Rating: 
Summary: Why all the hate?
Review: During my 8th grade English class, I read A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. I read it while studying To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A Lesson Before Dying is about a black teacher in the South who is forced to visit a man condemned to death. The man being visited was wrongfully accused of murder. To Kill a Mockingbird and A Lesson Before Dying have one large concept in common, they are both based around a black man being wronfully accused of a capitol crime. To Kill a Mockingbird was written by a white woman, Harper Lee, and A Lesson Before Dying was written by Ernest J. Gaines, a white man. This leads to very different points of view. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson, the wrongfully accused man, is said to have a good chance of appealing to higher courts. In A Lesson Before Dying, they don't even consider appealing, they just try and make death better for the man. The white point of view is much more positive, and optimistic for a black person in a white judicial system. The black point of view is more pessimistic, yet probably more realistic. This is what makes the books very different. In A Lesson Before Dying, the story is told from the point of view of a teacher who is very bitter, and has a large grudge against white people. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the story is told by a young, white, upbeat southern girl who always seems to be happy. The point of view of the author changes the points of view of the characters in the book. I think that a person being the subject of persecution would be more likely to understand the reality of the situation (in the books) than someone who has probably not experienced persecution at all. That is why a black author could better understand the hopelessness for a black man condemned to death during a time of such strong racism. I think that this book was well written, but it was hard to like some of the characters, especially the main character. For me, that makes it hard to keep reading from the point of view of a jerk. The book is also very slow-paced, and hard for someone of my age, 14, to stay interested in for long periods of time.
Rating: 
Summary: lessons after reading
Review: In my 8th grade English class, I chose to read A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines from a list of books by black authors. After reading a summary of the book, I chose to read it because I felt it would make a big impact on me and leave me thinking. While I was reading the book, I was also reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee for English class. To Kill a Mockingbird and A Lesson Before Dying are similar in that they are both about a black man accused of a crime on a white person. However, I liked A Lesson Before Dying because it wasn't about a black boy trying to prove his innocence to escape the death penalty. It was about a boy who had accepted his fate as a Black and the main character who tried to teach him to be a man before he died, for the defense attorney said to the jury, "What justice would there be to take this life? Justice, gentlemen? Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this." A Lesson Before Dying seemed to be more true to the way it really was for blacks accused of a crime. They had almost no chance of being declared not guilty. This book really made an impact on me. I learned to appreciate my life more, and I know that what happened to Jefferson could happen to anyone. Just being at the wrong place at the wrong time could lead to consequences as extreme as being convicted of a murder and receiving the death penalty. It taught me about the struggles that Blacks had to go through in the thirties. One reason why Gaines might have written the book was to express the fact that Blacks who have been accused of a crime with a white person as the victim have no chance of being free. When Grant and Jefferson's Aunt Emma went to visit Jefferson, Jefferson had lost all hope of being set free and said, "...it don't matter." But, Grant wanted to teach Jefferson to stand proud when he died, as it would give more Blacks the strength to stand proud in society.
Rating:
Summary: good book
Review: I'm an 8th grader and I read A Lesson Before Dying. I read the book while reading Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. A Lesson Before Dying is set in the South following World War II. In the novel the author, Ernest J. Gaines, deeply explores the relationship between an innocent black man on death row, Jefferson, and Grant, a black man who was sent to teach Jefferson "how to be a man" and "how to die." Gaines writes from Grant's point of view which allows him to show the fluctuation of Grant's sentiment toward Jefferson and how his experience with Jefferson had changed the kind of person he is. I enjoyed the book, and especially how Gaines' style of writing allows the reader to think about the book, the concepts it presents and the racism in post-World War II South and draw conclusions by himself. Despite this, I appreciated how Gaines made his opinion about how strong the racism was very clear. He wrote that Jefferson's court appointed attorney's sole argument was, "I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this." His statement was making the point that it was not justice to kill a black man, fore it was like killing nothing. I found many similarities between this book and To Kill a Mockingbird, including the racist setting and a black community's fight against blatant injustice. The one thing both books made evident was how significant a blemish racism has been on our country's history.
Rating: 
Summary: This Book is Good
Review: I'm an eighth grader who read A lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines. While I read this, I also read To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. The setting for A Lesson Before Dying is a small town in the south during the 1940's where the two main characters are Jefferson and Grant. Jefferson is condemned to death by electrocution for a crime he did not commit. His godmother realizes that nothing can be done for his freedom, so she asks Grant to help Jefferson die with dignity. Gaines writes this tragic story and reveals his feelings of capital punishment, segregation, and the difficulty of acceptance in a unique way. Ernest J. Gaines was born into the world he describes in A Lesson Before Dying. He describes his feelings about capital punishment through Grant, much like Harper lee does in "To Kill a Mockingbird. When the date for Jefferson's death is set, Grant thinks about the way someone can plan a man's death. "How do people come up with a date and time to take a life from another man? Who made them God?" Harper Lee also conveyed the same feeling through Jem, when Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman, is sentenced to death. Gaines teaches the reader about segregation and acceptance through his other characters. The back of town is where blacks live, and bars for "blacks only", "blacks only" restrooms, and the school where Grant teaches for "blacks only" are only some of the examples of segregation Gaines so explicitly places in the novel. Lee describes Maycomb County, where To Kill a Mockingbird takes place, as a segregated town, much the same as in Gaines' novel. The south side of town is for the blacks, and there is a church that is for "blacks only." Both A Lesson Before Dying and To Kill a Mockingbird are touching and powerful novels that reach out to the reader and portray a time of injustice, inequality, and struggle. By experiencing the struggle that the main characters in both novels go through fighting for their lives against unfair accusations just because they are black, the reader experiences the horror and injustice of racism on an extremely emotional level, and cannot help but be changed by the reading of these books.
Rating:
Summary: A Lesson Before Dying
Review: Ernest J. Gaines's, "A Lesson Before Dying", was a great book. The characters in the book were very well developed. The main theme in the story was; heroism is not always expressed through action. This book talks about many different things, discrimination, racism, and the death penalty. The setting of the book was during the time when Racism was the biggest thing around. During this time period, there were strict rules of blacks using water fountains for blacks, sitting in the back of the bus, eating at a black only cafe, etc. This book contained many different views of racism.This relates to the book of To Kill A Mockingbird, since they both took place when people were discriminating blacks. Both these stories had characters who helped the blacks and tried to help them, while other people were racist and tried to kill them. From this book, I think that racism is bad, and that people should respect peoples' differences. I think that people who are racist should just leave the "colored" people alone. "A Lesson Before Dying" was a great book and can teach many readers a lesson, and how to treat others that are different.
Rating:
Summary: The Moral Journey of A Lesson Before Dying
Review: A Lesson Before Dying is a book devoted to the moral understanding of one's self. Jefferson, a black teen wrongly accused of murder, and Grant Wiggins, the teacher on the Pichot Plantation, both exemplify the struggle for pride and integrity. The degradation Jefferson faces in the courtroom by his own attorney calling him a "hog" serves as motivation for his grandmother to change him into a man. Grant is asked to teach Jefferson about pride, however, Grant finds himself the one being taught. As both these young men forge a bond, they defy the expected and prove themselves as men of dignity. The book was thought-provoking with a timeless lesson: every man can be a hero. Ernest Gaines creates a passive protagonist in Grant to portray the importance of small actions. Throughout their bonding, what might seem as an insignificant comment or action is really a major psychological turning point for both Jefferson and Grant. The depth of introspection of both main characters provides the reader with the opportunity to examine his/her own beliefs and self limitations. By discussing controversial subjects such as the death penalty and the existence of heaven, the reader's religious faith is strengthened for his/her own views prevail taking a stand on the issue of death. The details of life during the 1940's in a Cajun community is directly influenced by Gaines who grew up in that environment. Gaines's expertise in these surroundings create the mood of prejudice and condemnation of African-Americans generating the mood in which Jefferson becomes ashamed of himself. With his simple vocabulary, Gaines creates a rather easy reading book. Although the book can be read in a short amount of time, sometimes the realization that something was important causes the reader to review past chapters. A Lesson Before Dying represents the struggle of integrity, pride, and dignity by Jefferson's journey to the electric chair and Grant's path toward the strong principles of his manhood.
Rating:
Summary: Lessons for Life
Review: Its the summer of 1940. In a courtroom of a small Cajun community, a trial is taking place for the robbery and murder of a white shopkeeper. In this courtroom a young black man, Jefferson, is about to be sentenced to death by electrocution. His only crime--being at the wrong place at the wrong time. This scene establishes the narration of Ernest Gaines' compelling novel, A Lesson Before Dying. Gaines delivers a novel that captures the interests and touches the hearts of its readers. Grant Wiggins, the narrator, begins the story, "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." Even in the antebellum emancipated south, serious issues regarding race, segregation, and prejudice prevail. Grant, a university-educated black male, has returned from the city to the plantation community where he teaches in a small plantation church. Disturbed with his station in life and angered by the injustice he sees around him, Grant struggles as a prisoner of social convention--always wanting to pack up his things and runaway. But Grant is asked by Jefferson's Godmother, Miss Emma, to stay and teach Jefferson to die like a man. After being called "a thing that acts on command"--a hog--by his own defense attorney, Jefferson looses the dignity he has. It is now up to Grant to restore it. Jefferson believes the words of his attorney as he sees himself only as "a old hog--Just a old hog they fattening up to kill for Christmas." He sees himself as subhuman and worthless. But as the story progresses the two men forge a bond showing that being a man is truly a great thing to have. Both learn many valuable lessons as they teach each other. Grant, who lost his religious faith when he went of school in the city, learns about the soul and the spirit. In the beginning, Grant found Sunday, the Lord's Day, "the saddest day of the week." After being around Jefferson in the small isolated prison cell, though, Grant's character encounters a spiritual rebirth. Jefferson learns about becoming a man. Constantly feeling he is already dead, Jefferson struggles with accepting that he is a human like the rest. Grant tries to tell him, "We're all going to die, Jefferson," but Jefferson, knowing his fate, replies, "Tommorow, Mr. Teacher, that's when you go'n die? Next week?" Nevertheless, in the end, Jefferson eventually overcomes this and approaches his life's end like a man--"Tell Nannan I walked," he said. As the narration continues in the novel, Gaines depicts issues of injustice in the south as a result of Jefferson's trial. He says, "Twelve white men say a black man must die and another white man sets the date and the time without consulting one black man. Justice?" In the racist society of the south, the African-American does not have the luxury of a fair trial and equality. There are bars in the back of the town for "blacks only," there are schools for "blacks only," and there are jail cells strictly for "blacks only." A society that is supposedly over the racial conflicts, strongly conveys a prejudice attitude. The novel forces the reader to take at African-American's fight for freedom that followed their so-called emancipation. Gaines also furthers the story as he comments on capital punishment. He delineates its unethical side when Grant remarks in the text, "I could not get that date and time out of my mind. How do people come up with a date and a time to take life from another man? Who made them God?" Gaines incorporates segregation, tragedy, and injustice into this emotional story. By comprehending the struggle these characters go through, the reader gets a broader view of society and the lessons it teaches its individuals. A Lesson Before Dying is a dynamic story that suits readers of all types. Ernest Gaines truly reaches out and the makes the readers apart of the novel itself--whether they're ready for it or not.
Rating:
Summary: please read
Review: please read; amazing; a book with the power to transform.
Rating:
Summary: A Lesson Before Dying
Review: I liked the book a whole lot.
Rating:
Summary: changed my view on life
Review: This book was unbelievable. I read a lot but this book and its characters helped me deal with my life. The families and the town itself is a treasure.
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