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A Lesson Before Dying: A Novel
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Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1997: In a small Cajun community in 1940s Louisiana, a young black man is about to go to the electric chair for murder. A white shopkeeper had died during a robbery gone bad; though the young man on trial had not been armed and had not pulled the trigger, in that time and place, there could be no doubt of the verdict or the penalty.
"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..." So begins Grant Wiggins, the narrator of Ernest J. Gaines's powerful exploration of race, injustice, and resistance, A Lesson Before Dying. If young Jefferson, the accused, is confined by the law to an iron-barred cell, Grant Wiggins is no less a prisoner of social convention. University educated, Grant has returned to the tiny plantation town of his youth, where the only job available to him is teaching in the small plantation church school. More than 75 years after the close of the Civil War, antebellum attitudes still prevail: African Americans go to the kitchen door when visiting whites and the two races are rigidly separated by custom and by law. Grant, trapped in a career he doesn't enjoy, eaten up by resentment at his station in life, and angered by the injustice he sees all around him, dreams of taking his girlfriend Vivian and leaving Louisiana forever. But when Jefferson is convicted and sentenced to die, his grandmother, Miss Emma, begs Grant for one last favor: to teach her grandson to die like a man.
As Grant struggles to impart a sense of pride to Jefferson before he must face his death, he learns an important lesson as well: heroism is not always expressed through action--sometimes the simple act of resisting the inevitable is enough. Populated by strong, unforgettable characters, Ernest J. Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying offers a lesson for a lifetime.
From Kirkus Reviews
Two black men (one a teacher, the other a death row inmate) struggle to live, and die, with dignity, in Gaines's most powerful and moving work since The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971). The year is 1948. Harry Truman may have integrated the Armed Forces, but down in the small Cajun town of Bayonne, Louisiana, where the blacks still shuffle submissively for their white masters, little has changed since slavery. When a white liquor- store owner is killed during a robbery attempt, along with his two black assailants, the innocent black bystander Jefferson gets death, despite the defense plea that ``I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this.'' Hog. The word lingers like a foul odor and weighs as heavily as the sentence on Jefferson and the woman who raised him, his ``nannan'' (godmother) Miss Emma. She needs an image of Jefferson going to his death like a man, and she turns to the young teacher at the plantation school for help. Meanwhile, Grant Wiggins (the narrator) has his own problems. He loves his people but hates himself for teaching on the white man's terms; visiting Jefferson in jail will just mean more kowtowing, so he goes along reluctantly, prodded by his strong-willed Tante Lou and his girlfriend Vivian. The first visits are a disaster: Jefferson refuses to speak and will not eat his nannan's cooking, which breaks the old lady's heart. But eventually Grant gets through to him (``a hero does for others''); Jefferson eats Miss Emma's gumbo and astonishes himself by writing whole pages in a diary--a miracle, water from the rock. When he walks to the chair, he is the strongest man in the courthouse. By containing unbearably painful emotions within simple declarative sentences and everyday speech rhythms, Gaines has written a novel that is not only never maudlin, but approaches the spare beauty of a classic. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
-- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.
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Einleitungssatz
I WAS NOT THERE, yet I was there. Lesen Sie die erste Seite
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Format:Taschenbuch
I very much enjoyed "A Lesson Before Dying" for several reasons. First of all, as an opponent of the death penalty, I think this novel describes perfectly the horrors of being forced to face death, as well as the tragedy of an innocent being put to death. It also beautifully illustrates the hardships and prejudices that many people, especially African Americans, endured in the past, not only with the law, but with acceptance in society as well. I hoped throughout the entire novel that Jefferson's fate would change, yet knew it never would, due to the ignorance present in the white community by which he was judged. The whole novel was written from the heart and was very inspiring, in spite of the sadness involved.
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Format:Hörkassette
This novel by Ernest J. Gaines is excellent. A worthwhile novel to read, you will not be disapointed. A young, black male teacher and a convicted black male teen find a friendship in each other and teach each other many important lessons about life.
Format:Taschenbuch
i had a difficult time getting through this book. i often questioned why it had made the Oprah book club list. alas, i moved forward and as a result was hardly prepared for the emotions that sprung forth from me as i read the last chapter...can someone say TISSUES! amazing! i recommend this book whole heartedly and hope others are as moved as i was.
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Eine atemberaubendes Werk
Diese Buch ist ein Meisterwerk, dass Gains verfasst hat. Es gewährt einen Einblick in die Seelen der Menschen und begeistert den Leser dadurch. Ich empfehle dieses Buch jedem.
Am 15. November 2001 veröffentlicht
Dying With Dignity
This compelling novel written by a wonderful author, Ernest Gaines, changed my perspective on the world as I once viewed it. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 21. Mai 2000 von Mayra Serrano
a lesson before dying
A lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J Gaines, is a moving novel about a black man, Jefferson, who sits on death row. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 17. Mai 2000 von zoe
bring along a box of tissues
I recently finished reading A Lesson Before Dying, by ErnestJ. Gaines. I really enjoyed it because it gave me new opinions aboutdiscrimination, injustice, pride, dignity, and the... Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 16. Mai 2000 veröffentlicht
Great Book!
Ernest J. Gaines's, A Lesson Before Dying, was a great book. The characters in the book were very well developed. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 16. Mai 2000 von Charlie S.
A Moving Book
I was moved by a fictional book called A Lesson Before Dying byErnest J. Gaines. Our eighth grade English class in San Francisco wasstudying racism as shown in twentieth century... Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 16. Mai 2000 veröffentlicht
A Lesson Before Dying
...as part of my 8th grade English curriculum, I was asked tochoose an independent reading book. I chose A Lesson Before Dying, byErnest J. Gaines. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 16. Mai 2000 veröffentlicht
Why all the hate?
During my 8th grade English class, I read A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. I read it while studying To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 16. Mai 2000 von William S.
lessons after reading
In my 8th grade English class, I chose to read A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines from a list of books by black authors. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 16. Mai 2000 von julie
good book
I'm an 8th grader and I read A Lesson Before Dying. I read the book while reading Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 16. Mai 2000 veröffentlicht
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