A Lesson Before Dying

"I would call it a boy and a fool" (Gaines 7). This is how this whole story starts, when a man was at the wrong place at the wrong time. In the book A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines Jefferson an African American man is accused of robbing and then killing a shop owner. At first the community doesn't care but slowly through the novel Jefferson really reaches out to people even if they didn't know it. So even though there are many themes in the book one man can make a difference in the lives of many stands out as the best theme shown through the change Jefferson led Grant through, the book he wrote of his challenges, and the chance he gave Paul to express his hatred for segregation.

Grant a very surly man was begged by his aunt to go see Jefferson with the little time he had left. Grant really is mad because he thought that he would be so much farther in life by now. So his aggression is really shown when he meets Jefferson and they are despising each other. "Ain't you go'n ask me to sit down, Jefferson?" (72). Grant here is just disgusted that he has to do this and isn't really trying to help Jefferson. But as the novel moves along they really create a strong bond and in the end as the day of reckoning comes closer Grant states "I need you much more than you could ever need me" (193). Jefferson changed a man that always look down on himself to a man that isn't worried about himself or what he looks like and is trying to give back.

Because he was cooped up in that small prison cell he couldn't really make an impact on so many others lives. So with that in mind he wrote a very quick story about what it was like to be him, and all the feelings he had. "This was the firs time I cry" (231). He isn't perfect heck he is in jail! He just wants everyone to see that he is a man and that anyone no matter what has happened to them can still carry themselves with pride.