A Lesson Before Dying: Analysis of Major Characters
"A Lesson Before Dying: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the complexities of key figures in Ernest J. Gaines’s novel set in the racially charged atmosphere of 1940s Louisiana. The narrative centers around Grant Wiggins, an educated African-American teacher who grapples with the burdens of societal expectations and personal aspirations. He is tasked with mentoring Jefferson, a young man wrongfully convicted of murder, symbolizing the struggles faced by African-Americans in a segregated South. Jefferson’s character embodies the historical trauma and dehumanization of his community, as he confronts his impending execution.
Vivian Baptiste, Grant's love interest, shares his educational background but faces her own challenges as a pregnant woman navigating a troubled marriage. Meanwhile, figures like Miss Emma Glenn and Tante Lou represent the steadfast older generation, urging the younger men to reclaim their dignity and humanity. The white characters, such as Paul Bonin, the respectful deputy, and Henri Pichot, the plantation owner, illustrate the existing power dynamics and potential for change within a rigid societal structure. Together, these characters create a rich tapestry of resilience, hope, and the quest for justice against the backdrop of systemic oppression, prompting readers to reflect on race, identity, and morality.
A Lesson Before Dying: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Ernest J. Gaines
First published: 1993
Genre: Novel
Locale: Louisiana
Plot: Tragedy
Time: Late 1948 to early 1949
Grant Wiggins, a 28-year-old African-American school-teacher working at the church school in St. Raphael Parish near Bayonne, Louisiana. He has lived there since birth, leaving briefly to receive a college education after working in the fields of a plantation as a child. He lives with Tante Lou, his godmother. He is proud, smart, and headstrong but still reluctantly must play the role of the submissive black man when among the area's white population in a still segregated South. He is in love with and plans to marry Vivian Baptiste, also a teacher, who he has impregnated. At his godmother's request, Grant becomes the instructor and friend of Jefferson, a young African-American man falsely convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Grant is the symbol of the coming change for Southern African- Americans.
Jefferson, a 21-year-old African-American man falsely convicted of murder and sentenced to death after he is arrested at the scene of a robbery and killing of “Old” Alcee Gropé, a white storeowner, by two African-American men called Brother and Bear. Although Jefferson doesn't participate in the shooting, he steals all the money from the cash register plus a bottle of whiskey after Gropé, Brother, and Bear have shot and killed each other. Jefferson, an uneducated laborer working on Henri Pichot's plantation, is the symbol of the old African-American of the segregated South. He lives with Miss Emma Glenn, his “Nannan,” a 70-something African American woman who is his only family. Ultimately, he acts brave when being lead to the electric chair and dies like a man instead of the hog he is compared to at his trial.
Vivian Baptiste, also called “Miss Fine Brown” because of her good looks and five-eight height, is an African-American schoolteacher and Grant Wiggins's girlfriend. She is married but is separated from her husband, who is the father of her two children and lives in Texas. She is pregnant with Grant's baby, who will be named either Paul or Paulette depending on its sex. She met Grant three years earlier when she was pregnant with her second child. She, like Grant's aunt and Jefferson's Nannan, want Grant to visit Jefferson in jail. Like Grant, she is college educated, having attended Xavier University in New Orleans.
Miss Emma Glenn, is Jefferson's godmother who he refers to as “Nannan.” She is a 70-something, heavyset African-American woman who was employed as the cook at Henri Pichot's plantation for many years when she was younger. Oscar, her husband, is dead. She is best friends with Grant's aunt Tante Lou, with whom she is inseparable. She implores Grant to visit Jefferson in jail in order to teach him to be a man before his execution. She, like Tante Lou, are god-fearing women and regular churchgoers and associates of Reverend Mose Ambrose.
Tante Lou, is Grant Wiggins's aunt and only immediate family member. They share a house together where she cooks and cleans for him. The stout, 70-something, uneducated African-American woman was the washerwoman and house servant at Henri Pichot's plantation. She joins with Emma Glenn, with whom she is best friends, in requesting that her nephew Grant visit Jefferson in jail in order to teach him to be a man before he is executed. She, like her best friend Emma and many other of the African- Americans in the parish, retain the outdated southern tradition of complete subservience to whites.
Paul Bonin, is a white deputy sheriff serving under Sheriff Sam Guidry. Paul befriends Grant Wiggins during the latter's visits to the jail in order to teach Jefferson about manhood. He is the sole white man to treat Grant with respect. Paul represents the change slowly coming in the South as African-Americans gain equality to whites. Following Jefferson's death by electrocution, Paul congratulates Grant on helping Jefferson, who he says walked tall and acted like a man before dying, fulfilling his family's hopes.
Reverend Mose Ambrose, is the spiritual leader of the parish and the symbol of the older, uneducated African-American characters' religious beliefs as a shield, a mindset not shared by the college-educated Grant Wiggins and Vivian Baptiste.
Henri Pichot, is the white, bourbon-swilling owner of the plantation where Emma Glenn, Tante Lou, Grant, Jefferson, and numerous other African-American characters have worked. Although on the surface he is cordial and speaks to the court on behalf of Jefferson during the trial and later fulfills Emma Glenn's request for him to ask Sheriff Guidy, his brother-in-law, to allow Grant to visit the prisoner, Pichot symbolizes the old South of slavery, bullwhips, and chains. He is in his mid-60s.
Sam Guidry, is the local sheriff. He is white and dresses in cowboy boots and hat. He, like his brother-in-law Henri Pichot, is a relic of the slavery days of the South and has no respect or regard of any sort for African-Americans. Nonetheless, he reluctantly allows Grant Wiggins to visit Jefferson in his jail cell, although Wiggins is fully aware that Guidry dislikes him because he is educated and doesn't consider whites superior. He is married to Edna Pichot.
Joe Claiborne, is the owner and operator of the Rainbow Club, a bar and café frequented by Grant Wiggins, Vivian Baptiste, and other African-American residents. He is married to Thelma, who is a waitress at the Rainbow Club. Joe breaks up a fight between Grant and two mulatto bricklayers who say that Jefferson should be executed immediately and without mercy.
Inez Lane, is the Pichots' maid at the plantation. She is in her early 40s and has a dark mole on her left cheek. She offers to feed Grant when Pinchot and Sheriff Guidry make him wait more than two hours to ask permission to visit Jefferson.
Dr. Joseph Morgan, is the superintendant of schools. He pays an annual visit to Grant's school to inspect the students and determine their level of learning and personal hygiene. He regularly calls Grant by the wrong name and ignores Grant's request for the most rudimentary supplies, claiming that even the white schools don't have all they need, which probably is a falsehood.