferson turns down the food. Grant helps himself to some | |
of Jefferson's food. Grant tells Jefferson that he plans to lie to | |
his nannan and tell her that Jefferson ate her food appreciatively.] | |
# Chapter 12 | |
[Grant takes some time at the pub and visiting Vivian at the end of | |
her shift at a school. He is trying to buy himself time to think of | |
a good lie to tell Miss Emma.] | |
"I wish I could just run away from this place." | |
Vivian shook her head. "You know you can't." | |
"Why not?" | |
... | |
"You know the answer yourself, Grant. You love them more than you | |
hate this place." | |
# Chapter 13 | |
[Grant returns to his aunt's place and lies to Miss Emma about how | |
things are going for Jefferson.] | |
# Chapter 14 | |
[Vivian pays a visit to Grant on a lazy Sunday afternoon. They have | |
coffee and cake at Grant's place, wash the dishes, walk down the | |
road, and then they make love in the sugar cane field.] | |
# Chapter 15 | |
[They return to Grant's aunt's place just as she and her friends are | |
returning from church. Vivian's family shunned her because she | |
eloped and her husband abandoned her after she became pregnant. | |
Grant introduces Vivian and his aunt. His aunt is stand-offish.] | |
# Chapter 16 | |
[Miss Emma pays a visit to Jefferson, who treats her and the reverend | |
unkindly. Miss Emma ends up slapping Jefferson and feeling badly | |
about it. Grant's aunt insists that he go visit Jefferson even | |
though he doesn't want to.] | |
# Chapter 17 | |
[Grant pays a visit to Jefferson and they have a conversation. Then | |
the sheriff has a conversation with Grant. Unbeknownst to Grant, his | |
aunt, Miss Emma, and the reverend paid a visit to the sheriff's wife | |
and requested a meeting in a larger, more comfortable room or open | |
area where they could all sit down at once. Jefferson's cell is so | |
small that two people at most can sit down at once. The sheriff said | |
he would leave it up to Jefferson whether he wanted to remain in his | |
cell, or be shackled and handcuffed and meet in a larger, more | |
comfortable area.] | |
"I don't know when I'm going to die, Jefferson. Maybe tomorrow, | |
maybe next week, maybe today. That's why I try to live as well as I | |
can every day and not hurt people. Especially people who love me, | |
people who have done so much for me, people who have sacrificed for | |
me. I don't want to hurt those people. I want to help those people | |
as much as I can." | |
# Chapter 18 | |
[Jefferson decides to meet in a larger area. However, he refuses to | |
eat, even when Miss Emma attempts to spoon feed him. Later, Grant | |
and Jefferson meet in the dayroom and they have a conversation.] | |
"No matter how bad off we are," I said, "we still owe something. You | |
owe something, Jefferson. Not to me. Surely not to that sheriff out | |
there. But to your godmother. You must show her some understanding, | |
some kind of love." | |
# Chapter 19 | |
[Because of bad weather and road conditions, the sugar cane business | |
temporarily shut down and people stayed home where it was warm. The | |
time drew near for school Christmas programs, and Grant asked his | |
students to dedicate this year's program to Jefferson. The students | |
pooled together hard-earned change to get nice wool socks and a | |
sweater, which are a solitary gift under the Christmas tree. I am | |
not sure, but i think the gift was meant for Jefferson. They put on | |
a nice Christmas program.] | |
She was right; I was not happy. I had heard the same carols all my | |
life, seen the same little play, with the same mistakes in grammar. | |
The minister had offered the same prayer as always, Christmas or | |
Sunday. The same people wore the same old clothes and sat in the | |
same places. Next year it would be the same, and the year after | |
that, the same again. Vivian said things were changing. But where | |
were they changing? | |
# Chapter 20 | |
[Late in February, the sheriff calls a meeting with Grant and the | |
reverend to tell them the execution date, Friday, April 8th between | |
noon and three. Grant goes on a long walk to avoid being the one who | |
has to tell Miss Emma.] | |
Twelve white men say a black man must die, and another white man sets | |
the date and time without consulting one black person. Justice? | |
They sentence you to death because you were at the wrong place at the | |
wrong time, with no proof that you had anything at all to do with the | |
crime other than being there when it happened. Yet six months later | |
they come and unlock your cage and tell you, "We, us, white folks | |
all, have decided it's time for you to die, because this is the | |
convenient date and time." | |
# Chapter 21 | |
[Vivian becomes jealous of Grant's student Irene. Grant explains to | |
Vivian that like many others, Irene has put him on a pedestal. That | |
the burden of centuries of social injustice is inevitably too much | |
for black men, who end up abandoning and running away from their | |
families because they cannot take it. Grant goes on to say that by | |
putting him on a pedestal, black women are only increasing the burden | |
on Grant, making it all the more likely that he will break down and | |
fall into the same pattern of abandonment.] | |
# Chapter 22 | |
[Grant visits Jefferson and makes several offers to try and cheer him | |
up. Grant offers to buy Jefferson a radio so he can listen to music | |
in his cell. Jefferson likes that idea. Grant has to borrow money. | |
Then he goes to buy the radio from a department store.] | |
# Chapter 23 | |
[Jefferson listens to the radio non-stop. He refuses to visit in the | |
dayroom because the sheriff won't let him take the radio outside his | |
cell. Miss Emma, Aunt Louise, and the reverend are all of the | |
opinion that Grant should take the radio back. Grant begs to differ, | |
and says that the radio is the only thing keeping Jefferson from | |
feeling like a hog. | |
Grant asks Jefferson to meet his nannan in the dayroom next time, and | |
Jefferson agrees to. Grant offers to bring Jefferson a notebook and | |
pencil for journaling, and Jefferson accepts that. He also accepts a | |
gift of praline pecans from the school children, and asks Grant to | |
thank them. Grant is elated at this progress in Jefferson's | |
character.] | |
"Last Friday," I continued, "was the first time, the very first time, | |
that Jefferson looked at me without hate, without accusing me of | |
putting him in that cell. Last Friday was the first time he ever | |
asked me a question or answered me without accusing me for his | |
condition. I don't know if you all know what I'm talking about. It | |
seems you don't. But I found a way to reach him for the first time. | |
Now, he needs that radio, and he wants it. He wants something of his | |
own before he dies. He wants a gallon of ice cream for his last | |
supper--did he tell you that? Did he tell you he never had enough | |
ice cream? Did he tell you that he never had a radio of his own | |
before? Did he tell you any of this? He wants those things before | |
he dies. He has only a month to live. And all I'm trying to do is | |
make it as comfortable as I can for him." | |
# Chapter 24 | |
A hero does for others. He would do anything for people he loves, | |
because he knows it would make their lives better. I am not that | |
kind of person, but I want you to be. You could give something to | |
her, to me, to those children in the quarter. You could give them | |
something that I never could. They expect it from me, but not from | |
you. The white people out there are saying that you don't have | |
it--that you're a hog, not a man. But I know they are wrong. You | |
have the potentials. We all have, no matter who we are. | |
A myth is an old lie that people believe in. White people believe | |
that they're better than anyone else on earth--and that's a myth. | |
The last thing they ever want is to see a black man stand, and think, | |
and show that common humanity that is in us all. It would destroy | |
their myth. They would no longer have justification for having made | |
us slaves and keeping us in the condition we are in. As long as none | |
of us stand, they're safe. They're safe with me. They're safe with | |
Reverend Ambrose. I don't want them to feel safe with you anymore. | |
# Chapter 25 | |
[Grant gets in a bar fight with a bi-racial brick layer, after he | |
makes some harsh comments about Jefferson. Grant is knocked | |
unconscious by one of the owners. Vivian arrives to get him out of | |
there before the police show up.] | |
# Chapter 26 | |
[Vivian takes Grant home. Vivian's ex-husband has come out of the | |
woodwork and demanded weekly visitation rights to his kids. It is a | |
move calculated to hurt Vivian and Grant. Vivian and Grant have | |
something of a lover's quarrel over Grant's bar fight.] | |
# Chapter 27 | |
[The reverend confronts Grant about his agnosticism, and the state of | |
Jefferson's soul.] | |
"No, Reverend, I couldn't say yes. I couldn't lie to him at this | |
moment. I will never tell him another lie, no matter what." | |
"You think you educated, but you not. You think you the only person | |
ever had to lie? You think I never had to lie? ... I lie at wakes | |
and funerals to relieve pain. They sent you to school to relieve | |
pain, to relieve hurt--and if you have to lie to do it, then 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. I know my people. I | |
know what they gone through. I know they done cheated themself, lied | |
to themself--hoping that one they all love and trust can come back | |
and help relieve the pain." | |
# Chapter 28 | |
[Grant and Jefferson have a deep conversation. Grant asks Jefferson | |
to walk like a man, to do things to please his nannan, to give her | |
hope that they will meet in heaven. Jefferson says he wants to go | |
with dignity, like Jesus, without mumbling a word.] | |
"Yes, I'm youman, Mr. Wiggins. But nobody didn't know that 'fore | |
now. Cuss for nothing. Beat for nothing. Work for nothing. | |
Grinned to get by. Everybody thought that's how it was s'pose to be. | |
You too, Mr. Wiggins. You never thought I was nothing else. I | |
didn't neither. Thought I was doing what the Lord had put me on this | |
earth to do." | |
# Chapter 29 | |
[This chapter is Jefferson's diary, which is painful to read because | |
of his poor writing skills. This is the part that reminds me of | |
Flowers For Algernon.] | |
"good by mr wigin tell them im strong tell them im a man" | |
# Chapter 30 | |
[The preparation for the execution is described in detail, and it | |
sounds like quite a spectacle. When they are shaving Jefferson, he | |
asks Paul, one of the deputies who is relatively friendly, whether he | |
will be there at the execution too. Paul agrees to be there. Grant | |
declined the sheriff's invitation to attend the execution.] | |
# Chapter 31 | |
[On the day of the execution, Grant instructs his class to take a | |
knee and pray at noon. Grant goes on a walk. Toward the end of his | |
walk, Paul drives up and hands him Jefferson's notebook. Paul offers | |
to be Grant's friend and they shake hands.] | |
Don't tell me to believe. Don't tell me to believe in the same God | |
or laws that men believe in who commit these murders. Don't tell me | |
to believe that God can bless this country and that men are | |
[supposedly] judged by their peers. Who among his [Jefferson's] | |
peers judged him? ... No, his peers did not judge him--and I will | |
not believe. | |
"He was the strongest man in that crowded room, Grant Wiggins," Paul | |
said, staring at me and speaking louder than was necessary. "He was, | |
he was. I'm not saying this to make you feel good, I'm not saying | |
this to ease your pain. ... When Vincent asked him if he had any last | |
words, he looked at the preacher and said, 'Tell Nannan I walked.' | |
And straight he walked, Grant Wiggins. Straight he walked. I'm a | |
witness. Straight he walked." | |
author: Gaines, Ernest J., 1933-2019 | |
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/A_Lesson_Before_Dying | |
LOC: PS3557.A355 L47 | |
tags: book,fiction,philosophy,race | |
title: A Lesson Before Dying | |
# Tags | |
book | |
fiction | |
philosophy | |
race |