Free Essays on A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson Before Dying This movie was based on the novel, â€Å"Flight†, written by Ernest J. Gaines. This movie takes place in St. Paul, Louisiana in the 1948. This movie is about a young black man being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In this movie a young man by the name of Clarence Jefferson, got in the car with his friends not knowing they had plans on robbing a liquor store. So they go in the store and his friends pull out their guns on the store clerk, but to their surprise the clerk pulled out a gun of his own and they began shooting. Once the shooting had commence Clarence was the only man left standing, and now he was faced with a decision; take the money from the register, run or call for help; he decided to take the money, as he was taking the money a few townsmen walked in, because of the gun shots, and caught him taking the money. He was arrested and sentenced to death and also labeled as a HOG. So his mother and grandmother hired Mr. Wiggins, the town teacher, to go and c onvince Clarence he is a man not a hog. There were a couple of other problems involving Mr. Wiggins. Mr. Wiggins was in conflict with the Pastor and also his girlfriend (Mr. Wiggins). The Pastor was upset because Mr. Wiggins refused to teach Clarence about God , because felt as if God was letting him die ,so why teach him about God. He and his girlfriend had conflict because Mr. Wiggins wanted to leave town and run away from his, instead of facing them like a man. Mr. Wiggins was convinced to teach Clarence. Each day, every session Mr. Wiggins learned something new about Clarence and what he though, do to the journal entries Clarence wrote and what they discussed. In his last journal entry Clarence wrote, â€Å"A HOG walks on FOUR hooves and a man walks on TWO feet†, symbolizing that he was confident he was a man and not a HOG. Although Clarence Jefferson was sent into a everlasting sleep, he went to rest with dignity and as a man; ... Free Essays on A Lesson Before Dying Free Essays on A Lesson Before Dying A Lesson Before Dying This movie was based on the novel, â€Å"Flight†, written by Ernest J. Gaines. This movie takes place in St. Paul, Louisiana in the 1948. This movie is about a young black man being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In this movie a young man by the name of Clarence Jefferson, got in the car with his friends not knowing they had plans on robbing a liquor store. So they go in the store and his friends pull out their guns on the store clerk, but to their surprise the clerk pulled out a gun of his own and they began shooting. Once the shooting had commence Clarence was the only man left standing, and now he was faced with a decision; take the money from the register, run or call for help; he decided to take the money, as he was taking the money a few townsmen walked in, because of the gun shots, and caught him taking the money. He was arrested and sentenced to death and also labeled as a HOG. So his mother and grandmother hired Mr. Wiggins, the town teacher, to go and convince Clarence he is a man not a hog. There were a couple of other problems involving Mr. Wiggins. Mr. Wiggins was in conflict with the Pastor and also his girlfriend (Mr. Wiggins). The Pastor was upset because Mr. Wiggins refused to teach Clarence about God , because felt as if God was letting him die ,so why teach him about God. He and his girlfriend had conflict because Mr. Wiggins wanted to leave town and run away from his, instead of facing them like a man. Mr. Wiggins was convinced to teach Clarence. Each day, every session Mr. Wiggins learned something new about Clarence and what he though, do to the journal entries Clarence wrote and what they discussed. In his last journal entry Clarence wrote, â€Å"A HOG walks on FOUR hooves and a man walks on TWO feet†, symbolizing that he was confident he was a man and not a HOG. Although Clarence Jefferson was sent into a everlasting sleep, he went to rest with dignity and as a man; ... Free Essays on A Lesson Before Dying A Lesson Before Dying, is a complex novel about life’s various lessons. It was written by a Louisiana native, Ernest J. Gaines and published in 1993. The story takes place in the Pre-Civil Rights South in the fictionous rural town of Bayonne, Louisiana. The major focus of story lies between Jefferson and Grant Wiggins. Grant, a schoolteacher chosen to help Jefferson become a man. Jefferson is a young man wrongfully accused of killing a white man and is sentenced to death. Gaines takes the reader through the journey of a man’s quest to help another man to become a man. I will show various ways Gaines help the reader to realize the real â€Å"lesson† to be learned. Gaines begins his novel with Jefferson’s trial, verdict and sentencing, but doesn’t provide specific names of any of those involved. By doing so Gaines is able to focus the reader’s full attention on the narrator’s thoughts and the main character, Jefferson. If Gaines had give n details about the other characters involved the reader would not have been able to focus his full energy on the importance of the things said during the trial and the effects these things had on Jefferson and the other characters. At this point it is important for the reader to take in and digest all the cruel things Jefferson’s attorney says about him. His attorney refers to him as â€Å"a boy†, â€Å"a fool†, â€Å"a cornered animal†, and â€Å" a hog†. Jefferson accepts and internalizes this degrading image of himself. From this the reader will understand why Miss Emma’s insistence that her godson die like a man is such a powerful issue. Gaines presentation of the information helps the reader to better accept the events that are to follow the trial. Gaines narrates the novel through the voice of Grant Wiggins. Grant is a black teacher at the local plantation school. The novel opens with the statement, â€Å"I was not there, yet I was t here.† In this statement the reader enters the mind of Gr... Free Essays on A Lesson Before Dying In the Novel â€Å"A lesson Before Dying† by Earnest Gaines, the characters Grant Wiggins and Jefferson are put abruptly into a position of being male role models inside of their community. Grant is put into this position because of his receiving his education, while Jefferson is put into this position in a sense of martyrdom as he is facing execution. During the passages of this book, there is symbolism which attempts to conclude that Grant and Jefferson are heroes of their community. The song â€Å"You are My Sunshine† in the novel â€Å"A Lesson before Dying† by Earnest Gaines, is symbolic of the hope the community has in Jefferson. During which the song is played in the background on page 224, Grant is attempting to get Jefferson to listen to Reverend Jefferson when Jefferson replies â€Å"Me, Mr. Wiggins. Me. Me to take the cross. Your cross, Nanna’s cross, my own cross. Me, Mr. Wiggins. This old stumbling nigger. Y’all axe a lot, Mr. Wiggins.† This quote illustrates to the almost Jesus like position that Jefferson is in by caring the burden of the community. This quote is connected to the hypothesis because Jefferson is basically the hope of the community by caring the burden of standing up to the whites in their community by dying as a man, instead of the hog that the Defense attorney made him out to be. Jefferson then replies to Grant, on page 224, â€Å"Now y’all want me to be better than ever’body else. H ow, Mr. Wiggins?† This second quote also illustrates how Jefferson is the hope of the community. This quote is connected to the hypothesis because, before Jefferson’s death sentence, he worked in the field and thought he would be no more than that, and now Grant and the rest of the community expects him to be more than what he was. In the passage on page 224 and from the quotes in this paragraph, Jefferson is struggling with the thought of being a martyr for the community and proving that he is a man and is better than ...