A Lesson Before Dying
Ultimately Making Better Men
In A Lesson Before Dying, a novel written by award winning author Ernest Gaines, an unexpected relationship develops between a black man who was at the "wrong place, wrong time" and was wrongly accused of murder, and a teacher who returns to his hometown and finds himself being persecuted. The man wrongly accused of murder is Jefferson, and the teacher is Grant.
Jefferson's own lawyer refers to Jefferson as a hog, when he says "Why I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair" (Gaines 7). His lawyer also refers to him as "a cornered animal to strike quickly out of fear" (Gaines 7). Later in the story, it is seen that Jefferson internalizes that portrayal of him. He actually ends up acting like the animal the lawyer characterizes him to be. He even starts thinking of himself as a "nonhuman". He asks for the corn to eat because that's what hogs eat" (Gaines 82). When he is offered candy, he states "hogs don't eat no candy" (Gaines 83). He even......
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