a lesson before dying
... Emma was once a salve. “She is of average height, five four, five five, but weighs nearly two hundred pounds” (Gaines 3). She raised Jefferson since he was little. She was a strong black woman, but she sometimes showed weakness when it came to family. “I’ll be up here again tomorrow, Mr. Henri. I’ll be on my knees next time you see me, Mr. Henri” (Gaines 23). When Jefferson went to jail she pleaded with the Pichot to let Grant talk to Jefferson and teach him. She used to work for the Pichot’s and thought they at least owed her that. Jefferson was Miss Emma’s Godson. He was sent to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. He was given the death sentence. “death be electrocution. The governor would set the date” (Gaines 9). At first he was very quiet and to himself. He did not want to be bothered. He listened to what others were calling him. They called him a “hog” and he began to act like one. “I’m a old hog” (Gaines 83). In the end he changed and thought of himself as a human. Grant was the nephew of Tante Lou, who was friends with Miss Emma. Grants aunt forced him to talk to Jefferson. Grant did not want to in the beginning. “There’s nothing I can do anymore” ( Gaines 14). Grant didn’t car either. He didn’t want anything to do with Jefferson. After he started visiting Jefferson he changed. He started caring for Jefferson. In the end it showed. “I went up to the desk and turned to face them. I was crying” (Gaines 256). There are many setting in this novel. Some of the major ones are The Bayonne, the Quarter, and the School. The Bayonne was where everyone went to do activities. “There are nightclubs, fishing wharves, boat docks, movie theaters, and restaurants” (Gaines 25). The jail and courthouse were also in the Bayonne. It was very segregated. All the white places were uptown while the black places were downtown. There was one main street in Bayonne. It ran along the St. Charles River. Along the road were department stores, the bank, two or three dentist offices, and doctor and lawyer offices too. This street runs less than half a dozen blocks. Another setting in the book is the Quarter. The quarter is where the black people stay. The houses in the Quarter are bad. They are “old gray weather-beaten houses, with smoke rising out of the chimneys and drifting across the corrugated tin roofs” (Gaines 37). One last setting in A Lesson Before Dying is the school. The school is the church for the blacks on Sunday. To keep it warm in the winter a wood-burning stove is keep in the center of the church. “Ventilation into the church was by way of the four windows on either side, and from the front and back doors” (Gaines 34). The students used the benches as desk or used books on their laps to write on. Grants desks was the table used for the church collection. There was a blackboard on the back wall and one on the right wall. Behind Grants desk was the pulpit and the altar. They used the church because that’s all they had. The plot of A Lesson Before Dying is getting Jefferson to die a man. That is the wishes of his godmother. The point of view in A Lesson before Dying is second person. The point of view is consistent. The point of view is related to the plot because it shows the struggle Grant goes through to get into J...