A Lesson Before Dying (Oprah's Book Club) by Ernest J. Gaines
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Book Reviews of A Lesson Before Dying (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: Death with Dignity
Summary: 5 Stars
A Lesson Before Dying is the best known Ernest J. Gaines novel, even having been blessed as an "Oprah's Book Club" choice in September 1997. Today it is read in many middle and high school English classes for the lessons that it has to teach all of us about human dignity and grace. Not all of Oprah Winfrey's book choices over the years have been the wisest, but she got this one right.
The novel is set in a section of 1940s Louisiana that Gaines knows and works so well in his writing. Jefferson, a young black man who by sheer chance found himself at the scene of a store robbery that went terribly wrong is convicted of murder and sullenly awaits his date with the state's electric chair. There is substantial evidence of his guilt since the money from the cash register is found in his pockets and he has helped himself to a bottle of whiskey from behind the counter. And he is the only man still standing since the white storekeeper and the two black men who gave Jefferson a ride to the store have all been shot to death.
It is when Jefferson's defense attorney, trying to save him from the death penalty, describes him as something more like a hog than like a man that Grant Wiggins finds himself drawn into the drama surrounding the pending execution. Wiggins is the first black man who has left the plantation for an education and he is unhappy and resentful that the only work for him is teaching the children of those who still work the fields of the cane farm as generations of their families did before them. In a way, he considers himself to be as much a slave of the system as all those who are still tied to the land for their survival. But his aunt, with whom he still lives, and Jefferson's godmother pressure him into becoming involved. They want him to convince the condemned man that he is a man, not a hog, and that he needs to approach his pending execution with all the dignity and courage that only the best of us ever really possess.
Wiggens takes on this responsibility simply because he doesn't dare to deny his aunt's request and, when he believes that he is failing them all, he continues the struggle only because he cannot bear to disappoint her. It is only when Jefferson begins to slowly respond to what Wiggins is telling him, and asking of him, that Wiggins realizes that he is being taught a lesson every bit as important as the one that he himself is trying to teach. A Lesson Before Dying is an inspirational book, one that will be used in classrooms for many years to come, and it very much deserves the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction that it received in 1993.
Book Review: A Powerful Story, Quietly Told
Summary: 5 Stars
It's 1948 and Grant Wiggins, an intelligent young black man in the deep South, is frustrated at every turn. He hates his job. He's forced to live with his aunt. The woman he loves is still married to a man who won't divorce her. And he's teaching in a poor church school even though he doesn't believe in Heaven. To top it all off, his aunt's good friend, Miss Emma, has just seen her God-son Jefferson convicted of murder and sentenced to death....and she wants Grant to teach the hulking illiterate something before he dies.This is the conflict in Ernest J. Gaines' fine novel, A LESSON BEFORE DYING (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1993; 256 pages). And what a conflict it is. In Gaines' capable hands, what could have been a standard potboiler with preachy overtones (something along the lines of Grisham's A TIME TO KILL) becomes instead an almost profound examination of what it means to be human, and to live (or die?) with dignity.
This is in no small way achieved by Gaines' inherent restraint. In telling the story, the elements of anger and violence are there, but not exploited. This is no easy task; among the themes are prejudice and oppression. Yet Gaines makes the reader feel their presence without acting as a literary hammer.
It's this approach which makes the quiet desperation of his protagonist seem so realistic. Wiggins always seems about ready to crack at the seams in his frustration, and his "tutoring" of Jefferson is for him, at first, just another unwanted burden. But as he faces the oppression in his own life, he begins to see how important his mission actually is, both to Jefferson and to himself. "I want you to show them the difference between what they think you are and what you can be," Grant says, trying to reach the doomed teen. "To them, you're nothing but another nigger--no dignity, no heart, no love for your people. You can prove them wrong. You can do more than I can ever do. I have always done what they wanted me to do....But you can be better. Because we need you to be and want you to be." It's a naked moment for Grant, and one that explains the inner hatred he has for his job, his family, and himself.
A LESSON BEFORE DYING has recently received a boost from Oprah Winfrey (she has recommended it on her show as part of her Book Club), and in this she has served the reading public well. It's rare these days to read a novel with a somewhat legalistic theme and come away with a better understanding of humanity. It is also a fine way to be introduced to Gaines, a consistently good writer whose work deserves an even wider audience.
Book Review: This Book is Good
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm an eighth grader who read A lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines. While I read this, I also read To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. The setting for A Lesson Before Dying is a small town in the south during the 1940's where the two main characters are Jefferson and Grant. Jefferson is condemned to death by electrocution for a crime he did not commit. His godmother realizes that nothing can be done for his freedom, so she asks Grant to help Jefferson die with dignity. Gaines writes this tragic story and reveals his feelings of capital punishment, segregation, and the difficulty of acceptance in a unique way. Ernest J. Gaines was born into the world he describes in A Lesson Before Dying. He describes his feelings about capital punishment through Grant, much like Harper lee does in "To Kill a Mockingbird. When the date for Jefferson's death is set, Grant thinks about the way someone can plan a man's death. "How do people come up with a date and time to take a life from another man? Who made them God?" Harper Lee also conveyed the same feeling through Jem, when Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman, is sentenced to death. Gaines teaches the reader about segregation and acceptance through his other characters. The back of town is where blacks live, and bars for "blacks only", "blacks only" restrooms, and the school where Grant teaches for "blacks only" are only some of the examples of segregation Gaines so explicitly places in the novel. Lee describes Maycomb County, where To Kill a Mockingbird takes place, as a segregated town, much the same as in Gaines' novel. The south side of town is for the blacks, and there is a church that is for "blacks only." Both A Lesson Before Dying and To Kill a Mockingbird are touching and powerful novels that reach out to the reader and portray a time of injustice, inequality, and struggle. By experiencing the struggle that the main characters in both novels go through fighting for their lives against unfair accusations just because they are black, the reader experiences the horror and injustice of racism on an extremely emotional level, and cannot help but be changed by the reading of these books.Book Review: A Powerful and Moving Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines is an excellent story about duty and heroism. It takes place on a small Southern plantation outside of Bayonne, Louisianna in the 1940's. At this time in America when society is still torn by racial segregation, an innocent black man named Jefferson is found guilty of robbery and murder and sentenced to death by electrocution. The majority of white men in town share the sentiment that Jefferson's life has no more worth than that of a hog's. This is where the narrator, Grant Wiggins comes in. Grant, a professor at a very primitive grade school for black children, is the only educated black man on the plantation. He is asked by Jefferson's godmother, Miss Emma, and ordered by his own aunt, Tante Lou, to visit Jefferson in jail and teach him, before he goes to the electric chair, that he is not a hog but a precious human being. Grant is already unhappy and despaired with what he thinks is a futile life, teaching black children who, despite his efforts, will turn out just like Jefferson anyway. All he wants to do is run away with his girlfriend Vivian, but he is tied down by the obligation he has to his fellow black man. Although Grant is reluctant to begin visits with Jefferson, and Jefferson is just as reluctant to receive these visits, the two eventually form a very close bond. This story centers around their relationship and the lesson they teach each other about fulfilling responsibility and dying with dignity.It is no wonder why this novel is a classic. It is eloquently written, emotionally powerful, easy to follow, and very profound in its subjects and themes. The characters are well-developed and difficult not to empathize with. Grant is an especially dynamic character, but everyone in Gaines' novel contributes to an understanding of the overall plot and its purpose. Vivian, for instance, acts as the voice of reason and the support Grant needs to continue his lessons with Jefferson. Henri Pichot and Sheriff Guidry represent the fear and ignorance that keep racial segregation so prevalent in American society. A Lesson Before Dying is deep on many levels, and there is no one that I would not recommend it to.
Book Review: Wonderful lessons & Deep conversations
Summary: 5 Stars
A lesson Before Dying is a very MOVING book. By reading most of the other reviews I'm sure everyone understands what this novel is about. I'm not positive if I would have appreciated this book in High School had I read it 10 years ago. I would like to thank Mr. Gaines for his lessons!! I've typed out a few powerful passages that moved me...There were more but these are just some I made sure I highlighted!
A hero is someone who something for other people. He does something that other men don't and can't do. He is different from other men. He is above other men. No matter who those other men are, the hero, no matter who he is, is above them.
"Do you know what a myth is, Jefferson?" I asked him. "A myth is an old lie that people believe in. White people believe that they're better then 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 gave justification for having made us slaves and keeping us in the condition we are in. As long as none of stand, they're safe.
Please listen to me, because I would not lie to you now. I speak from my heart. You have the chance of being bigger then anyone who has ever lived on that plantation or come from this little town. You can do it if you try. You have seen how Mr. Farrell makes a slingshot handle. He starts with just a little piece of rough wood- any little piece of scrap wood- then he starts cutting. Cutting and cutting and cutting, then shaving. Shaves it down clean and smooth till it's not what it was before, but something new and pretty. You know what I'm talking about, because you have seen him do it. You had one that he made from a piece of scrap wood. Yes, yes - I saw you with it. And it came from a piece of old wood that he found in the yard somewhere. And that's all we are Jefferson, all of us on this earth, a piece of drifting wood. until we - each of us, individually- decide to become something else. I am still that piece of drifting wood, and those out there are no better. But you can be better.