A Lesson Before Dying

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A Lesson Before Dying

• By Ernest J. Gaines

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Ernest J. Gaines

• Ernest J. Gaines was born in 1933 on the River
  Lake plantation in Pointe Coupée Parish,
  Louisiana
• -this was the setting for most of
• his fiction
• -he was the fifth generation in his
• family to be born there.

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Typical Black School/Church

• At the age of nine, Gaines was picking cotton in
  the plantation fields
• He attended the black quarter's school
• -held classes only five or six months a year.
• -his writing is greatly
• influenced by these
• experiences

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• For several of his childhood years, Ernest
  Gaines lived with a great-aunt in rural
  Louisiana.

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He would listen to the talk of the older
people sitting on his aunt's porchTheir
speech gave authenticity to the voices of
such characters as Miss Jane Pittman.
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• Gaines left Louisiana at 15,
• He returns regularly to remain connected to the
  life there that is so central to his writing.

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A Lesson Before DyingSetting

• St. Raphael Parish Louisiana
• Late October, 1948 until two weeks after Easter
  1949

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Characters

• Jefferson
• Grant Wiggins
• Miss Emma (Nannan) Glenn
• Oscar Glenn
• Tante Lou
• Brother
• Bear
• Alcee Grope
• Vivian Baptiste
• Reverend Mose Ambrose
• Sheriff Sam Guidry

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Characters, cont.

• Edna Guidry
• Paul Bonin
• Chief Deputy Clark
• Henry Martin
• Henri Pichot
• Matthew Antoine
• Inez Lane
• Louis Rougon
• Joe Claiborne

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Places to Remember

• St. Raphael Parish
• Bayonne
• Rainbow Club
• Pichot Plantation
• St. Charles River

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Important Events

• The murder of the store clerk
• The trial
• Defense Attorney calling Jefferson a hog
• Grant telling Jefferson what a hero is (Pg.191)

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Important Events, cont.

• Grant telling Jefferson about a myth (Pg. 192)
• The preacher telling Grant that he is not
  educated if does not know about lying. (Pg.217)

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Lessons Grant Learns

• Black men have failed to protect their women
  since the time of slavery.
• Each time a male child is born, they hope the
  vicious circle will be broken.

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Background Events that have affect on Story

• Grant runs away to get an education and save his
  own sanity and to have a life of his own.
• Miss Emma and Tante Lou want a chance to see a
  black man stand for her. (Reread Pages 166-167.)

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The Movie

• An HBO movie
• Won the Best made for TV movie in 1999.
• Rated PG13

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Themes in the Book1. Social Justice2. Social
Transformation3. Social Reconciliation
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Something to think about

• What is a hero?

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Ernest J. Gaines, in his own words

• "We all know--at least intellectually--that we're
  going to die. The difference is being told,
  'Okay, it's tomorrow at 10 a.m.'
• How do you react to that? How do you face it?
• That, it seems to me,
• is the ultimate test of life.

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The Jim Crow South

• A Lesson Before Dying is set in the Jim Crow
  South
• What is the Jim Crow South?
• "Jim Crow" laws barred African Americans from
  access to employment and to public places such as
  restaurants, hotels, and other facilities. In the
  South especially, Blacks lived in fear of
  racially motivated violence.

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Battling Jim Crow

• Cases against Jim Crow were broken into 3
  catagories
• 1. segregation,
• 2. civil rights,
• and
• 3. disfranchisement.

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• Segregation cases are those related to
  separating the races in public and private places
  such as schools, trains, amusement parks, and the
  workplace.

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• Civil rights cases address the many instances
  where the constitutional rights of non-whites
  were abridged or challenged, such as a citizen's
  right to a fair and speedy trial or to
  participation in juries.

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• -Disfranchisement cases focused on laws and
  actions that deprived African-American citizens
  and other non-whites of their rights to vote,
  often through poll taxes, literacy tests, and
  residency requirement laws.