A Lesson Before Dying (Oprah's Book Club) [Paperback]

Ernest J. Gaines (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 28, 1997

A Lesson Before Dying, is set in a small Cajun community in the late 1940s.  Jefferson, a young black man, is an unwitting party to a liquor store shoot out in which three men are killed; the only survivor, he is convicted of murder and sentenced to death.  Grant Wiggins, who left his hometown for the university, has returned to the plantation school to teach.  As he struggles with his decision whether to stay or escape to another state, his aunt and Jefferson's godmother persuade him to visit Jefferson in his cell and impart his learning and his pride to Jefferson before his death.  In the end, the two men forge a bond as they both come to understand the simple heroism of resisting—and defying—the expected.

Ernest J. Gaines brings to this novel the same rich sense of place, the same deep understanding of the human psyche, and the same compassion for a people and their struggle that have unformed his previous, highly praised works of fiction.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1997: In a small Cajun community in 1940s Louisiana, a young black man is about to go to the electric chair for murder. A white shopkeeper had died during a robbery gone bad; though the young man on trial had not been armed and had not pulled the trigger, in that time and place, there could be no doubt of the verdict or the penalty.

"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..." So begins Grant Wiggins, the narrator of Ernest J. Gaines's powerful exploration of race, injustice, and resistance, A Lesson Before Dying. If young Jefferson, the accused, is confined by the law to an iron-barred cell, Grant Wiggins is no less a prisoner of social convention. University educated, Grant has returned to the tiny plantation town of his youth, where the only job available to him is teaching in the small plantation church school. More than 75 years after the close of the Civil War, antebellum attitudes still prevail: African Americans go to the kitchen door when visiting whites and the two races are rigidly separated by custom and by law. Grant, trapped in a career he doesn't enjoy, eaten up by resentment at his station in life, and angered by the injustice he sees all around him, dreams of taking his girlfriend Vivian and leaving Louisiana forever. But when Jefferson is convicted and sentenced to die, his grandmother, Miss Emma, begs Grant for one last favor: to teach her grandson to die like a man.

As Grant struggles to impart a sense of pride to Jefferson before he must face his death, he learns an important lesson as well: heroism is not always expressed through action--sometimes the simple act of resisting the inevitable is enough. Populated by strong, unforgettable characters, Ernest J. Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying offers a lesson for a lifetime.

From Publishers Weekly

Gaines's first novel in a decade may be his crowning achievement. In this restrained but eloquent narrative, the author of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman again addresses some of the major issues of race and identity in our time. The story of two African American men struggling to attain manhood in a prejudiced society, the tale is set in Bayonne, La. (the fictional community Gaines has used previously) in the late 1940s. It concerns Jefferson, a mentally slow, barely literate young man, who, though an innocent bystander to a shootout between a white store owner and two black robbers, is convicted of murder, and the sophisticated, educated man who comes to his aid. When Jefferson's own attorney claims that executing him would be tantamount to killing a hog, his incensed godmother, Miss Emma, turns to teacher Grant Wiggins, pleading with him to gain access to the jailed youth and help him to face his death by electrocution with dignity. As complex a character as Faulkner's Quentin Compson, Grant feels mingled love, loyalty and hatred for the poor plantation community where he was born and raised. He longs to leave the South and is reluctant to assume the level of leadership and involvement that helping Jefferson would require. Eventually, however, the two men, vastly different in potential yet equally degraded by racism, achieve a relationship that transforms them both. Suspense rises as it becomes clear that the integrity of the entire local black community depends on Jefferson's courage. Though the conclusion is inevitable, Gaines invests the story with emotional power and universal resonance. BOMC and QPB alternates.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1 edition (September 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375702709
• ISBN-13: 978-0375702709
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (575 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #12 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > African American
  • #57 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Domestic Life

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Lesson Before Dying Comes to Life September 20, 2007

By John Zittel

Format:Paperback

So, we were all assigned our summer reading and completely hated the fact we had to actually read during summer, but to my surprise I actually enjoyed one of the books I read. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines is a heartwarming novel of how man can overcome enormous obstacles which are set against him. The story is set in the late 1940's in the small Cajun community of Bayonne, Louisiana. Racism continues to haunt this small town and all of its members.
This story is told through the eyes of a young teacher named Grant who finds himself struggling to find happiness in the small community he lives in. Early in the novel you learn that the story is going to surround a young black man named Jefferson who is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. When two men attempt to rob a local liquor store, the owner of the store and the robbers begin shooting. Jefferson is an innocent bystander to the crime, and when the smoke clears Jefferson is the only one left standing. Even though Grant was unable to go to the trial he already knew the outcome. He states, "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." Jefferson was unable to prove his innocence, mostly due to the community's racist feelings, and is sentenced to execution.
Jefferson's godmother soon realizes that there is no escape for Jefferson from this terrible fate, and that Jefferson must find a way to walk to his unfair death with his head held high. So his godmother asks Grant, the local school teacher, the favor of helping her turn her godson into a mature adult. At first Grant is doubtful of being able to help in this situation, but eventually he takes on the role of Jefferson's mentor.... Grant tries to persuade Jefferson to do the unthinkable: "I want you to show them the difference between what they think you are and what you can be." With all odds against them, the two are able to perform a miracle which everyone else feels is impossible.
Gaines creates a world in which you become lost and find yourself cheering and crying with the characters as they face and triumph over the obstacles set against them. He creates characters that are realistic and act like you and I would. They aren't perfect and they make mistakes, but that's what makes them so loveable. You are able to connect with them and feel as if they are family or close friends.
This novel is high-quality from the beginning to end, but the ending is amazing. The ending is one where after you have finished you want to read it again and again. You want there to be a sequel so you can once again revisit the characters you know and love.
A Lesson Before Dying is well written and holds many life lessons from which we can all learn. I recommend that all high school students and adults read this book. I think that anyone who is looking for a novel with valuable principles and a good plot would definitely enjoy this book. This novel scores an A+ with me and I think that anyone would appreciate it. Whether it's a summer reading choice or not, you'll love this novel. Read more ›

84 of 92 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lesson For Us All November 4, 2001

By James E. Carroll

Format:Paperback

I have several opinions about this book, and the first is that it should be placed on the mandatory reading list of every high school student in the USA; it is destined to become a literary classic in the same vein as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The themes introduced throughout this book are designed to elicit discussion and shatter stereotypes. The transformation of the book's main character, Jefferson- a poor, uneducated, young, black man who has been convicted of a murder he didn't commit and whose life is compared to that of a hog by his own defense attorney in the worst closing argument to a jury ever atempted, is remarkable to watch unfold. Jefferson is reborn on death row with the help of his teacher, Grant Wiggins, the university educated, local black school teacher who reluctantly agrees to visit Jefferson in his cell at the request of Jefferson's aunt, Miss Emma, who wants Wiggins to make Jefferson know he "ain't no hog." This book will evoke emotions in most of us; you will feel yourself react as you read. It is so very well written. Of course, the question remains is whether the book's themes will make a difference to its readers. Ernest J. Gaines, the author, must think that they will; I think that the book could have been titled, a lesson for us all.

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars No Lesson for the Reader August 5, 2002

By Dan

Format:Paperback

I'm probably in the minority here, but I did not enjoy reading this book. I expected this book to be a profound study of a relationship between a mentor and a young man ready to die. I was disappointed to find that the relationship took up relatively few pages in the novel. The first meeting between the two in which progress is shown doesn't occur until page 169, which doesn't allow for much time to fully develop the transformation. Instead of fresh insight, illuminating dialogue, and a complex relationship, Gaines tends to lean toward a simpler profoundness, but doesn't really succeed. A perfect example of this is found in the last line of the book. It doesn't end in philosophy or poetry, but only with a simple statement: "I was crying." It's simple statements like this that never satisfy, and are barely adequate.
Much of the novel is wasted focusing on the narrators mundane life, and not on the relationship. Unnecessary conflicts abound between the narrator and his aunt and his girlfriend--conflicts that almost trivialize the death of young Jefferson.

The premise is very promising, though ambitious, and it is sad to see the author spend more time creating background noise than developing what could have been a profound and beautiful relationship and transition.

My bottom line is don't waste your time. There is nothing profound or fresh to be found here.

53 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars perfect for the modern classroom October 29, 2000

By M. H. Bayliss

Format:Paperback

I'm glad to hear many of the students who reviewed this book say that they found it more piercing than some of the "older" novels they read in class. Although as a teacher I wouldn't throw aside Hawthorne for Gaines, I think this book is a terrific addition to the American classics read in middle and high school. It makes a good pairing with To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee's classic (and still as moving as ever) focuses on the trial of a black man, unfairly convicted, whereas Lesson accepts the inevitable death sentence and explores the journey towards salvation. Our narrator is the only "educated" person in the novel, but for all his education, he has no soul and no religious faith. After being asked to meet with Jefferson, the condemned man, to convince him that he is in fact a man, not a hog, the narrator discovers as much about himself as the prisoner. The minor cast of characters are well drawn -- the pain evident in their lives is present on ever page. We witness the indignities they suffer in the hands of the white justice system, including being forced to wait hours just to speak to the sheriff. I'm glad Gaines includes one "good" white man (Paul) as a gesture of good will that there are always smaller heroes among villains. The friendship between the narrator and Paul makes for an inspiring finale.

This book is very moving and well-written. Highly recommended.