Quest of the Spirit: From Suffering to Acceptance

7. Part V:Minority Lit:African American Ernest J. Gaines:A Lesson Before Dying!

        "Do you know what a hero is, Jefferson?  A hero is someone who does something for other people. He does something that other men don't and can't do. He is different from other men. He is above other men. No matter who those other men are, the hero, no matter who he is, is above them" (Gaines 191). This passage from Ernest J. Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying, explores the true nature of heroism. Jefferson, a young black man falsely convicted of murder, faces  the electric chair. After walking into the White Rabbit Bar with two friends whom he did not realize were already partially intoxicated, Jefferson watches the pair  ask for wine from Grope the owner , although they lacked the money to purchase it.  As their demands become more insistent, Grope and the two exchange gunfire, leaving all of them dead except Jefferson, who shaken and confused, grabs a bottle and drinks to calm himself,  sees money in the register, and takes it, unthinkingly.  Just at that moment , two white customers enter the bar and apprehend him.  The owner never fired a shot at Jefferson because he was not a part of the robbery  (4-6). Nevertheless, the young twenty-one year old was subsequently charged  with robbery and murder. Instead of accepting the defense's argument that Jefferson too young and ignorant to understand the implications at the time, the prosecuting attorney argued that Jefferson, along the Brother and Bear, had entered the White Rabbit with intent to robe and kill (7-8).

             Gaines intensifies the conflict  with the internal struggle of the narrator, a young black teacher named Grant Wiggins,  who reluctantly agrees to fulfill the request of his Tante Lou and Miss Emma,  the victims's godmother, to  meet with Jefferson in an attempt  to teach the accused an important lesson, the hardest perhaps of all, how  to face death with dignity (49).  Like Wright's Native Son,  Dreiser's  An American Tragedy and Capote's In Cold Blood,  A Lesson Before Dying focuses on the final days before a condemned man's execution. Ironically, both the accused and his teacher, by the end of the story, reach the realization that belief  is essential for life itself (249). Grant hears this basic truth repeatedly from his aunt, the Reverend Ambrose, and Miss Emma during Jefferson's incarceration.  Visiting  Jefferson in the cell, Grant explains to the cynical and embittered young victim that  a true hero gives himself for others, sacrifices for others, a trait  rarely found in men of any race, particularly for the black race at this time in America and tells him that this was  Miss Emma's dream,  that Jefferson should face the end of his life with courage and honor, an attitude  that would inspire others, unlike the cowardly behavior which the prejudiced white members of the community expected from him (22).   Ironically, the cynical teacher serves as spiritual guide encouraging Jefferson to "walk" to the electric chair with pride and dignity. Grant fells Jefferson that he, as a teacher, is expected to do what is noble, but a true hero is one whom no one expects to give of himself with no thought of praise or gain (191). Gaines uses animal imagery when he criticizes the white society that  Jefferson's reactions to that of a hog. For instance,  Jefferson's attorney declares  condemning his client would be like sending a "hog" to slaughter because the accused was to ignorant  to realize the serious nature of  the charges against him. Miss Emma said she did not want them "to  kill no hog. I want a man to go to that chair on his own two feet" (13), and she  strongly affirmed that Grant would fulfill her wish (15). Emma also told Henri Pichot, "I'm concerned about his soul, but I want him to be a man, too, when he goes to that chair" (22).

            Angry and confused, Grant Wiggins retreats to the Rainbow Bar and calls Vivian , his girlfriend, who goes to see him there . Vivian is attempting to get a divorce from her husband in Houston so that she can marry Grant (24-29). Grant feels that his life is pointless as a  primary teacher in an old plantation church. As  Matthew Antoine,  a former teacher there, suggested to Grant, there are no hopes for blacks in America, no freedom, only flight, only crime, no hopes of rising socially. The former teacher goes on to say that most blacks "would die violently,and those who did not would be brought down to the level of beasts," that there was "no other choice but to run and run," and that he was "living testimony of someone who should have run" (62). Grant realizes from the words of this disgruntled  black teacher that Antoine hates both himself and others who remain there (62-63). Thus, Grant's conflict with his aunt over visitation with Jefferson,  difficulties with Vivian  regarding social relations among teachers  at the school, and his own frustration over his lack of achievement at work all contribute to thew conflict which he experiences. Wiggins recalls Antoine's statement that it "will take more than five and a half months to wipe away--peel--scrape away the blanket of ignorance  that has been plastered and replastered over those brains in the past three hundred years" (64).

               Wiggins' first visit appears fruitless because  Jefferson refuses to talk, and Grant  must face the cruelty prejudice of the white deputy and his officers. At this visit, Jefferson tells Grant  to bring him some corn, since that is what a person feeds hogs (70-83). During the next visit, Jefferson tries the same routine, and Emma slaps him (123).   Grant realizes that Vivian's love is what motivates him to continue teaching and visiting (130).  Vivian, in essence, serves as the life force or elan of the story. After subsequent visits, however, Jefferson agrees to meet with Emma, Lou, and the Reverend Ambrose in the larger day room,  "if that is what they want" (135).   Ironically, as Jefferson begins to relent,  so does Grant, both consciously and unconsciously. Wiggins tells Vivian one evening that it would be better not to go to Baton Rouge because he feels a sense of responsibility  toward Jefferson. Grants tells Vivian, "We black men have failed to protect our women since the time of slavery. We stay here in the South and are broken, or we run away and leave them alone to look after the children and themselves. So each time a male child is born, they hope he will be the one to change this vicious circle" (167).  This passage denotes Grant's transformation in staying and helping those around him, rather than refusing to help as he did when first asked to visit Jefferson. The most significant phase in  Jefferson and Wiggins' relationship occurs when Grant offers to bring Jefferson a radio (171). After that, they grew closer, and one night at the Rainbow Club, Grant took up for Jefferson and was beaten unconscious (203). Grant gives Jefferson a a tablet to write his thoughts, and amazingly, as the young  prisoner begins to  write, he also begins to appreciate what his friends and family are doing for him by visiting and bringing him food (230). Sadly and tragically, Jefferson serves as a scapegoat who, through his death,  teaches Grant the importance of belief. Wiggins thinks of Reverend Ambrose's faith and remembers Jefferson's being alone in his final minutes before his execution (249). The young teacher begins to realize  the need for faith "if only to free the mind,if not the body" (251.

            Only moments after Jefferson's execution, Grant  retreats into  nature and sits under a pecan tree near "a hill of bull grass" where he sees a small yellow butterfly light near him (251-252). As grants watches the delicate creature, he realizes that there is really no reason for its being near the bull grass, no sweet fragrance, no flower or plant. The butterfly was there for no apparent reason other than,  perhaps, to tell him that  Jefferson was now free, a final desire to communicate with the one who had taught him so much about life.  Jefferson's final words were, "Tell Nannan I walked." Paul, the jailer who had been sympathetic throughout his ordeal, describes Jefferson as "the strongest man in the room" (253-254). Paul praises Grant as "one great teacher," but  Wiggins does not see it that way. Grant is still mystified over the transformation that Jefferson  experienced and the faith of others who played a part in the process. "Maybe it was God," Grant tells Paul cynically, but underneath that facade of doubt and distrust lies the evidence of a change in the personalities of not one, but two individuals, a change that could never have  been achieved without belief. 

                                                                          Works Cited

Gaines, Ernest J. A.  A Lesson Before Dying. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.