A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

Monica Johnson

Professor Lennon

Freshman English/Introduction to Literature: African-American Storytelling

3 November 2010

A Lesson Before Dying, a novel by the author Ernest J. Gaines, is brilliantly brought to the screen by HBO Productions starring Don Cheadle, Mekhi Phifer, Cicely Tyson and Irma P.Hall.  These gifted actors powerfully bring to the screen the story of a wrongly accused Black man, sitting on death row, for the murder of a White store owner.  The physical setting is the South; the temporal setting is 1940 during the time of the African American Great Migration.  The African American Great Migration, which was a time when Black families either boldly chose to move north to escape discrimination and exploitation, or bravely decided to stay in the racist South which represented their terrifying history.

The Black experience in America is uniquely defined by one of its multi- dimensional battles and that is the battle for self identity. This identity which was stripped from them through the brutality that is slavery.  Through Slavery, African Americans were cut off from the builders of identity which are family, language, communities, religion, and belief systems. “The root of oppression is the loss of memory” (Paula Gunn Allen, Native American Writer, as quoted by Frankie Lennon, The Mee Street Chronicles: Straight Up Stories of a Black Woman’s Life, 3) meaning that we need to remember, things, events, place and people.  A Lesson Before Dying surrounds a family’s fight to help their godson die with dignity.  Dignity is a value that is universal; the family of Jefferson wants him to remember who he is.

A dynamic character that changes in the course of the story is a character that grows." (Lennon Glossary) The novel A Lesson Before Dying, is filled with these kinds of characters and I will focus on the character of Jefferson.  He is a character who realizes that he has to be brave in the face of adversity and discrimination.   Because we all have to die, it is how a person lives that helps him die with dignity. Thereby, leaving an unforgettable legacy for your family, people and your community to remember.

 

The character of Jefferson can be described   as caged. He is caged in condition of mind and thought.  He has no memory of who he is. He believes in a system that has taught him to hate himself.  He does not know with his conscious mind that he is beautiful, he is smart, and that he is loved and that he will be missed.   Unfortunately, he is the character on death row for a crime he did not commit. Jefferson needs to realize that the real crime being committed is against him, which is the crime of racism, oppression and hate.  Jefferson´s character is dynamic as he proves through the course of the movie that he has changed. His change takes place as he realizes that he is not a "hog" as he is so coldly referred to as by a lawyer, in a court of law, who states that Jefferson could not have realized what he was doing, because he was a “hog with no senses. And by the end of the movie, with the help of a family friend and deep emotional work, Jefferson is ready to except his fate by walking tall and looking his oppressor in the eye.   With this one single look, the oppressor realizes that that you can kill the man but you can not kill the memory.  In the end, Jefferson's character has no choice but to except his fate, yet he realizes that he can die with integrity, knowing that he is innocent and knowing that he is a man of dignity.  

            Finally, the movie A Lesson Before Dying has inspired me to read novels by Ernest J. Gaines who is also the author of Bloodline, Of Love and Lust, A Gathering of Old Men, and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.  The character of Jefferson influences me to keep growing and learning and educating myself.  He influences me to grow in self identification, self love, and self respect and to remember who I am.