Chapter 1 Summary

The first chapter of A Lesson Before Dying opens with an unnamed narrator describing his experiences, sitting in a courtroom with two women, as a trial unfolds before them. The women, the narrator's aunt and the godmother of the man who is being tried, remain riveted by the proceedings. The narrator says that all present in the courtroom know what the outcome of this trial will be.

"I was not there, yet I was there," says the narrator. "No, I did not go to the trial, I did not hear the verdict, because I knew all the time what it would be. Still, I was there. I was there as much as anyone else was there."

The courtroom proceedings revolve around Jefferson, a young African American man, who got into trouble when offered a ride to the White Rabbit Bar and Lounge by...