A Lesson Before Dying

3 Pages 855 Words

In the Novel “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 “You are My Sunshine” in the novel “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 “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, “Now y’all want me to be better than ever’body else. How, 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 ...