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 quickly made aware of the racial barriers that exist throughout Bayonne. For reasons of racial injustice Jefferson is not allotted a fair trial to determine...