true hero of a lesson before dying
Uploaded by samikinz12 on Nov 29, 2013
True heroes
Forgotten, ignored, and unnoticed they walk among us. They act as if they’ve done nothing differently than the crowd, but they aren’t like the mindless souls scuffling through the mechanical world. They want to help, just like us. They want to fix what’s wrong, just like us. They want to make the world a better place, just like us. Only they’re not like us, because they actually act out and do it. These are true heroes. True heroes fight for what’s right, not because they have to, but because they want to.
In Ernest J. Gaine’s A Lesson Before Dying, Grant fails to portray the characteristics of a true hero. When told to help Jefferson, he selfishly refuses to help by telling his family members that, “Jefferson is dead… [And he] can’t raise the dead. [there is] nothing [he can] do anymore, nothing [anyone can] do anymore” (14). Not only does he rudely disrespect his family’s request, but he also wrongs Jefferson who greatly needs someone to be there for him. Grant simply does not want to help a troubled soul.
Grant does not care about anyone but himself at that time. He says “I don’t feel alive here. I’m not living here. I know we can do better someplace else,” but it’s not someplace else that needs him, it is the people there who need him the most (29). He doesn’t care about Jefferson. He doesn’t care about Miss Emma. He doesn’t care about anyone, because they don’t please him in the way he wants. Sure he was not happy, but sometimes one has to put happiness aside to help others. In the end he does that, but does that really make him a hero? He is forced to do the right thing. He never wants to actually help. He just wants everyone to get off his back, so he pretends to care. He puts on a nice little show for them, and he gets want he doesn’t realize he is missing, contentment. He is finally satisfied with his life after painfully helping Jefferson, but he never wants to help Jefferson. The whole time he only helps himself feel noble. While helping himself, he accidently helps Jefferson, never because he desires to. In the end, he cannot be called a true hero simply because he never wanted to help anyone but himself.
While Grant was only motivated...