Critical Analysis of A Lesson before Dying by Ernest Gaines - Book Report/Review Example

Critical Analysis of 'A Lesson Before Dying' Outline I. Thesis II. Introduction III. Analysis a. Critical Acclaim b. Gaines work in a historical context c. Narrative Voice d. Authentication of Narratives as Literature IV. Conclusion Thesis In a Lesson Before Dying Gaines shows, through his historical context, the plight of the blacks as they struggled to gain rights not as citizens but as humans. Introduction Ernest J. Gaines wrote the novel, 'A Lesson Before Dying' in which he highlighted the problems faced by the blacks during the 1940's in the South. However, the contextual time for the novel covers a whole century into until 1964. He writes about the complete devastation faced by the black farmers as their white counterparts terrorized them. He covers the Jim Crow laws, the Ku Klux Klan and the white racist organizations that made being a black in the south nearly impossible. He pinpoints the reasons for the Great Migration that took place from 1914 to 1930 during which almost two million blacks left the South. The northern cities in the factories seemed to be a dream which never materialized. The second wave of migration from 1910 to 1970 saw more than six million blacks go to the North, the south had no place for people of color. Gaines novel presents not only the tension between the two races but also the manner in which the blacks were de-rooted from their heritage. By presenting his protagonist as a black man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time he shows the degradation as a facet of racism. The Southern environment at the time was such that if a person was not white, they were not considered human. The blacks were forced to leave their homes without promise of a future and make a new life in a strange environment they knew nothing about. From agriculture they switched to factory work and still faced discrimination in their lives. Analysis Critical Acclaim The theme of Gaines book is nothing new. There have been African American writers in the past and present that have outlined in various ways the persecution of the blacks in the South. Some have been acclaimed for their works and others have been read but not achieved the greatness they deserve. However, Gaines differs from other authors in a way that is hard to present. His use of rhetoric, his use of the African American lingo or slang and the vastness of his context in terms of history all combine together to create a critically acclaimed work. Gaines writing gained recognition at a time when the society was slowly opening up to the African American society. They were realizing the havoc they had wrecked on the African American culture and were ready to come to an understanding-the book media was the first step towards this understanding. While black women authors like Toni Morrison had already gained acclaim there was a dearth of literary black authors and writers like Gaines paved the way for a new time. Gaines moved from the violence of the history and began to write more about the African American experience. This created a new understanding of the black male who had been before this time, simply been seen as a dysfunctional figure. [Jaques, 1997] Gaines work in a historical context African American culture was virtually destroyed during the years in which their persecution took place. Thus, the experiences they had and the revival of their culture can only be explained through their own words. To establish a context research would be extremely difficult and most historians have taken oral histories from the people to establish their past. Researchers have tried to redefine literature for African Americans for they have to take into account spiritual wording, slave narratives and diaries of individual experiences. The African American Experience was unbelievable in the sense that in a country like the US one community could so completely deprave another and so, because history and politics became interwoven the truth was changed. The African American experience was ignored and believed to be overtly exaggerated. It is only through the viewpoints of African American authors that the truth comes out. For most politicians slavery was a necessity and the Jim Crow Laws an economic need. They accepted the African American literature as valid but refused to use it in a historical context. The helplessness of the African Americans in their times can be seen by the opening words of A Lesson Before Dying, "I was not there, yet I was there...I did not hear the verdict, because I knew all the time what it would be"[Gaines, 1993 p 3] Jefferson had gone to a liquor store with Bear and Brother to get some liquor and all of them expected that credit would be extended to them by Grope as they did not have money. When Grope, a white shopkeeper, refused, Bear and Brother try to persuade him and in the tussle all three are dead. Jefferson gets frightened and to clear his head drinks whiskey and tries to steal from the cashier. That is how the police find him-a black man, in a store, with a dead body. As Jefferson's opening words suggest, his fate is sealed. The case is a mockery of the justice system and the racism inherent in the trial. The words used to describe Jefferson include 'boy', 'it' and 'this'. The statement made by the defense attorney, '...would you call this-this-this a man No, not I" [p 7] shows what all white men thought of blacks. They were said to be inhuman and capable of unbelievable acts of atrocity. The reader cannot but feel frustrated by Jefferson's helplessness. Instead of acting like an intelligent man he tried to rob a store while getting drunk. He did not even try to put up a defense. It was as if he had no hope and simply decided not to waste his energy on a case that he knew he would lose. Within the scope of 'A Lesson Before Dying' the main theme is helping Jefferson redefine himself with an identity that is separate from the image the white man has. Grant has to help Jefferson see himself as a human and in that context emerges the narrative voice of the book. [Auger, _____] Narrative Voice Mikhail Bakhtin [1981] wrote, "The word in language is half someone else's. It becomes 'ones own' only when the speaker populates it with his own intention...'1 The African American voice was garnered from that of the whites the blacks were too ashamed of their language, dialect and culture to create a self-identity. As Bakhtin [1981] states, it is impossible to be a people without an individual language, Gaines attempts here to give the black people a voice they can be proud of. The narrator Grant Wiggins is a school teacher and in choosing him to be the first person narrator, Gaines deviated from his norm. Wiggins is not always lovable and his Christian symbolism, ironic presentation and sense of superiority in terms of himself for his community cause the readers at times to hate him. He considers himself a learned man and as the priest looks down at others from his own race and keeps himself apart from them. The only reason he agrees to help Jefferson in being true to himself, is because his Aunt asks him too. The irony in the tale is that in helping Jefferson, Wiggins also helps himself. While Jefferson is an African American who is down trodden by the white's and instinctively agrees to whatever they say, Wiggins is the opposite. He believes that he can stand up for himself and is slave to no one. He hates his community for allowing themselves to be downtrodden for decades. He hates with a vengeance and Gaines uses the concept of crucifixion and salvation to show Jefferson's plight. As Wiggins teaches Jefferson to be proud of himself and prove himself to be a man, he learns to accept that the mistakes made by the whites do not make them all bad. In showing Jefferson to walk to his death like a human who has done no wrong, Wiggins too learns to accept his heritage no matter how demeaning it may seem. The ironic overtones and the judgmental views of Wiggins help bring things into perspective. The story is not a religious parable, nor is it a moralistic view of the African American Experience rather, it is simply a tale where experiences merge to show that lack of knowledge and self awareness, on part of the racists and the people who bore their prejudices is something to pity. The reader is relieved when the narration brings the self awareness to a conclusive end and while they still feel sorry for Jefferson, they are more understanding of the events that ultimately brought him to jail. Authentication of Narratives as Literature Many readers believe that African American authors create a tale of woe and exaggerate the events to gain sympathy from their audience. They create a string of events that seem to point at history but there is no validation. However, the writers never claim to be writing non-fiction. Rather they are presenting their form of the truth. They are using historical events as a backdrop to their tales and showing their readers that the African American experience of degradation was real. Michel Focuault (1972) wrote, '...discourse is not the majestically unfolding manifestation of a thinking, knowing subject, but on the contrary, a totality" (50) The task for Grant is then not only to make a 'man' of Jefferson but in actuality, break the authoritarian barriers and create a new role for the African Americans as deemed by the whites. Critical literacy is when texts are read in a reflective way to understand the injustices that took place in a society and community. The text is defined as a "vehicle through which individuals communicate with one another using the codes and conventions of society".i Because the African Americans were deprived of education and could not write down their experiences their narratives from songs to poems to autobiographies are accepted as true history. Focualt [1972] presented that the interpretation of the text is usually based on the people in power. Gaines attempts to shift that context of power and hand it to Grant to some degree. However, initially Grant does not believe that even the slightest bit of power will make a difference, 'just do the best you can. But it won't matter.' (Gaines, pp66) The believability of the text comes from the fact that Gaines does not sugar coat the subjugation of the blacks. The blacks of the time were almost invisible in society. They lived on its edges and the typical male stereotype was criminal and antagonistic in nature. Gaines creates a protagonist that is completely opposite to the male stereotype. Jefferson takes everything life throws at him passively and in ignorance. He never stands up for himself. He is humiliated when the lawyer calls him a 'hog' and yet he does nothing. No man would take this protagonist as a representation of their community and yet, Gaines created him. Wiggins acts as the savior for himself and Jefferson. He realizes that Jefferson has to die but if he shows pride even in death then he may be able to show the community that their life was worth something. Wiggins says the words, 'I want you to show them the difference between what they think you are and what you can be" [Gaines, 1993 chap 24]. These words show the symbolism Jefferson's death will have not only to the black community but the white as well. Gaines does not want to moralize he simply wants to show awareness of the racism that ran rampant in society of the time. Conclusion "Good by mr wigin tell them im strong tell them im a man" [Gaines, 1993 chap 29]. These are the lines that show the readers that Wiggin's efforts at teaching Jefferson to stand up for himself and have a sense of the self have paid off. These lines are not aimed at putting down the whites rather they are to reveal the lack of awareness the two races had about each other as people. The whites may have lived for decades with the blacks and had interacted and even been influenced by the black culture, but they remained ignorant about the people as a whole. The African American experience is so unique because it is unexplored. African Americans had for decades forced themselves to see their community and culture as something that was negligible. The whites had persecuted them to such an extent that their own psyche as individuals had disappeared and they were a mass of people. Slowly as times changed the African Americans are being reborn. Through their tales they are reliving the past and trying to explore their own lives. It is not because they want to show the whites the havoc they wrecked on a community rather it is to show themselves that what happened was not their fault. Like Jefferson, there are still African Americans in our society who lack education. Like Wiggins, there are African Americans that renounce their community because they believe that what happened in the past was a weakness on their part. These people have to be taught that what happened in the past was tragic. Yet, what they make of themselves now is what matters. The works of African American authors like Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Fredrick Douglass and numerous others are a determination on part of the African American community to come to terms with their past. The history as seen by the whites and the actual events that took place have become so twisted that the African Americans had started to question their own life experiences. In putting them down in black and white help them and thousands of others accept their past and once and for all let it go. Gaines through his work, 'A Lesson Before Dying' asks every person, black and white to reflect on their beliefs and see whether the way they live is the way they want to live or would live if this were there last day on earth. In giving Jefferson self-respect he makes every race acknowledged that racism is not one sided, it's a concept that degrades everyone. References 1. Auger, Philip A Lesson About Manhood Appropriating 'The World' in Ernest Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying, Southern Literary Journal ____[could not find year in the faxed pages] 2. Bakhtin, Mikhail. The Dialogical Imagination: Four Essays. Ed. Michael Holquist. Texas: U of Texas 1981. 3. Foucault, Michel. The Archaeology of Knowledge. Trans, AM Sheridan Smith. New York: Pantheon, 1972 4. Gaines, Ernest A Lesson Before Dying, New York: Random House 1993 5. Gates, Henry Louis ed., Writing Race and the Difference it Make. Race, Writing and Difference. Chicago: Chicago University Press 1986 p1 6. Jaques, Geoffrey More than a Niche. Publishers Weekly, African American Publishing December 1997. Read More