A LESSON BEFORE DYING BY ERNEST J. GAINES “Only when the mind is free has the body a chance to be free.” A LESSON BEFORE DYING BY ERNEST J. GAINES A Lesson in Overcoming Adversity and Resisting Oppression

DO YOU HAVE THE WILL TO FIGHT FOR WHAT IS JUST?

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL The setting is the 1940s in a small Cajun community in Louisiana, similar to that of Gaines’ own upbringing. Jefferson is a young African American wrongly convicted of murder, now on death-row. Grant, the narrator, is an African American man who returns to teach in the tiny Cajun town after leaving to attend college. Grant begrudgingly agrees to “teach Jefferson he is a man” when he has been told and believes he is a hog. He helps Jefferson to use writing as a tool for expression and resistance to injustice.

MAJOR THEMES EXPLORED THAT ARE CONNECTED TO HOW THE NOVEL CAME TO BE WRITTEN Racism (connected to Gaines) Injustice Male/Female Relationships Family Obligation (connected to Gaines) Freedom as a State of Mind (connected to Gaines) Imprisonment Redemption Heroes Conflicts Man vs Man Man vs Self Man vs Society/Community

ABOUT THE AUTHOR A map of where he lived and his other works of literature:

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ERNEST J. GAINES He was born on a Louisiana plantation in 1933 during the Great Depression He was raised by his courageous Aunt Jefferson, perhaps the reason the hero of the novel carries the same surname. At fifteen, his family moved to Vallejo, California where he discovered the public library, inspiring his love for literature. Many of his stories are based on memories from his own childhood. Gaines worked in the fields digging potatoes just like the schoolchildren in this novel. He eventually bought the very plantation he worked on.

THE SOUTH BEFORE CIVIL RIGHTS - LITERARY AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: Following the Civil War, Jim Crow laws were passed. They were a series of laws which legalized the separation of whites and blacks. Focus: How has the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow laws impacted our society? A Lesson Before Dying takes place in the 1940s, before the Civil Rights movement that sought equality for African-Americans. Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896 determined that separate facilities for blacks and whites was acceptable, introducing the term “separate but equal.”

Protagonist vs. Antagonists In A Lesson Before Dying Grant struggles with the notion of whether people can change their own nature and by doing so effect their own environment. Different characters represent the two views. Protagonists - The individualist faction, which included Vivian, Tante Lou, Reverend Ambrose, believed that a man is capable of determining his own destiny. Antagonists - The pessimist group, which included Sheriff Guidry, Henri Pichot, and Professor Antoine, believed that race determines your fate. Jefferson struggles to overcome his fatalist attitude and to understands his own importance as a symbol of pride and dignity for the entire black community.

HERO ARCHETYPES EPIC HERO ANTI-HERO TRAGIC HERO

EPIC HERO: Hero is of national or legendary significance. Hero often refuses at first to begin his quest. Hero undergoes many adventures on a long journey to unknown places. Hero receives supernatural aid or intervention. Conflict is in the form of battles or feats. Hero is handsomely rewarded and/or mythologized.

ANTI-HERO: Hero has a dark and troubled past. Hero is in some form an outlaw or has no status in society, so he must wander on fringes of society. Hero rejects values, rules, attitudes of society and political establishment. Hero seeks to establish his own rules and ethics. He often does “the wrong thing for the right reasons.” We are sympathetic with the hero despite distinctly negative character traits—he is often angry, crude, selfish or even dishonest. Hero goes on a (sometimes obsessive) quest for self- actualization.

TRAGIC HERO Hero is of noble stature and be highly regarded. Hero commits a tragic mistake due to a character weakness, also known as tragic flaw or hamartia. He usually falls prey to his pride. Hero’s error in judgment leads to his/her demise. Hero experiences a reversal of fortune and eventually has an epiphany in which he takes responsibility for causing his own misfortune. The story culminates in emotional outpouring, in which audience feels pity for the hero and fear that we may be like him.

MODERN TRAGIC HERO: Hero is a person of lower status or less worth Hero commits a tragic mistake due to a character weakness Hero’s error in judgment leads to his/her demise. Hero may die without any epiphany of his destiny. Hero may suffer without the ability to change the events that are happening to him.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER BEFORE READING: Do you think your life is more determined by your life circumstances or by your own will to achieve and your efforts toward that? How have you responded when you were punished for something that you did not do or you were mistreated based on a stereotype? What inherent injustices in society and barriers to equality still exist today and what power do we have to change them? Do you think the prison system benefits society as a whole or just certain segments of society?

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: AFTER READING How does Grant view himself and his community? How does it develop over the course of the novel? How does both a history of oppression and current racism affect Grant and the others in the community? How do both Jefferson and Grant attempt to defy or escape the restrictions placed on them by a racist society? Consider both clear and subtle methods of defiance of prejudice. Is Jefferson or Grant the hero of the story? What evidence supports this? What examples do you see of Jefferson as a martyr or Christ figure?