Nihilism and Theism in "A Lesson Before Dying"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains the concepts of Nihilism and Theism and how they are shown in "A Lesson Before Dying" through the character, Grant Wiggins.

From the Paper:

"Missionary anthropologist Paul Hiebert once wrote, ?Theology is not simply a system of beliefs to be added alongside the others. Theology is the master blueprint on which all other blueprints are mapped.? Set in a segregated Cajun plantation quarter community in the late 1940's, "A Lesson Before Dying" tells the story of a man's struggle to find meaning in life and come to terms with being wrongfully convicted of murder. Grant Wiggins is a black teacher living with Tante Lou, whose friend Miss Emma is the godmother of Jefferson, a man wrongly convicted of robbery and murder. When the defending attorney calls Jefferson a hog during the trial, Miss Emma is determined to have Wiggins teach Jefferson that he is a man, not a hog, before he dies. Through his meetings with Jefferson, Wiggins finds that he too is deprived of liberty. Although university educated, his ways are barred. For example, he can find no better job than teaching in the small plantation church school. "A Lesson Before Dying" illustrates how people insist on declaring the value of their lives in a time and place in which those lives count for nothing. The film shows ways in which the imprisoned may find freedom even in the moment of their death. "A Lesson Before Dying" uses the character Grant Wiggins to address the basic predicament of what it is to be a human being, a creature striving to find their place in the universe, whatever it may be. Through his actions in the movie "A Lesson Before Dying," Grant Wiggins demonstrates the principles of worldviews Nihilist and Theist before ultimately realizing his true place in the world."

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