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A Lesson Before Dying Summary
Ernest Gaines

Everything you need to understand or teach A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines.

A Lesson before Dying Summary & Study Guide
16 Student Essays
1 Encyclopedia Article
7 Literature Criticisms
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30 A Lesson Before Dying Lessons
20 Activities
180 Multiple Choice Questions
60 Short Essay Questions
20 Essay Questions
Pre-Made Tests and Quizzes
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A Lesson before Dying Summary

Published by Knopf in 1993, A Lesson Before Dying is set in Louisiana. Considered a success by readers and critics alike, the appeal for most readers is derived from the intense emotions the story evokes. The author, Ernest Gaines, wants the reader to feel compassion for the young black man, Jefferson, whom jurors convict for a murder he did not commit. Nor can readers ignore the personal struggles of Grant Wiggins as he teaches...

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Encyclopedia Articles (1)

A Lesson Before Dying

5,868 words, approx. 20 pages

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines Born in Oscar, Louisiana in 1933, Ernest J. Gaines has won wide respect for his realistic, quietly powerful novels portraying African American life in a ru... Read more

Ernest Gaines Biographies (5)

Ernest J. Gaines

8,847 words, approx. 30 pages

Biography EssayErnest J. Gaines is one of the best known of contemporary black writers. He received popular and critical recognition for the publication and subsequent television production of The Aut... Read more

Ernest J. Gaines

3,291 words, approx. 11 pages

"When we moved to California I was lonely, so I went to the library and began to read a lot of fiction," Ernest J. Gaines told Paul Desruisseaux in the New York Times Book Review. It was the late 1940... Read more

Ernest J(ames) Gaines

3,182 words, approx. 11 pages

Ernest J. Gaines novelist and short story writer, was born to Manuel and Adrienne J. (Colar) Gaines on 15 January 1933 in the bayou country near Oscar, Louisiana, which lies about twenty-five miles n... Read more

Ernest J(ames) Gaines

8,659 words, approx. 29 pages

Ernest J. Gaines is one of the best-known of contemporary black writers. He received popular and critical recognition for the publication and subsequent television production of The Autobiography of... Read more

Ernest J(ames) Gaines

8,542 words, approx. 29 pages

[This entry was updated by Keith E. Byerman (Indiana State University) from his entry in DLB 152: American Novelists Since World War II, Fourth Series.]Ernest J. Gaines has since the publication of Th... Read more

Essays & Analysis (23)

A Lesson Before Dying

1,213 words, approx. 5 pages

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A Lesson Before Dying

1,001 words, approx. 4 pages

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A Lesson Before Dying

1,324 words, approx. 5 pages

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A Lesson Before Dying

1,000 words, approx. 4 pages

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A Lesson Before Dying

905 words, approx. 4 pages

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A Lesson Before Dying

687 words, approx. 3 pages

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A Lesson Before Dying

2,139 words, approx. 8 pages

2,418 words, approx. 9 pages

The structure of `Translations' builds slowly towards this brief and brilliantly hesitant, pivotal love scene, which takes place between Yolland and Maire in Act 2 and is central to the play both dram... Read more

Determination & Commitment in "A Lesson Before Dying"

1,228 words, approx. 5 pages

     Miss Emma's request that, "...the teacher [Grant] make him [Jefferson] know he's not a hog, he's a man" (pp. 20-21), is problematic. In A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, t... Read more

A Review of "A Lesson Before Dying"

454 words, approx. 2 pages

Why does everthing has to be done with money? Can't it just be a favor? Many people get paid to do something, but in this case Grant is being force to educate Jefferson. Will this problem effect th... Read more

A Lesson before Dying

556 words, approx. 2 pages

Grant's relationship with Jefferson goes from one of obligation to pure concern and care. When Miss Emma first tells Grant to teach Jefferson to become a man he is resentful and only continues to comp... Read more

Reader's View of the Black Male in "A Lesson Before Dying"

571 words, approx. 2 pages

The reader's view of the black male is one of an oppressed male forced to bear the burdens of their ancestors and discriminated and put down to the level of a hog. When Jefferson's lawyer implies t... Read more

A Lesson Before Dying

647 words, approx. 3 pages

In the book, A Lesson Before Dying, written by Ernest G. Gaines, Grant Wiggins was forced to transform Jefferson, an innocent African American who was accused with murder, to become a man. However, Je... Read more

A Lesson before Dying Final Paper

581 words, approx. 2 pages

In the novel A Lesson Before Dying one of the major themes is man's obligations to himself, his family, and his society. The major character that this pertains to is Grant Wiggins because in the novel... Read more

Leaders and Followers, a Comparative Review

634 words, approx. 3 pages

Society is made up of leaders and followers. While many wants to, not all can be leaders. A leader is somebody who guides or directs others by showing them the way. A leader is someone that can influ... Read more

Heroes in a Lesson before Dying

825 words, approx. 3 pages

" I was seventeen then . . . I was just one. Hoping and praying for the only hero [I] knew. I [can] still remember every bit of it, the warm evening, the people, the noise, the pride I saw in those fa... Read more

A Lesson before Dying

1,081 words, approx. 4 pages

In the world we live in today, religion is an extremely vibrant factor, not only in the environment surrounding us but with the people we interact with as well. In Ernest J. Gaines' novel, A Lesson B... Read more

Change as Depicted in A Lesson Before Dying

1,512 words, approx. 6 pages

Is Change A Good Thing" Change. Everybody changes for one reason or another, but the lessons of life are a main reason for change. In A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, Grant struggles to t... Read more

Human Transformation in "A Lesson Before Dying"

1,528 words, approx. 6 pages

Change. Everybody changes for one reason or another, but the lessons of life are a main reason for change. In A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, Grant struggles to teach a black boy (Jeffers... Read more

Racism in "A Lesson before Dying"

877 words, approx. 3 pages

Learning a lesson is one of life's difficult trials that everyone who breathes must face. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, Earnest J. Gaines tells a story of the growing bond between a young, m... Read more

Character Ananlyisis of "A Lesson before Dying

942 words, approx. 4 pages

In A "Lesson Before Dying", the main character Mr. Grant Wiggins is depicted as, a heroic, rounded character dealing with life crises. Grant is the novel's protagonist, with many internal and exte... Read more

How Does A Lesson Before Dying Show That the Cycle of Human Despair Can Be Halted?

780 words, approx. 3 pages

In Ernest Gaines novel, `A Lesson Before Dying' the story unfolds from the cataclysmic trial of Jefferson. It takes Jefferson's sacrifice for Grant to learn parallel to Jefferson the importance of dig... Read more

Racism and African-American Family Breakdown as Themes in "A Lesson before Dying"

2,380 words, approx. 8 pages

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 ... Read more

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