Response To A Lesson Before Dying

We live in a generation of daily selfishness and high egos, but in a time of crisis, sacrifices appear out of dust. If you were in a position in this book, would your definition of sacrifice or shame change? In the book, A Lesson Before Dying By: Ernest J. Gaines published in 1993. The fiction novel is about a black man named Jefferson being wrongfully convicted of a crime during the Jim Crow era. Grant’s legacy is to make a change in Jefferson before his death by electrocution. Certain events can pressure people into making decisions that benefit others and affect yourself in a negative way in some scenarios.

First, Grant has to sacrifice for others, which creates shame mostly because of his skin-color. For example, “To show too much intelligence

would have been an insult to them.” (pg.47) Therefore, Grant has to face constant injustice between white and black. To show too much intelligence would be an insult to the more superior whites in the novel. In addition, Grant had to give up his dignity, just to not be endangered by the fact he has more knowledge. This is a daily unnecessary sacrifice he has to go through and this creates self-shame. He feels segregated and unworthy just because of his skin color. The word insult has a negative connotation and Grant does not like the way he is treated and wants a change. Jefferson is the way he is going to help the injustice by helping Jefferson. Secondly, “”Everything you sent me to school for, you’re stripping me of it,” I told my aunt. They were looking at the fire, and I stood behind them with the bag of food. “The humiliation I had to go through, going into that man’s kitchen. The hours I had to wait while they ate and drank and socialized before they would even see me. Now going up to that jail. To watch them put their dirty hands on that food. To search my body each time as if I’m some kind of common criminal. Maybe today they’ll want to look into my mouth, or my nostrils, or make me strip. Anything to humiliate me. All the things you wanted me to escape by going to school. Years ago, Professor Antoine told me if I stayed here, they were going to break me down to the nigger I was born to be.

But he didn’t tell me that my aunt would help them do it” She got up slowly, heavily, and went to Miss Emma, who had begun to shake her head and cry. Miss Emma sincerely did not want me to go, but my aunt had not changed her mind for a moment. “I’m sorry, Mr. Grant, I’m helping them white people to humiliate you, I’m so sorry. And I wished they had somebody else we could turn to. But they ain’t nobody else””(pg. 79). In other words, Grant has to go through humiliation every time he visits Jefferson. This is a sacrifice because he is treated less than a human when he goes. It is predicted for him how his life in the city would play out before he even made promises to help Jefferson. This is shameful to him because he made a tough promise that he must keep. The word choice used in this passage shows negative connotation which shows the pain he feels. Words like “slowly”, “heavily”, “dirty”, “break”, and “humiliation” really help vocalize the shame he feels. The repetition of the word strip shows him being “stripped” of his dignity. He feels vulnerable every time he visits the prison. Lastly, "Now his godmother wants me to visit him and make him

know—prove to these white men—that he's not a hog, that he's a man. I'm supposed to make him a man. Who am I? God?"(pg.31). In that case, Grant feels frustrated because he knows the sacrifice he has to make, but it is difficult. It will be beneficial for Miss Emma, his aunt, and for the city to see the injustice between the races. It is very hard to achieve this because Jefferson believes he’s a hog. The word choice used shows that it is very difficult to achieve based on the words “God”,“hog”, and “prove”. This is shameful and irritating to Grant because people expect so much from him in a limited amount of time.
Second, many people have sacrificed for Jefferson before his death. To illustrate, “”She told me to help him walk to that chair like a man---not like a hog---and I’m doing the best I can, Reverend. The rest is up to you.” (pg.213). Thus, Grant and the Reverend Ambrose have both sacrificed for Jefferson by helping him become a man. They want him to act and be treated like a man before he dies, so he doesn’t feel shamed. This passage both has positive and negative connotation. Negative being “hog”, but the rest is mostly positive or neutral. Another example, “”I’m not trying to confuse you, Jefferson. She loves you, and I want you to give her something. Something that she can be proud of.””(pg.139). Miss Emma has shame about her godson and wants him to make her proud. She has made many sacrifices like visiting and feeding him. This quote contains positive connotation like the words “love”, “proud”, and “not trying to confuse you”. These were said by Grant and create motivation in Jefferson by showing Miss Emma’s affection and hope for him. Another key point, “”How much they cost?””About twenty dollars.”” (pg.174). Hence, people sacrifice to Jefferson all the time. Even through money or items. They are trying to make him comfortable as possible with his fate. In context, they are buying him a radio, which is something he had been wanting for a while.
Lastly, Grant’s sacrifices for Jefferson affect Grant’s personal life.

As shown in, “”No tell me,” she said. “Who am I? Who are you? Who are we? Tell me.””All I know is I love you” I said.”” (pg.209). Because of this, Vivian is seeing Grant’s attitude change abruptly. She challenges his point of view by repeating questions to show him how confusing it is for her to love him when he is being affected by the stress. The constant word choice like “tell me” and “who” shows she is angry. There is a negative connotation to almost all the words, besides when Grant tells her “All I know is I love you. In the view of Grant, “Every little thing was irritating me. I caught one of the students trying to figure out a simple multiplication problem on his fingers, and I slashed him hard across the butt with the Westcott ruler. He jerked around too fast and looked at me too angrily for my liking.”(pg.35). As a result, Grant is being affected by the stress and is doing worse at his job. He is frustrated with how his life was playing out at the time. The word choice in this passage is negative. For example, “irritating”, “Slashed”, “hard”, and “angrily”. These reflect how Grant is feeling about Jefferson, Vivian, Miss Emma, and his aunt. In addition, “”Boxing is over,” I said, and I grabbed a chair and threw it at him.” (pg.202). As a result, Grant doesn’t know how to express his anger and stress, so he does it by fighting. The context of this quote is about a bar fight, which is very

dangerous considering he is a black man during the Jim Crow era. The word choice is negative like “grabbed” and “threw”. The attitude of Grant is angry and dangerous.
In conclusion, certain events can definitely pressure people into making decisions that benefit others and affect yourself in a negative way. Grant has to sometimes sacrifice for others, which creates shame for him mostly because of his skin-color. People also sacrifice for Jefferson all of the time and Grant’s sacrifices for him affect Grant’s personal life. To summarize, some sacrifices are important to make even if it makes yourself vulnerable. Even if some make you feel ashamed.