A Lesson Before Dying

I had a difficult time reading this book, not because of the writing, or the voice, or the characters. All those worked, and worked very well, and that is in part why I won't focus on them this time. What made it difficult is the story itself. At first glance there was nothing I could relate to: a male protagonist coaching a death row inmate, Louisiana plantation in 1940s, persistent, and sometimes surprising, racial divides, poverty, level of education so low you could determine it from speech alone. All this was so far from whe world where I grew up in Eastern Europe and so far from my life now that at times it was challenging to stay conected to the story. Then I would read about Grant's aunt cooking for everybody and loving it when show more her family and friends enjoyed her food, or about adults making sacrifices to improve their children's lives and give them the opportunity of something better, and I would remember my grandmother and my parents, and that the nature of humanity is the same regardless of time, place, skin color or education, and with this understanding I would be able to regain my grasp on what was happening and keep going.
Another complicating factor was that the main emotions running through the book are anger, bitterness and general dissatisfaction. Grant is unhappy with working as a plantation teacher and being forced into coaching Jefferson. His aunt is unhappy that he doesn't see the bigger picture and even when he does become invested in helping Jefferson he does it in a way with which she disagrees. Vivian, the woman Grant is in love with, is unhappy to not be able to get a divorce from her absentee husband and not have to hide her relationship with Grant. The reverend is upset that he isn't able to get through to Jefferson while a man so much younger, who he belives is a sinner and for all his education still doesn't really understand life, eventually does what he couldn't. And Jefferson himself is bitter and angry about the unfair verdict and the demeaning defense strategy of his attorney, as well as the fact that his young life was going to be cut shortonly because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time and didn't have the werewithal to run. Keeping up with all this negativity was a bit trying for me at times.
We never learn how old Jefferson was, or any of the other characters for that matter, or whether he had a mental handicap, so a lot of his actions and reactions were puzzling to me. I never understood why it took a stranger to make him stop taking out his anger on his godmother, who couldn't be responsible for his predicament by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, there were a few things I didn't understand, such as why Grant essentially punished his students for him being dissatisfied with his life, shortchanging them in the process, or why he professed his love for Vivian and yet asserted himself at her expense, or why Grant's aunt's preferred method of communication was to glare and give silent treatments instead of explaining what her nephew clearly didn't grasp. It may take me a while to understand these thing, maybe I'm simply too young and haven't seen enough of life just yet to do so right now.
This book may have been difficult and not at all uplifting, but it did not leave me indifferent, and it made me think about issues that have never particularly affected me. It made me look at the world around me from a different perspective. It made me wonder about the things the grandparents of people I see around me haven't told them about the past. I may not be able to fully appreciate this novel now, but it certainly has altered the way I look at the world around me and that alone makes it worth reading. show less

Protagonist Grant Wiggins is a schoolteacher of poor black children at a church in a small town in Louisiana in 1947. As the story opens, his aunt and her friend, Miss Emma, are attending the trial of Miss Emma’s grandson, Jefferson, for murder. Jefferson was in the wrong place at the wrong time and did not kill the white proprietor, but due to the deep racism of the time and place, the jury presumes he is guilty. He is sentenced to death. Miss Emma asks Grant to visit Jefferson in jail to help him feel a sense of self-respect before he dies.

The story shows the struggles of the black community living in the era of Jim Crow laws and segregation. It brings them to a personal level, showing how difficult it is to live with dignity in the show more shadow of racism. And of course, this is a lesson our society is still learning. It is easy for the reader to empathize with Grant and Jefferson and develop a sense of outrage at the injustices they face. Grant has no desire to attempt to “teach” moral knowledge, but he does it out of courtesy to his aunt and Miss Emma, and initially there is little response from Jefferson. In the end, they both learn “a lesson before dying.”

Themes include bigotry, poverty, education, injustice, social class, religion, and sacrifice. The tone is mostly bleak, but somehow the author ends it with a tiny ray of hope, and this is no small feat considering the subject matter. It is a powerful and emotional story. show less

''Twelve white men say a black man must die, and another white man sets the date and time without consulting one black person. Justice?''
Occasionally you read a book and think to yourself, why didn't I read this years ago?
A Lesson Before Dying is one of those books. On the surface it's about a miscarrage of justice, but it's about so much more than that. It's about race relations, redemption and salvation. It's a stunning and powerful book that left me utterly gobsmacked. It's rare to read a book and feel a better human being at the end of it. I salute Ernest J. Gaines for doing that.

Finished reading A LESSON BEFORE DYING a week ago, but it resonates, particularly in this Black Lives Matter era. Gaines's story, set in post-war Louisiana, follows a young black teacher, Grant Wiggins, and a condemned black prisoner, and the tenuous friendship they establish before the man's wrongful execution. The book's final line from Grant says it all. "I was crying." So was I. My very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

This is a beautiful, quiet book about a teacher who is asked to counsel a young man on death row. Jefferson was a bystander during an armed robbery and, as the only survivor, was eventually (and unjustly) convicted of murder. The teacher, Grant Wiggins, feels ill equipped for his task but bows to pressure from the boy’s godmother and his own aunt. On Grant’s first visits he is largely ignored, but establishes rapport with the white deputy who escorts him to Jefferson’s cell. And then, Grant slowly begins to penetrate Jefferson’s shell. Jefferson has a profound impact on Grant as well, bringing additional meaning to the book’s title. A Lesson Before Dying is a moving account of the power of love and community.

Beautifully brutal, brutally beautiful. I read this novel for a TIOLI challenge; it's from the syllabus of a "Multicultural American Lit" class being taught at Eastern Illinois University this semester. Jefferson, a Black man who is in the wrong place at the wrong time, ends up sentenced to death in Jim Crow (1948) Louisiana. Grant Wiggins is sent by his aunt and Jefferson's godmother to try to help Jefferson become a man before he dies (as well as possibly save his soul). Grant's love for his aunt and his respect for Miss Emma (Jefferson's godmother) lead him to visit Jefferson in jail and try to help him gain some dignity. The novel is really about Grant's own anguished exploration of what it means to be a Black man in a time and show more place where the behavioral expectations are completely focused on erasing any shred of self-determination and dignity he might otherwise have, as much as it's about Jefferson's transformation from a silent, self-loathing, self-pitying man to one with self-respect and a paradoxical sense of hope even as he faces his own death. The novel packs an emotional punch and I couldn't put it down. It's worth reading more than once. show less

Among those I've read, there are few novels to rival To Kill a Mockingbird in its treatment of American race relations, but A Lesson Before Dying had me in its grip just as Harper Lee's novel did. From the beginning of the novel when we know that there is no hope of Jefferson getting a fair trial and we know that he will be sentenced to death, the fate of this innocent young man haunts the reader.

The catalyst for the 'lesson before dying' is Jefferson's attorney. In a futile effort to show that Jefferson did not have the wit to plan the crime nor the courage to execute it, he diminishes him to the status of a mindless hog. We have all seen many defence closing speeches on TV, but this one is shocking:

Gentlemen of the jury, look at show more this—this—boy. I almost said man, but I can't say man. Oh sure, he has reached the age of twenty-one, when we, civilised men, consider the male species has reached manhood, but would you call this—this—this a man? No, not I. I would call it a boy and a fool. A fool is not aware of right and wrong. A fool does what others tell him to do. A fool got into that automobile. A man with a modicum of intelligence would have seen those racketeers meant no good. But not a fool. A fool got into that automobile. A fool rode to the grocery store. A fool stood by and watched this happen, not having the sense to run. (p7)

He goes on for a whole paragraph... eerily like a Nazi eugenicist... drawing attention to the shape of Jefferson's skull as evidence of his lack of intelligence. He likens him to a cornered animal to strike quickly out of fear, a trait inherited from his ancestors in the deepest jungle of blackest Africa. This attorney builds his defence on Jefferson as a thing that acts on command, capable only of working in the fields. As evidence of Jefferson's stupidity— surely not unaware that the men of the jury were most likely not familiar with English poetry, he declaims:

He does not even know the size of his clothes or his shoes. Ask him to name the months of the year, Ask him does Christmas come before or after the Fourth of July. Mention the names of Keats, Byron, Scott, and see if his eyes will show one moment of recognition. Ask him to describe a rose, to quote one passage from the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. (p.8)

He might have done better to remind his listeners about the content of that Bill of Rights and specifically from Amendments V and VI which are about fair trials, but A Lesson before Dying is full of subtle ironies like this, and readers need to pay attention.

One can almost see the attorney's flourish as he concludes:

'What justice would there be to take his life? Justice, gentlemen? Why, I would as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this'. (p.8)

Gaines does not describe the impact this speech has on Miss Emma and Tante Lou, nor their reaction to the verdict. He proceeds to the following Monday and their dignified demeanour when the sentence is passed.

The novel is narrated by Grant, a young African American who had transcended the fate of the other Black men in the town by leaving, getting an education, and returning as a teacher. In chapter 2, we see how selfish and bitter he is. He hates the town, he hates teaching and all he wants to do is get away with his (married) girlfriend. He arrives from school after the trial and deliberately avoids his aunt and Miss Emma because he knew what the sentence was going to be and he didn't want to have to look her in the face. But Miss Emma has plans that he never suspects.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2025/03/08/a-lesson-before-dying-1993-by-ernest-j-gaine... show less