Summary Analysis of A Lesson Before Dying
Summary Analysis of A Lesson Before Dying
A Lesson Before Dying Author: Ernest J. Gaines This book is takes place in a small Cajun community in the late 1940s. One of the main characters is a young black male named Jefferson. The book begins in the scene of a liquor store where two boys named Brother and Bear attempt to rob the liquor store, but the boys are in for a surprise. The liquor store clerk is not a easy one. The calm, quiet liquor store turns into a shooting gallery. With the innocent by stander Jefferson witnessing the showdown. By the time the last bullet was fire the liquor store was a bloody grave in which the two robbers and the clerk lay cover and drench in each others blood.
The money in which the robbers were plotting to take was in the cash register under the wire clamps. Jefferson just stood there shaking not actually knowing what just went down here. So many thoughts rapidly running through his head like a herd of wild African horses. Then felt the sudden need for a drink. He reaches for a bottle on the shelf almost cutting his finger on the broken ones. Jefferson began to drink and he realize how he got there, what happened and that all that money was in the open register. He stuffed the money in his pocket as he walked out the door with the bottle in his hand. As two white men walk in. The book then takes the reader to the courtroom in which Jefferson was given the death penalty. Jefferson clearly was innocent and didn't have the brains nor the patients to plan anything like that. But the jury being all white and the accuse black, with three men dead and no alibi he had no hope of survival. Plus the fact that he took the money and didnêt call any authorities or medics.
After all the excitement the book calms down and introduces another important character Grant Wiggins who had left for college. And now comes back to teach school, while he juggles with a decision of staying and teaching or fleeing to another state unnoticed. While in the process of his thinking Jefferson's Godmother and his aunt persuade him to take a trip to see Jefferson. And teach him before his death. He does and they become closer and Grant and...