Racism and African-American Family Breakdown as Themes in...

Racism and African-American Family Breakdown as Themes in...

Iconic Contemporary Themes Displayed:



Ernest J. Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying



"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..." (3). Ernest J. Gaines begins his contemporary masterpiece with a captivating and explosive first paragraph. Immediately capturing the reader's attention, the fast paced novel takes us on a voyage of thematic discovery. Through the voice of Grant Wiggins, a school teacher disgruntled by his constant struggle for communal equality, we learn of the present conditions that face our central characters and the contemporary themes that sum up the novel.



Racism is announced at the forefront of the story. The reader is ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...Grant undoubtedly fears having to take the entire scope of racism on his shoulders alone, knowing that a fatal collapse would be the result. Grant fiercely displays his anguish in a conversation with his Aunt:



"Everything you sent me to school for, you're stripping me of it," I told my aunt. They were looking at the fire, and I stood behind them with the bag of food. "The humiliation I had to go through, going in that man's kitchen. The hours I had to wait while they ate and drank and socialized before they would even see me. Now going up to that jail. To watch them put their dirty hands on that food. To search my body each time as if I'm some kind of common criminal. Maybe today they'll want to look into my mouth, or my nostrils, or make me strip. Anything to humiliate me. All the things you wanted me to escape by going to school." (79)



During his emotional spill, Grant resorts to the maniacal thought that his aunt has something to do with the racism he experiences. Ironically, it is the seemingly racist words of Jefferson's defense attorney that fuels the spectrum of the novel, and the eventual salvation of both Jefferson and Grant.



A chief theme of the novel is commented upon by Grant himself. During a memorable speech given to Vivian, he adamantly explains that a vicious cycle of male abandonment has taken place in

... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...