A lesson before dying

Publication date 1993 Topics African American men, Death row inmates, Race relations, Friendship, Roman américain Publisher New York : A. A. Knopf : Distribued by Random House, Inc. Collection internetarchivebooks; americana; printdisabled Contributor Internet Archive Language English Item Size 442.8M

In his first novel in ten years, Ernest Gaines, the highly acclaimed author of the best-selling The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, brings us a wrenching story of death and identity in a small Cajun Louisiana community in the late 1940s. A young black named Jefferson is a reluctant party in a shoot-out in a liquor store in which the three other men involved are all killed, including the white store owner. Jefferson, the only survivor, is accused of murder. At the trial, the essence of the defense is that the accused, a lowly form of existence lacking even a modicum of intelligence, is incapable of premeditated murder. His lawyer argues: "Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this." But Jefferson is condemned to death

Grant Wiggins, who left his small rural black community to go to university, has returned to the plantation school to teach children whose lives promise to be not much better than Jefferson's. But he wonders whether he has the will to take off north or west like so many before him who knew it was the only way to climb out of a centuries-old rut. He is grappling with his own situation when Jefferson's godmother and Grant's aunt persuade Grant to impart something of himself, of his learning and pride, to Jefferson before his death - to prove the lawyer wrong

A Lesson Before Dying tells the story of these two men who, through no choice of their own, come together and form a bond in the realization that sometimes simply choosing to resist the expected is an act of heroism. Ernest Gaines brings to the novel the same rich sense of place, the same deep understanding of the human psyche, and the same compassion for a people and their struggle that have informed his previous, widely praised novels

Notes

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urn:oclc:869467305 Republisher_date 20121205184701 Republisher_operator associate-karina-martinez@archive.org Scandate 20121203214842 Scanner scribe16.sanfrancisco.archive.org Scanningcenter sanfrancisco Source removed Usl_hit auto Worldcat (source edition) 257611298

Reviewer: Halicyon1 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - February 13, 2017
Subject: Unfair Justice

An insight into a period of oppressive, racist attitudes derived from centuries of old thought patterns inflicted on Afro Americans. Ernest Gaines': A lesson before dying captures the essence of the remnants of slavery and its pervasive effects on black society. It focuses on a young black man's plight at the mercy of a white judicial system. It rests on a black teacher to help a blighted, unfortunate young black man to realise that he is a man. First and ultimately.