Ernest J. Gaines' "A Lesson Before Dying"

Paper Summary:

A look at the questions of racism and human dignity raised in Gaines' novel, "A Lesson Before Dying" and how the imprisoned and oppressed may find freedom even in the moment of their death.

From the Paper:

"In a small Cajun community during the 1940's in Louisiana, a young black man is about to go to the electric chair for murder. A white shopkeeper has been murdered during a robbery gone bad; and though the young man on trial had not been armed and had not pulled the trigger, in that time and place, there could be no doubt of the verdict or the penalty. "I was not there, yet I was there. No, I did not go to the trial, I did not hear the verdict, because I knew all the time what it would be" (p.3). So begins Grant Wiggins, the narrator of Ernest J. Gaines' powerful exploration of race, injustice, and resistance, A Lesson Before Dying. "

More papers on Ernest J. Gaines' "A Lesson Before Dying":

• Book Review # 92084 : "Ernest J. Gaines' "A Lesson before Dying"
• Book Review # 105932 : "Ernest Gaines' "A Lesson before Dying"
• Analytical Essay # 145481 : "The True Lesson in "A Lesson Before Dying"

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