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A Lesson Before Dying
A Lesson Before Dying
A Lesson Before Dying
Audiobook3 hours

A Lesson Before Dying

Written by Durthy A. Washington

Narrated by Luke Daniels

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

The CliffsNotes study guide on Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, critical commentaries, expanded glossaries, and a comprehensive index, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work. This study guide was written with the assumption that you have read A Lesson Before Dying. Reading a literary work doesn’t mean that you immediately grasp the major themes and devices used by the author; this study guide will help supplement your reading to be sure you get all you can from Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying. CliffsNotes Review tests your comprehension of the original text and reinforces learning with questions and answers, practice projects, and more. For further information on Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying, check out the CliffsNotes Resource Center at www.cliffsnotes.com.

IN THIS AUDIOBOOK

  • Learn about the Life and Background of the author
  • Hear an Introduction to A Lesson Before Dying
  • Explore themes, character development, and recurring images in the Critical Commentaries
  • Learn new words from the Glossary at the end of each Chapter
  • Examine in-depth Character Analyses
  • Acquire an understanding of A Lesson Before Dying with Critical Essays
  • Reinforce what you learn to further your study online at www.cliffsnotes.com
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 30, 2012
ISBN9781455888689
A Lesson Before Dying
Author

Durthy A. Washington

Durthy A. Washington is a writer whose area of special interest is American ethnic literature, with an emphasis on the works of black American authors. She holds a master's degree in education from the University of Southern California and a master's degree in English from San Jose State University. She currently teaches at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

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Rating: 3.871115128519196 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines; (4 1/2*)A Lesson Before Dying is set in a small town during the 1940s. It is the story of two black men; one wrongly accused of murder and the other convinced by family to share knowledge and pride with the accused during his last days before being executed. It is a wonderful story about the friendship created between two black men in a racially charged society.Grant Wiggins has returned to his home town to teach children in a village school and while he is in the process of making his own life changing decision, his aunt & the convicted man's grandmother persuade him to visit Jefferson in jail. With all of his own problems in mind he visits and attempts to help Jefferson. During the story the author shows the many difficulties and problems that Grant faces as a black man and the author expresses this in the novel through Grant's thoughts.The weekly visits give Grant a chance to share some knowledge with Jefferson but he is also reluctant to get involved in a situation he has no control over nor any patience for. His aunt and Jefferson's grandmother have coerced him to go but he doesn't realize how much this will help him. He is taken through his midlife crisis partly by the experience and views on life he received from Jefferson. So he gains as well as gives.The plot of this story revolves around the two main characters who are completely different in every way but who come together because of family ties. The novel is a great story about life's struggles and the problems that we all go through in day to day living. It conveys morals, values and a sense of humanity that are noble and should be used by all of us in life.Gaines creates a setting of cruelty and prejudice throughout the events in the story and despite this the two men forge a bond and together find a way to overcome the power of racism in their lives. Without each other they would not be able to cope with the events of their lives.I very highly recommend this book to every reader out there.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed reading this book. It delves into self-image and how even one person around us can really make a difference in someone else's life. Jefferson, a black man, is falsely convicted of murder of a white man by 12 white jurors. He is convicted to death by electric chair. As a poor black man, he has no dignity or honor. Even during the trial, his defense attorney calls him a "hog". While awaiting death in jail, Miss Emma wants to break the cycle of black slaves for 300 years and running from the white people. She enlists the help of a local schoolteacher, Grant and asks him to teach him that he is not a hog and works with him to improve his self-image so that he can die with dignity and honor like a man.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Protagonist Grant Wiggins is a schoolteacher of poor black children at a church in a small town in Louisiana in 1947. As the story opens, his aunt and her friend, Miss Emma, are attending the trial of Miss Emma’s grandson, Jefferson, for murder. Jefferson was in the wrong place at the wrong time and did not kill the white proprietor, but due to the deep racism of the time and place, the jury presumes he is guilty. He is sentenced to death. Miss Emma asks Grant to visit Jefferson in jail to help him feel a sense of self-respect before he dies.

    The story shows the struggles of the black community living in the era of Jim Crow laws and segregation. It brings them to a personal level, showing how difficult it is to live with dignity in the shadow of racism. And of course, this is a lesson our society is still learning. It is easy for the reader to empathize with Grant and Jefferson and develop a sense of outrage at the injustices they face. Grant has no desire to attempt to “teach” moral knowledge, but he does it out of courtesy to his aunt and Miss Emma, and initially there is little response from Jefferson. In the end, they both learn “a lesson before dying.”

    Themes include bigotry, poverty, education, injustice, social class, religion, and sacrifice. The tone is mostly bleak, but somehow the author ends it with a tiny ray of hope, and this is no small feat considering the subject matter. It is a powerful and emotional story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    another great book by Gaines. Literature that begins with a compelling premise and explores it through character.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a beautiful, quiet book about a teacher who is asked to counsel a young man on death row. Jefferson was a bystander during an armed robbery and, as the only survivor, was eventually (and unjustly) convicted of murder. The teacher, Grant Wiggins, feels ill equipped for his task but bows to pressure from the boy’s godmother and his own aunt. On Grant’s first visits he is largely ignored, but establishes rapport with the white deputy who escorts him to Jefferson’s cell. And then, Grant slowly begins to penetrate Jefferson’s shell. Jefferson has a profound impact on Grant as well, bringing additional meaning to the book’s title. A Lesson Before Dying is a moving account of the power of love and community.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A selection from a new family member. recommended and read in short order. There is little to say.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    young black man sentenced to die for crime he did not commit; his attorney states in court that executing him will be like killing a pig, narrator is tasked by the convicted man's mother to help him become a man before he is executed
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Maybe someday I can be a published author too? I was really hoping to walk away from this book feeling changed in some way. I wanted a lesson that would impact my perspective. Maybe there was one and I was just too bored to see it?
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A well-written account of a young, black man caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Though innocent, he is accused, found guilty, and sentenced to death. This story is edifying in numerous ways. It communicates the sense of helplessness and yet an ember of hopefulness shared by one black community—a struggling, tight neighborhood whose youth feel trapped, generation after generation, kept from higher opportunities because of skin color, social stereotypes, and ties to family who depend upon their work and wages. When the sentenced is compared to a hog by those in the judicial system, his Nannan clings to one hope, to have the only black teacher in their community help her boy understand his inherent worth, that he might walk with his head held high like a man, not a hog, to his death. The way he and others come to deal with this injustice becomes a lesson in living for every man and woman in observance—both black and white.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The story is set in the late 1940's in the small Cajun community of Bayonne, Louisiana. Racism continues to haunt this small town and all of its members.

    This story is told through the eyes of a young teacher named Grant who finds himself struggling to find happiness in the small community he lives in. Early in the novel you learn that the story is going to surround a young black man named Jefferson who is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. When two men attempt to rob a local liquor store, the owner of the store and the robbers begin shooting. Jefferson is an innocent bystander to the crime, and when the smoke clears Jefferson is the only one left standing. Even though Grant was unable to go to the trial he already knew the outcome. He states, "I was not there, yet I was there. No, I did not go to the trial, I did not hear the verdict, because I knew all the time what it would be." Jefferson was unable to prove his innocence, mostly due to the community's racist feelings, and is sentenced to execution.
    Jefferson's godmother soon realizes that there is no escape for Jefferson from this terrible fate, and that Jefferson must find a way to walk to his unfair death with his head held high. So his godmother asks Grant, the local school teacher, the favor of helping her turn her godson into a mature adult. At first Grant is doubtful of being able to help in this situation, but eventually he takes on the role of Jefferson's mentor. Grant tries to persuade Jefferson to do the unthinkable: "I want you to show them the difference between what they think you are and what you can be." With all odds against them, the two are able to perform a miracle which everyone else feels is impossible.

    To be honest, I would never have chosen this book to read if it had not been it was to be a book discussion that I was to provide topics for. I can't in any way say that I liked the book. I became extremely frustrated with the characters. Then I stopped and thought...that was the way things were between the black and white races in the 1940's in the south. I should be frustrated with the society that fostered these believes on another of any race. My feelings were not going to change what the author wrote of from personal experience. I really I was generous with the rating. 2.5 stars would be more like it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Not only is the story set in the 1940s, the writing style also seems to originate from that era similar to The Lilies of the Field or Raisin in the Sun. Perhaps these connections only reflect how sparse is literature about race relations in that era.While the ending is important in giving a role model to Black youth, it seems too far fetched that Grant would be saying that he depends on this uneducated teen to be his role model for how to act like a man. Yet, as Finding Makeba depicts, that is still a lesson black men struggle with.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What an extraordinarily moving book. I read it in one day, and sobbed for the last 30 pages. Grant Wiggins learns much from Jefferson, when he is supposed to be teaching him. They both learn something about what it means to "be a man."I rank this book among the best I have ever read. It will become a classic of American literature. In my opinion, this is the current generation's "To Kill a Mockingbird" - a modern-day classic. Our book club could not stop talking about it.I first read it in March 1998; in May 2002 I recommended it to another book group with similar results.And I read it again in Sept 2007 just because I love the work so much.Highly recommend this work.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5

    Powerful. More later.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A very powerful, beautifully told story. I only give five stars to books that I will never forget.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The premise of this book is promising. 21 year old Jefferson in 1940’s Louisiana town was in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught up in a botched up robbery, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death. Mocked as being no better than a hog, his godmother, Emma, convinces Grant Wiggins, the local teacher, to visit him in jail and teach him to be a man before dying. From Emma, “I don’t want them to kill no hog. I want a man to go that chair, on his own two feet.” From Grant: “…What do I say to him? Do I know what a man is? Do I know how a man is supposed to die? I’m still trying to find out how a man should live. Am I supposed to tell someone how to die who has never lived?” “Majestic”, “Moving”, “Richly Compassionate” are some of the words used in the published reviews of this book. I was ready with tissues and be walloped by a flood of emotions from this tragic tale. Instead, I was “seriously??” – with one lifted eyebrow. Jefferson is due to be electrocuted in weeks, and Grant, his reluctant teacher, is worried about his performance in bed! I suppose it is kinda hard (or perhaps limp) to make sweet loving with an image of an anger-filled, in-pain boy occupying your mind. Argh, I wanted to punch him. Where is Atticus Finch when I need him?!? I was already thinking the book flowed less inspiring than anticipated when that silly plot line came into play. Why, oh, why? So, what went wrong? I felt Gaines covered too many topics without covering anything in depth. There’s the vivacious cycle of the black men not getting ahead, running away, or becoming broken. Grant too is a conflicted man who can’t decide to stay or go, and get this – he hates teaching, but that’s all he can do as an educated man in the South. There’s Grant and Vivian, where Vivian is in a separation with children, i.e. complex dependencies in the 1940’s. The entire town is religious vs. atheist Grant. Etc., etc. With all this hoopla, the book has limited pages on the actual interactions between Jefferson and Grant. When Jefferson turns the corner, it was too easy. Grant inserted some elements of understanding/friendship to Jefferson and later shared his own vulnerability; that was really it. Add the prerequisite cast of bigoted characters and more sub-plotlines, bunch of guilt-flinging women, a jealous Reverend Ambrose, and it’s a crock pot of unlikeable characters in a ho-hum novel. Sorry Oprah, I call B.S. Favorite Character: Paul Bonin, the young deputy at the jail – a white man before his time in the SouthLeast Favorite Character: Too many to choose from, so let’s say Grant.One Quote:On poverty and community:Loaning Grant $10 with “Here.” “…It was the kind of “here” that let you know this was hard-earned money but, also, that you needed it more than she did, and the kind of “here” that said she wished you had it and didn’t have to borrow it from her, but since you did not have it, and she did, then “here” it was, with a kind of love. It was the kind of “here” that asked the question, When will all this end? When will a man not have to struggle to have money to get what he needs “here”? When will a man be able to live without having to kill another man “here”?”
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this because it was mentioned in a lecture at Warren Wilson dealing with narrative and was blown away. Devastated. People would use the idea of simple as perjorative and yet here it is the beauty. Gaines uses a first person story of the execution of a young innocent black man in an utterly straightforward manner and yet none of that interferes with his ability to lay the story open to such emotional depth. There are a few speeches here that are so starkly true and so beautiful that one is caught up in the moment as if the word are coming at you. There is no sentimentality and the ingredients are very clear and yet the compassion and sense of loss and grief are so strong that it cuts through. The book proves the point that it is not the artifice nor the complication but the clarity of the emotional story that can even when stripped down have such a powerful effect. I bow down. Gaines is a master. His control was complete and yielded everything he needed it to. The injustice, the inhumanity, the shame, so direct. Wow.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'm a person who enjoys books with deeper meanings than what is written, and this book hit the target. It was a required reading, but I'm glad that I read it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed reading this book. It delves into self-image and how even one person around us can really make a difference in someone else's life. Jefferson, a black man, is falsely convicted of murder of a white man by 12 white jurors. He is convicted to death by electric chair. As a poor black man, he has no dignity or honor. Even during the trial, his defense attorney calls him a "hog". While awaiting death in jail, Miss Emma wants to break the cycle of black slaves for 300 years and running from the white people. She enlists the help of a local schoolteacher, Grant and asks him to teach him that he is not a hog and works with him to improve his self-image so that he can die with dignity and honor like a man.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When a young black man is inadvertently caught up in a liquor store robbery gone terribly wrong in 1940's Louisiana, he is summarily convicted of murder by an all-white jury, and sentenced to death by a white judge.A black shoolteacher is asked to instill a sense of worth and dignity in him so that he can go to the electric chair "like a man".The subjects that this novel covers are very difficult ones - race and c apital punishment. However, in some ways is more important than ever. Reading it really brought home to me how little things have changed in some ways. I urge anyone who has not yet read this book to do so, with that in mind.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This work is a fairly quick read. The first 2/3 of the book provides an insight into the life of an African American in the south in the 1940's in a small town. The remainder of the work is emotionally overwhelming as you read Jefferson's (convicted) diary and see the effect of the electrocution on the townspeople, both black and white. The narrative almost makes you feel that you are a resident of the town. There is little question that Mr. Wiggins, schoolteacher, learns more from Jefferson facing death than the wisdom he imparts.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Set in the time of segregation in the south, a young black man is sentenced to die after his conviction for a killing that he might or might not have committed. At his sentencing, the judge refers to him as a hog. As he awaits his meeting with the electric chair, his "nannan" convinces the black school teacher to meet with Jefferson regularly and help him to become a man rather than a hog. The book follows the six month time period when these meetings occurred. It's an interesting take on segregation and the death penalty.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was on a few of my summer reading lists back in school, but I always passed it over for something more romantic like Jane Eyre or Great Expectations. Who wants to read about an innocent man on death row? Yikesamole, I thought. Also, I had read The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittmanin 8th grade and talk about dying--of boredom (what can I say? I was 13). But when I saw A Lesson Before Dying on the free books shelf at my local library, I thought maybe I could appreciate it now as a more seasoned reader. And boy did I! It's a superb book. I would actually give it 4 1/2 stars. I subtracted half a star only because I found the turnaround of Jefferson a little too abrupt to be totally believable (it takes place basically in one speech). I know as a millenial white girl I can't really say this with true authority, but the situational drama and emotional life of the characters struck me as real, real, real. All without being too heavy-handed with the hopelessness of the whole affair. An enjoyable, smart read by a great author. I might even give Miss Pittman another go!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Powerful book to say the least.
    And easy to imagine it's true - even going back just those years to the 40's - there's been such a disregard for humanity.
    Read in 2008.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Set in Southern America in the 1940’s. Jefferson, an innocent young black man, is wrongly accused of a crime and sentenced to death by the electric chair. In his trial, he is described as a ‘hog’. Jefferson’s mother asks the local school teacher, Grant Wiggins, to visit Jefferson while he is in jail to ‘make him a man’ so that he will walk with pride to his death. The two men form a bond. Jefferson walks to the chair a hero.A very simple story line, but very moving, especially at the end when Jefferson is executed. We can a real sense of the hard life for black Americans at this time.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    An extremely slooow but ok read. For some reason I had a hard time getting into the book and I definitely didn't feel anything for the characters.I take that back, I did feel some annoyance towards Mr. Wiggins. Yet I kept continuing on because despite all that was wrong I needed to know what happened. Not disappointed that I read the book but not a 5 star "must read" either.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautifully written. Great character development, absolutely great writing.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Ernest Gaines wonderful novel still moves me every time I read it. Moving and very powerful.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I had a difficult time reading this book, not because of the writing, or the voice, or the characters. All those worked, and worked very well, and that is in part why I won't focus on them this time. What made it difficult is the story itself. At first glance there was nothing I could relate to: a male protagonist coaching a death row inmate, Louisiana plantation in 1940s, persistent, and sometimes surprising, racial divides, poverty, level of education so low you could determine it from speech alone. All this was so far from whe world where I grew up in Eastern Europe and so far from my life now that at times it was challenging to stay conected to the story. Then I would read about Grant's aunt cooking for everybody and loving it when her family and friends enjoyed her food, or about adults making sacrifices to improve their children's lives and give them the opportunity of something better, and I would remember my grandmother and my parents, and that the nature of humanity is the same regardless of time, place, skin color or education, and with this understanding I would be able to regain my grasp on what was happening and keep going.Another complicating factor was that the main emotions running through the book are anger, bitterness and general dissatisfaction. Grant is unhappy with working as a plantation teacher and being forced into coaching Jefferson. His aunt is unhappy that he doesn't see the bigger picture and even when he does become invested in helping Jefferson he does it in a way with which she disagrees. Vivian, the woman Grant is in love with, is unhappy to not be able to get a divorce from her absentee husband and not have to hide her relationship with Grant. The reverend is upset that he isn't able to get through to Jefferson while a man so much younger, who he belives is a sinner and for all his education still doesn't really understand life, eventually does what he couldn't. And Jefferson himself is bitter and angry about the unfair verdict and the demeaning defense strategy of his attorney, as well as the fact that his young life was going to be cut shortonly because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time and didn't have the werewithal to run. Keeping up with all this negativity was a bit trying for me at times. We never learn how old Jefferson was, or any of the other characters for that matter, or whether he had a mental handicap, so a lot of his actions and reactions were puzzling to me. I never understood why it took a stranger to make him stop taking out his anger on his godmother, who couldn't be responsible for his predicament by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, there were a few things I didn't understand, such as why Grant essentially punished his students for him being dissatisfied with his life, shortchanging them in the process, or why he professed his love for Vivian and yet asserted himself at her expense, or why Grant's aunt's preferred method of communication was to glare and give silent treatments instead of explaining what her nephew clearly didn't grasp. It may take me a while to understand these thing, maybe I'm simply too young and haven't seen enough of life just yet to do so right now. This book may have been difficult and not at all uplifting, but it did not leave me indifferent, and it made me think about issues that have never particularly affected me. It made me look at the world around me from a different perspective. It made me wonder about the things the grandparents of people I see around me haven't told them about the past. I may not be able to fully appreciate this novel now, but it certainly has altered the way I look at the world around me and that alone makes it worth reading.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Set in 1940s Louisiana, a young black man, Jefferson, is wrongly convicted of committing a robbery and murder and is sentenced to death. Jefferson’s godmother convinces a local teacher, Grant Wiggins, to visit Jefferson before he is executed to help teach him to value himself. I just couldn’t get into this one. None of the characters are likeable, especially Grant. He seemed so bitter and angry and had no desire to help anyone around him. I wanted to know what Jefferson was going through and what he thought about the whole situation, but we don’t get a glimpse into his mind until the book is almost over. It felt like Tuesdays with Morrie with racism on death row.I never felt like we were given an empathetic character to connect with. I found some of the minor characters, like Jefferson’s godmother and the prison guard, etc. more interesting that the main players. I would have liked to know what they were thinking. The book gives readers an important look at how flawed the justice system was in the 1940s. It can’t possibly be considered a jury of one’s peers when your own race is nowhere to be seen in the group. But the story lacked heart and because of that I don’t think it will have a lasting impact.  
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautifully brutal, brutally beautiful. I read this novel for a TIOLI challenge; it's from the syllabus of a "Multicultural American Lit" class being taught at Eastern Illinois University this semester. Jefferson, a Black man who is in the wrong place at the wrong time, ends up sentenced to death in Jim Crow (1948) Louisiana. Grant Wiggins is sent by his aunt and Jefferson's godmother to try to help Jefferson become a man before he dies (as well as possibly save his soul). Grant's love for his aunt and his respect for Miss Emma (Jefferson's godmother) lead him to visit Jefferson in jail and try to help him gain some dignity. The novel is really about Grant's own anguished exploration of what it means to be a Black man in a time and place where the behavioral expectations are completely focused on erasing any shred of self-determination and dignity he might otherwise have, as much as it's about Jefferson's transformation from a silent, self-loathing, self-pitying man to one with self-respect and a paradoxical sense of hope even as he faces his own death. The novel packs an emotional punch and I couldn't put it down. It's worth reading more than once.