Summary On Friday, Grant’s students begin planning their Christmas program, which puts Grant in a more charitable mood. When Grant goes to visit Jefferson, Paul Bonin, the young deputy, suggests they call each other by name. During his visit, Grant tries to impress upon Jefferson that he has a responsibility […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 17-18Summary and Analysis Chapter 16
Summary On Monday, as Grant is about to leave school for the day, one of his students informs him that Miss Emma wants him to stop by on his way home. When he arrives at Miss Emma’s, he finds that Tante Lou and Rev. Ambrose are with her. After offering […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 16Summary and Analysis Chapters 13-15
Summary After Miss Eloise Bouie stops by to pick up Tante Lou for church, Grant sits in his room grading papers and reflecting on his conversation with Miss Emma and Rev. Ambrose the previous Friday. His daydreams are interrupted by a knock at his door, and he is pleasantly surprised […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 13-15Summary and Analysis Chapters 9-12
Summary In Chapter 9, the focus shifts from the plantation school to the county jail as Grant and Miss Emma, for the first time, are able to talk to the captive Jefferson. In Chapter 10, we find Grant and Miss Emma going through the by-now familiar ritual at the courthouse: […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 9-12Summary and Analysis Chapters 7-8
Summary On Thursday, Dr. Joseph Morgan, a white man who is the school superintendent, makes his annual visit to Grant’s school. In addition to drilling the students, he inspects their teeth, as if they were horses (or slaves). When Grant tries to tell Dr. Morgan that he needs books and […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 7-8Summary and Analysis Chapters 5-6
Summary On Tuesday, the day after Jefferson’s trial, Grant is back at work at the plantation school. Irritated by his students’ lack of discipline and motivation and his own inability to control his class, Grant dispenses his own brand of discipline. He rules with his Westcott ruler and reduces his […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 5-6Summary and Analysis Chapters 1-4
Summary The novel opens with a courtroom scene, as the narrator — later identified as Grant Wiggins, a black teacher at the local plantation school — recounts the trial of Jefferson, a twenty-one-year-old uneducated black man accused of robbery and murder. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that Jefferson […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 1-4Character List
Jefferson A twenty-one-year-old uneducated black field worker condemned to die after being innocently involved in an armed robbery and shooting. Alcee Grope The white storekeeper killed during the attempted robbery. Brother and Bear Two young black men killed while attempting to rob Alcee Grope’s store. Miss Emma (Emma Glenn) Jefferson’s […]
Read more Character ListAbout A Lesson Before Dying
A Lesson Before Dying is a deceptively simple novel that explores numerous complex themes. Like Albert Camus’ The Stranger, which also explores a prison experience, albeit from the prisoner’s point of view, its stark simplicity and spare language belie a complex and profound book. Gaines uses harsh (or austere) language […]
Read more About A Lesson Before DyingBook Summary
Set in the fictional community of Bayonne, Louisiana, in the late 1940s, A Lesson Before Dying tells the story of Jefferson, a twenty-one-year-old uneducated black field worker wrongfully accused and convicted of the robbery and murder of a white man, and sentenced to death by electrocution. At his trial, Jefferson’s […]
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