470 Gaines, Ernest J.
mind-numbing work that disallows their participa-
tion in the full spectrum of meaningful work. Thus
Gaines in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,
while showing the importance of work in the for-
mation of identity, also advocates the need for better
correspondence between the work one does and the
product of that work for more holistic and human
identities.
Su Senapati
gainES, ErnEST j. A Lesson before
Dying (1993)
A Lesson before Dying depicts rural Louisiana in the
1940s. A young African American named Jefferson
has been accused of killing a shop owner during a
robbery and is confined in prison. In fact, he was in
the shop, accompanying two of his friends, when a
violent argument between the two and the propri-
etor erupted, as a result of which the three fighting
men shot each other to death. Jefferson’s court-
appointed attorney compares him to an animal and
calls him a “hog,” indicating that the defendant’s
racial inferiority incapacitates him from acting with
premeditation. These words do not influence the
jury’s verdict, which is a death sentence, but they
have a powerful effect on the black people in Jeffer-
son’s community. The convict’s elderly godmother,
Miss Emma, asks the teacher from the plantation
school, Grant Wiggins, to talk to Jefferson and help
him recover his sense of dignity. Initially, Grant’s
visits to the prison are fruitless; he is reluctant to
carry out his task, while Jefferson reacts to him with
anger, impatience, or indifference. However, in the
course of time, the young convict begins to appreci-
ate the gestures of goodwill from the teacher and
finds reassurance in the “lessons.” He discovers the
meaning of his suffering.
One of the central concerns in Gaines’s novel is
the attachment to place and the extent to which the
place and the time of a person’s birth determine the
entire course of his or her later life. The narrator is
Grant Wiggins; from his point of view, the necessity
to live on the plantation where he had grown up
and where he returned after his studies is literally a
curse. In his native region, racism is the overwhelm-
ing historical legacy that underlies the existing
social relations. Racial segregation is a law, there-
fore it sustains, if not aggravates, the inequalities
between white and black people. It is not surprising
that Wiggins’s narrative is permeated by a sense of
hopelessness mixed with anxiety. He is acutely aware
there is no force that would change the present state
of things. However, even if the external conditions
cannot be improved, people’s consciousness can still
be transformed. The death sentence for Jefferson
provides an impetus for the entire community to
acknowledge the value of sacrifice for the sake of
others. It is not only Jefferson who learns an essen-
tial lesson, but also his kinsfolk from the plantation.
This is primarily a lesson in dignity. On the one
hand, A Lesson is a story of disillusionment and
desperation, on the other, a tale of endurance and
transformation. The narrative and thematic aspects
of the novel combine the issues of alienation and
community. The historical context highlights the
problems of race and identity.
Marek Paryzalienation in A Lesson before Dying
Grant Wiggins is a very ambivalent narrator because,
on the one hand, he has been virtually forced by his
aunt to become involved with Jefferson as a distin-
guished member of the black community, but on
the other, he feels alienated from his kinfolk and
even tries his best to minimize his affinity with
them. His alienation is primarily caused by the
determination to remain loyal to himself rather than
to the group; furthermore, he considers his commit-
ment to the community to be a possible threat to his
personal integrity. He is an educated man, has been
to other places, and has a chance to go to California;
however, his unusual education and unique pros-
pects make him even more vulnerable to the misery
and hopelessness of the local existence. Unlike Wig-
gins, most community members do not think about
alternatives for their lives for the simple reason that
they do not have any.
Grant’s alienation seems to be inseparable from
his sense of entrapment. The fact that he returned
to the plantation after his studies makes him feel as
if he were caught in a vicious circle. The prospect
of leaving Louisiana is delayed until Vivian has
received a formal divorce. With the passing days,