Some Days Later He Is Sentenced to Death

Chapter one

Jan Drescher

In chapter one of Gaines´ novel “A Lesson Before Dying“, set in Louisiana in the late 1940s, the narrator, Grant Wiggins, remembers the trial against young black Jefferson and his crime.

He pictures the courtroom with his “Tante Lou”, Jefferson’s godmother, Jefferson and also the attorney and the prosecution.

According to Jefferson’s confession he and two young black men, Brother and Bear, entered Alcee Gropé´s store in order to buy drinks. Having not enough money, Brother and Bear threatened Gropé. As a result, Gropé and Brother and Bear killed each other with their weapons. Jefferson who was confused took the money from the cash register and was captured by white men.

The prosecution argues that Jefferson had the intention to kill whereas the attorney tries to achieve the verdict of not guilty by describing him as a fool with limits in his intellect and by implicitly agreeing with the prosecution in regarding Jefferson as less than human when he calls him a hog.

Some days later he is sentenced to death.

Chapter 2

Hendrik Suslik

The second chapter is about Miss Emma’s wish and about her asking Grant Wiggins, the narrator of the story, to help Jefferson to die like a man.

On the afternoon of the day of the verdict, Grant Wiggins comes home from school where he works as a teacher. There, his aunt Tante Lou and Miss Emma, being shocked by the result of the trial, are waiting for him. Grant feels uncomfortable and tries to get away, arguing that he has to go to Bayonne, but Tante Lou wants him to talk with Miss Emma. The latter wants Grant to teach Jefferson dignity and pride before he has to die. However, Grant is unwilling to be involved because of the short time span before Jefferson is executed and the futility of teaching someone who has to die. Nevertheless, his aunt ignores him and insists that he should accompany her and Emma to the plantation owner, Henri Pichot, who has some influence on his brother-in-law, Sheriff Guidry, and asks him to let Grant see Jefferson in prison. Grant’s complaints that there is nothing he can do now for Jefferson, that he is already dead, is ignored. Finally, the three of them get ready to leave Pichot’s house.

Chapter 3

Robert Wittenbeck

Chapter 3 deals with the meeting of Miss Emma, Tante Lou and Grant Wiggins with Mr Pichot at his mansion. Miss Emma wants to convince Mr Pichot to ask his brother-in-law, Sam Guidry, to allow Grant to visit Jefferson, who has been sentenced to death.

Arriving with Grant’s car at the plantation, all three enter the mansion through the back door. Miss Emma informs the maid, called Inez Lane that she wishes to talk to Mr Pichot. All three are left waiting in the kitchen. Grant Wiggins can remember the place because it was to this place that he came many times as a child. Going to see Mr Pichot again after all this time makes Grant angry because he had and now still has to submit to a segregationist regime that makes blacks enter the house only through the back door. After considerable time Mr Pichot appears together with his friend Louis Rougon. Miss Emma asks Mr Pichot to convince his brother-in-law to allow Grant to visit Jefferson and to teach him some lessons. Mr Pichot does not agree and therefore Miss Emma tells him of all the working she had done in this house as a maid years ago. Slightly persuaded Mr Pichot asks Grant what he is going to teach him. Grant replies that he does not know what he is going to do. After a momentary hesitation, Mr Pichot agrees to talk to his brother-in-law.

Chapter 4

Ian Norberg

Grant drops off Miss Emma and tells her that he won't eat with her, which is very insulting to her. Following this, he drives to the Rainbow Club and has dinner . Then Vivian, his girlfriend arrives. They sit down and talk while having a few drinks. Grant wants to take Vivian and her children to another town because he feels a lack of freedom at the plantation. Vivian turns down the offer saying that it is unrealistic, because she as well as Grant have a commitment to the people they are responsible for and Vivian even threatens to leave. Furthermore, she wants to know why Grant hasn't left the town yet. He replies that he wants to be with her. They talk about Jefferson's death sentence and about Miss Emma's plan to teach Jefferson pride and dignity. Grant complaints about the commitment and thinks he cannot live up to the task and is about to give up.
Chapter 5

Jennifer Metzger

Chapter 5 is about Grant's teaching revealing the inadequacy of black education and how frustrated Grant feels at being unable to change anything.

The school is set up in a church with only one table for Grant. In this chapter we can see Grant at work with the children and more of the narrator's less sympathetic nature. He is impatient and sometimes cruel. This shows his deep resentment towards his life in Bayonne because he doesn't want to teach at the plantation for the rest of his life.

Grant describes his students, whose age range from 6 to 14 and the furnishing of the classroom and how he organizes teaching, using the older children to teach the youngest while he teaches the middle grades.

Furthermore, he's thinking about problems with his aunt because she is angry with him and avoids speaking to him. This situation at home makes him short-tempered with his pupils. Because of this, the pupils are terrified of Grant.

After this, Grant walks around outside school and the reader is given an impression of the poverty of the black settlement.

After going back into class, Grant explains to the class how Jefferson is going to be executed. He goes into detail and shocks them. Then, he tells them what Jefferson's aunt expects him to do. One of the girls begins crying because she is Jefferson's cousin, but Grant doesn't console her.

In the end he sets the class to write a test. That afternoon, Henri Pichot's handyman, Farrell Jarreau, comes to the school to tell Grant that Pichot will see him that evening concerning Jefferson.

Chapter 6

Kathrin Mateoschus

The maid Inez opens Grant the back door to the kitchen. She informs him that Mr. Pichot’s brother-in-law, Sheriff Sam Guidry, and his wife Edna will arrive soon. Therefore, Grant waits in the kitchen, thinking about his role in Jefferson’s affairs. After having waited for nearly two and a half hours, Grant is asked into the dining-room. Grant does not behave like he is supposed to do when Sam Guidry asks him how long he has been waiting. Grant says that he waited “about two and a half hours“, instead of grinning and saying that he had been waiting “not long“, but his anger and pride prevented him from being submissive.

Sam Guidry asks Grant what he is going to do with Jefferson, and Grant answers politely that he does not know. After a moment, Guidry informs him that he can see Jefferson in a few weeks, although he thinks Grant’s efforts will fail and Grant should let Jefferson die a “contented hog.” Moreover, Guidry says that Grant will lose his visiting privileges if he aggravates Jefferson.

Chapter 7

The superintendent Dr. Joseph visits the plantation school. He seems to have met Grant before, but he has forgotten his name. When he inspects Grant’s class he is mainly interested in cleanliness and the correct recitation of Bible verses. Moreover, he begins to inspect the pupils’ teeth, which reminds Grant of slave auctions and underlines the covert and subtle racism with which Joseph treats Grant.

Dr. Joseph ends his visit by pointing out the basics of good nutrition and the importance of exercise for the young body. Grant realizes that Dr. Joseph’s advice in fact justifies the plantation system where even young children have to work hard in the fields rather than study hard in school . He complains about the shortage of teaching materials to which the superintendent answers rather cynically that they are all in the same boat and that there isnothing he can do about. On leaving he stresses the importance of hygiene again. When Grant tells him that these children are too poor to own a toothbrush, Dr. Joseph recommends that they should stop being lazy and work for toothbrushes by harvesting and selling pecans in the evenings.

Chapter 8

Christoph Schulz

Chapter 8 of the book “A lesson before dying“ is about Grant asking himself if he is teaching the children to be able to lead independent lives or whether he is just perpetuating the vicious circle that makes generations of black schoolchildren doing the same kind of work.

The school receives its first load of wood for the winter. As Grant’s students chop the wood, Grant talks about his own elementary school days and his teacher Mr. Antoine, which makes him ponder about his teaching. Mr. Antoine a bitter, defeated man hated teaching and hated his students. Grant calls Mr. Antoine a mulatto, referring to Antoine’s mixed race. Because he was a mulatto, Mr. Antoine considered himself superior to blacks. After Grant studied at a university for several years, he returned to the plantation to teach at the school there. He goes to visit Mr. Antoine. According to Mr. Antoine, blacks have only one option in the South: to run away.

Chapter 9:

Mariann Leiders

In chapter nine Grant and Miss Emma visit Jefferson in prison for the first time. Arriving at the jail in Bayonne, Bonin, the deputy sheriff, searches through the package Miss Emma has brought for Jefferson. Afterwards the two are allowed to go into Jefferson’s cell. They find him lying flat on his bank, staring at the ceiling. Miss Emma talks to him and wants him to try her food. However, he does not respond and besides, he refuses to eat her food. His only sentence is “It don’t matter” and when she asks him to explain, he answers that nothing matters. Then he tries to provoke Grant by asking whether he is one of those about to execute him. Because Jefferson does not answer a second time, Miss Emma is sad and disappointed. Paul, the deputy sheriff, understands how she feels and signals to Grant to support and console her.

Chapter 10

Kathrin Rommel

In chapter 10 Miss Emma doesn’t feel comfortable and therefore Tante Lou wants Grant to visit Jefferson alone in prison for the first time, in spite the fact that Grant as a black man feels humiliated by these visits.

At the beginning of the chapter Grant describes the first three visits in prison, which all follow a similar pattern: before entering the cellblock, Grant, Miss Emma and Tante Lou are frisked. Miss Emma always brings food for Jefferson who is lying on the bunk in his cell and doesn’t do anything, he doesn’t even talk to anyone, which leads to Miss Emma always leaving the cell crying.

When Grant wants to pick up Miss Emma for their fourth visit in prison she isn’t standing in front of her house. After waiting a certain time, his aunt Tante Lou comes out and tells him that Miss Emma is ill and therefore not able to go to the prison. Grant enters the house where he finds Miss Emma sitting in her chair and coughing but he doesn’t think that she is really ill. On the contrary, Grant thinks that Miss Emma and Tante Lou have planned the `illness`, so that he is forces to visit Jefferson alone. Because of that Grant becomes angry and reproaches his aunt for behaving like the white people and humiliating him.

Chapter 11

Madita Mielenhausen

In chapter 11 Grant visits Jefferson by himself for the first time. When Grant gets to Jefferson´s cell, he is unsure of what to do or to say. Since Jefferson´s godmother, Miss Emma, cooked a lot of food, Grant asks Jefferson if he is hungry. The latter responds by asking if Grant has brought any corn, saying that this is what hogs eat. The next moment Jefferson acts like a hog, kneeling down and sticking his head in the bag of food. Grant watches him carefully, wondering if he is trying to make him feel guilty and, therefore, should leave him alone. He speaks to Jefferson arguing that this behaviour is exactly what the white man would expect of him; once again, Jefferson doesn´t respond. Grant wants to ask Jefferson what he is thinking about, but he doesn´t dare to. He leaves, telling Jefferson that he will not tell Miss Emma what has happened today. He also lies by telling Paul that Jefferson has enjoyed the food.

Chapter 12

Linda Grimme

Chapter 12 is about Grant who thinks of how to lie to Miss Emma after leaving the jail.
He goes to the Rainbow Club to think about it. At the club, Grant notices two men discussing baseball and Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball player to play for a major league team. Then, he remembers an Irishmen who visited his university to give a series of lectures.
The Irishmen talked about Yeats, O’Casey and Joyce raising issues about the way a people worships its heroes and what can be deduced from this about a people’s culture.
Grant’s thoughts wander off to a report he has read about an execution in Florida, in which the black boy about to be executed cries for help from his hero, Joe Louis.
He wonders if Jefferson will call on Jackie Robinson for help on the day of his execution.
Eventually, Grant gets more and more depressed.
After leaving the club, Grant stops at Vivian’s school to tell her about his visit at Jefferson’s and to say that he would like to live for good. Vivian is convinced that Grand loves his people too much to do that.

Chapter 13

Grant comes home where Tante Lou, Miss Emma and Reverend Ambrose are already expecting him and want him to talk about the events at the prison. Grant tries to evade their questions by lying, saying that everything went well and that Jefferson ate and talked to him. Miss Emma and Reverend Ambrose are somewhat doubtful that Grant is telling the truth and want Grant to tell them details about their conversation. reverend Ambrose asks Grant if he thinks that Jefferson understands the spiritual significance of the prison visits which should prepare him for meeting his maker. Grant tells him that there hadn’t been any time to discuss God, which makes Ambrose furious. Grant thinks that religious matters should best be discussed with Ambrose himself.