Readers had been waiting ten years for a new novel by Ernest J. Gaines, author of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971); his impressive A Gathering of Old Men appeared in 1983. Interest in A Lesson Before Dying, when it appeared early in 1993, was therefore bound to be high. From the first the critical response indicated that Gaines’s new novel confirmed his high standing among African American novelists of his generation. Most critics found in Gaines’s new novel the features they had admired in his earlier work; a few suggested that A Lesson Before Dying might be Gaines’s finest novel. The book won the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction. In recognition of his achievements over the course of three decades, Gaines was awarded a 1993 MacArthur grant.

Gaines’s fiction has always been characterized by the absence of melodrama in treating material that might lend itself to melodramatic excess; the consistent avoidance of the propagandistic; and, more positively, a broad and generous humanity. A reflective rather than “angry” writer; he has always been sensitive, as he is here, to nuances of behavior, especially in interactions between different races and different generations. This attention to nuance has led some critics to find his work too gentle, too forgiving in its portrayal of certain characters. It is impossible, however, to question the integrity and moral consistency that characterize his work. Few critics have failed to note the quiet assurance of his art.

What may prove most problematic about this new novel is that, in choosing to return to the rural southern Louisiana of 1948, Gaines has rejected the option of probing the African American condition in more contemporary and, a less sympathetic reader might argue, in more relevant terms. Read more sympathetically, Gaines’s exploration of another time and place may provide a useful orientation toward the confusions of here and now.

The strong will of two elderly women sets in motion the action of A Lesson Before Dying, and the tension between two young men who have something to learn about what it is to be a man provides the central structural principle of the novel. Miss Emma and Tante Lou are elderly in 1948. They have learned the practice of humility required by their position in a racially ordered society, and they also know a deeper humility that is part of their Christian faith. Yet they also know their own worth, and they realize how important that knowledge is. The intensity of that realization motivates their determination that Jefferson will not go to his death thinking himself less than a man.

It was Jefferson’s misfortune to be a bystander at a shooting that resulted in the death of a white man. In rural Louisiana, in 1948, acquittal is out of the question. In a desperate attempt to save his client from the electric chair, Jefferson’s defense attorney has argued that, while a man must be held accountable for his plans and actions, Jefferson cannot be judged as a man is judged: Too simple to plan and act responsibly, he lives at a level of consciousness scarcely above that of any farm animal. To execute Jefferson, in the attorney’s conclusion, would be like putting a hog in the electric chair.

The strategy fails, but its effects continue to be felt, not by the jurors but by Jefferson and those who care about him. Accepting that her godson must die, Miss Emma is determined that he will not die without an awareness of his own dignity and humanity.

To teach Jefferson the lesson he must learn, Miss Emma, with the active support of her friend Lou, turn to Lou’s nephew, Grant Wiggins. A product, like Jefferson, of the black quarter, Grant is a university graduate who now teaches the children of the quarter between the months of October and April, when they are not working in the fields. At first Grant resists the call. He has plenty on his mind, including the complexities of his relationship with Vivian, a schoolteacher who is in the process of divorcing her husband. Moreover, Grant’s allotment of hope seems just about used up. He cannot convince himself that his work with the children of the quarter can make a positive difference in their lives. What, then, can he hope to do for Jefferson? Who am I, Grant wants to know, to say what a man is, or how a man should die? Is it not hard enough to figure out how a man should live?

Miss Emma and Tante Lou bring to bear on Grant all the power of their expectations. Winning his tentative acquiescence, however, is only part of their task: They must also win the cooperation of the local white power structure. Gaines is at his best in observing the intricacies and ironies of negotiation between white men and black women within the institutions of racism. The women know what they can claim for themselves within the place society has defined for them. Miss Emma can claim a right to special consideration because of the services she has rendered to powerful white families over the years. Henri Pichot, a white man whose influence makes his approval a necessity, is bound to acknowledge Miss Emma’s right, for even this insane social system has its rules. Still, in asking for what they are undeniably entitled to, the women must speak in the tones required by their position within the system. Fortunately, Miss Emma, Tante Lou, and Pichot know the rules of the game. Pichot seems related to characters found elsewhere in Gaines’s work: white men who, although aware at some level of the inevitability of change, refuse to be agents of that change.

In spite of Pichot’s agreement, other whites remain dubious. It is hard for a member of the white community, in this time and this place, to understand any need to affirm the humanity of a black man. Also, the visiting rights Miss Emma wants go beyond what would normally be granted to a prisoner in Jefferson’s situation. What the sheriff wants is a quiet, smooth execution. Will granting Miss Emma’s wishes stir up trouble, especially as she brings in an educated black man, Grant, whose precise grammar in unguarded moments strikes some whites as a provocation? The approval, when it comes, is grudging and conditional.

Grant and Jefferson form at first glance an obvious contrast. Grant, an educated man, has known the world beyond the quarter, while Jefferson may seem to represent Grant’s worst fears of what the quarter will normally produce. Jefferson has never thought much about being a man, and he has scarcely been encouraged by his environment to regard himself as one. He is altogether too ready to accept his lawyer’s assessment. He has known few possibilities in his life, he has had very few choices, and now a freakish set of circumstances has determined that he must die. Can this be the history of a man? At one point, he even goes down on all fours and, hog-fashion, pushes his snout into the food dish.

It gradually becomes clear, however, that both men need to work toward a recognition and acceptance of their own humanity. Grant lives inside a psychological prison. He is helpless to bring about a satisfactory resolution to his relationship with Vivian, and he is convinced that his efforts to educate the children of the quarter are an exercise in futility. That he is required by social convention to conceal the signs of his education when talking to white people intensifies his hopelessness. He lives in a constant, barely repressed awareness of his impotence.

Grant is not the only man involved in the effort to do something for Jefferson. The Reverend Ambrose has his own agenda. His concern is not with whether Jefferson will affirm his humanity but with whether he will find salvation. Though not an orthodox believer, Grant is not unsympathetic to the reverend’s project and is more than willing that Jefferson derive whatever strength he can from the consolations of religion. Still, tensions remain between Reverend Ambrose and Grant.

Given the dramatic situation at its center; it is inevitable that a major theme of A Lesson Before Dying must be embedded in the question that troubles Grant: What is a man? One answer, Gaines implies, may lie in the possibility of transcendence, originating from within the self. The inner action of the novel may be described as the gradual coming to recognition of this possibility in both characters. The way to this recognition for both Jefferson and Grant involves openness to others and acceptance of the responsibility this openness entails. Jefferson accepts that he may be responsible for adding to Miss Emma’s pain and becomes resolute through that acceptance. Grant internalizes the responsibility initially imposed on him by Miss Emma and Tante Lou and thereby becomes capable of moving beyond his earlier acquiescence in futility. The call to teach Jefferson, a call he had resisted, makes it possible for Grant to find his own dignity and humanity. The success he finds in his efforts with Jefferson, moreover, invites a reexamination of Grant’s belief that there is no hope for the boys and girls he teaches. Still the law takes its course. At the time designated by the state, Jefferson dies in the electric chair. Yet Paul, a white jailer who has treated Jefferson and Grant with sympathy and respect, reports to Grant that Jefferson was the bravest man in the room. He also brings the diary that Jefferson was keeping at Grant’s suggestion. Capitalization is nonexistent, the spelling is weak, the punctuation is uncertain, the style is inelegant, but the message of Jefferson’s diary is clear: “tell them i’m a man.”

The interaction among the principal characters is enriched by an abundance of sharply drawn minor characters, black and white. As is customary with Gaines, there are no stereotypes or caricatures in this novel. He treats all of his characters, even those of whose conduct he must disapprove, with imaginative sympathy and generosity.

The possibility of transcendence Gaines finds in the individual human being may be meant to point to possibilities for the human community as well. As in much of Gaines’s fiction, the power of the past is strongly felt in this novel. Yet the relationship of Paul to Grant and Jefferson suggests that the sociohistorical past may be transcended, a suggestion consistent with thematic emphases in Gaines’s earlier novels, which turn so often on the choice between holding on and moving on.

For all the novel’s emphasis on transcendence, Gaines’s honesty compels him to acknowledge also, especially in most of the white characters, the strength that can be embodied in the struggle against change, whether individual or social. The transcendence that does occur in Jefferson and in Grant comes in tiny increments; there is no privileged moment of awakening. It is not a Pollyanna version of individual or group psychology that Gaines offers in A Lesson Before Dying. Rather, this novel is imbued with the spiritual generosity and affirmation that readers rightly cherish in the fiction of Ernest J. Gaines.

Bibliography

Auger, Philip. “A Lesson About Manhood: Appropriating The Word in Ernest Gaines’s A Lesson Before Dying.” The Southern Literary Journal 27 (Spring, 1995): 74-78. Auger explores the issues of dignity and self-worth in Gaines’s novel, focusing on the problems black men face when attempting to define their manhood. His discussion also includes an examination of Gaines’s other works that deal with the same theme.

Babb, Valerie M. Ernest Gaines. Boston: Twayne, 1991. A major critical introduction to Gaines, with a chronology and bibliography. The best general introduction to Gaines published before A Lesson Before Dying. Strongly recommended as starting point for further study.

Gaudet, Marcia, and Carl Wooton. “Looking Ahead.” In Porch Talk with Ernest Gaines: Conversations on the Writer’s Craft. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990. In an interview, Gaines discusses A Lesson Before Dying as a work in progress. Comparisons of his comments and the finished work provide valuable insights into the processes of creation and revision.

Larson, Charles R. “End as a Man.” Chicago Tribune Books, May 9, 1993, 5. More than any other novel of African American life, A Lesson Before Dying is about being a man in the face of adversity and about the morality of connectedness, of each individual’s responsibility to his community.

Rubin, Merle. “Convincing Moral Tale of Southern Injustice.” The Christian Science Monitor, April 13, 1993, 13. A review for the general reader. Gives a synopsis of the novel and an upbeat appraisal typifying the book’s reception in most reviews. For Rubin, A Lesson Before Dying is an important “moral drama.”

Senna, Carl. “Dying Like a Man.” The New York Times, August 8, 1993, p. G21. An enthusiastic review that helps illuminate the racial lines and tensions among the book’s black, white, and Creole characters. Senna does claim that the novel has an occasional “stylistic lapse” but gives no specific examples.

Sheppard, R. Z. “An A-Plus in Humanity.” Time 141 (March 29, 1993): 65-66. Reviews A Lesson Before Dying, giving a short plot synopsis. Praises the author’s level-headed ability to convey the “malevolence of racism and injustice without the usual accompanying self-righteousness.”

Wardi, Anissa J. Review of A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gaines. MELUS 21 (Summer, 1996): 192-194. A highly favorable review that explores the “role of language in symbolic enslavement.” Wardi also offers a brief plot synopsis and character analysis. She praises the novel as “an extraordinary literary accomplishment.”

Yardley, Jonathan. “Nothing but a Man.” The Washington Post Book World 23 (March 28, 1993): 3. A brief but excellent explication of the novel. Focuses on Grant as protagonist and notes that the lesson referred to in the work’s title is one learned by him as well as by Jefferson. Also remarks on Gaines’s admirable restraint in treating racial themes.

Black Civil Rights in the Late 19th Century

President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 marked the liberation of slaves. Subsequent Congressional Acts granted African Americans several civil rights. In 1866 and 1870, they were given the rights to sue, be sued, and own property, thereby acquiring the “privileges” of white citizens.

The Fourteenth Amendment, enacted in 1868, further expanded these privileges by making former slaves eligible for citizenship. The Fifteenth Amendment granted African Americans the right to vote, prohibiting state or federal governments from denying this right based on race. The Civil Rights Act of 1871 made it a crime to deny citizens equal protection under the law, and the Civil Rights Act of 1875 ensured their right to use public accommodations. However, by the mid-1880s, the political climate in the United States had shifted toward indifference regarding social justice. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was declared unconstitutional. In 1896, the Supreme Court institutionalized segregation with its decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. Homer Plessy was arrested for refusing to sit in a train car designated for African Americans. When he appealed his conviction, arguing it violated his rights under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Supreme Court upheld the principle of “separate but equal” facilities for blacks and whites. This principle and attitude persisted into the 1930s when Ernest Gaines was born. Gaines set A Lesson Before Dying in the late 1940s, but the remnants of segregation were still present. The jail where Jefferson was held had a separate block of cells for African-American inmates and distinct restroom facilities for African-American visitors.

Segregation in the South

After the Supreme Court’s decision in the Plessy case, integration seemed out of reach. Segregation in the Northern states was maintained through custom, known as “de facto” segregation. Following the Plessy decision, the South enacted laws that legalized racial segregation, termed “de jure” segregation. These laws, known as Jim Crow laws, after a pre-Civil War minstrel show character, created a racial caste system in the South. This system remained in place until 1954, when the Supreme Court declared public-school segregation unconstitutional in the Brown v. Board of Education case in Topeka, Kansas.

Early Steps Towards Integration in the 20th Century

In the early 1900s, significant strides were made towards integration through two distinct movements. One faction aimed for equal treatment via integration, while the other sought to create a separate black state. In 1909, W. E. B. Du Bois established the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP, which still operates today, focuses on achieving equality through integration. Another prominent figure in the integration movement was Marcus Garvey, who, in 1914, founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) to advocate for a separate black state through black nationalism. Although the UNIA is no longer active, the black nationalist movement persists.

Efforts to promote integration continued to advance during the 1930s and 1940s. Black leaders garnered substantial support from black unions such as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which exerted economic pressure to help pass critical legislation like the 1947 Fair Employment Practices Act. This act prohibited discrimination in hiring based on race or national origin. In 1948, President Harry Truman mandated the integration of the armed forces. These early endeavors to dismantle segregation culminated in the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared that separate schools for black and white students were unconstitutional.

Setting

Ernest J. Gaines sets A Lesson Before Dying in the fictional town of Bayonne, Louisiana, in 1948. The story unfolds in various locations, including the plantation where Grant Wiggins teaches, the homes of Henri Pichot, Tante Lou, and Miss Emma, the local jail, and the Rainbow Club.

The church doubles as a school for the black children whose parents work on the plantation. Without desks, the children write on their laps or kneel in front of the pews, which serve as benches on Sundays. Grant Wiggins’s desk is actually the collection table used during church services. The classroom is heated by a woodburning stove that never has enough fuel.

The homes of Tante Lou and Miss Emma are similarly sparse. Tante Lou shares her modest home with Wiggins. The furniture is worn, and the wallpaper peels from the walls. Despite Tante Lou's homey touches, the house has a weary atmosphere, which Wiggins calls “rustic.” Miss Emma’s home is even smaller, with a bed in the living room. In stark contrast, Henri Pichot’s house is a large residence equipped with modern appliances. The cook uses a gas range instead of a woodburning stove, and the old icebox has been replaced by a gleaming white refrigerator. The same black iron pots that Wiggins remembers from his childhood still hang on the wall.

Crucial events of the narrative occur in the jail, situated in an old red-brick courthouse that looks like a castle. The jail houses both black and white prisoners in separate sections. The cells are located on the second floor, accessed by a set of steel stairs. While most African-American prisoners' cells have two metal bunks, Jefferson’s cell has only one, furnished with a mattress and a wool blanket. The rest of the six-foot by ten-foot cell contains a toilet, a washbowl, and a small metal shelf. Illumination comes from a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling and a small, high, barred window.

Wiggins finds solace and companionship at the Rainbow Club. Green, yellow, and red neon lights advertise the bar and cafe. Inside, Wiggins can choose to sit on a barstool at the counter or at one of the white-clothed tables in the dimly lit bar area. The cafe features a lunch counter and tables adorned with cheerful red-and-white checkered tablecloths.

Point of View

Gaines employs a first-person perspective to narrate Grant Wiggins's story. This means that Wiggins himself recounts the events as they impact him. Through Wiggins’s voice, Gaines vividly conveys the intense emotions Wiggins experiences in relation to other characters and their collective struggles. This narrative approach allows Gaines to intertwine his fiction with historical reality, sharing his own life experiences and perceptions with readers through his characters' lives and feelings. He skillfully blends fact and fiction to reflect on the Southern world he knows existed. A unique twist to the typical first-person narrative is Jefferson’s journal. By reading Jefferson's entries, Wiggins gains insight into Jefferson’s innermost thoughts, which a first-person narrator typically would not have.

Style

Critics frequently liken Gaines’s stories to epics. While epics are traditionally long narrative poems, there are notable similarities: both recount extraordinary achievements or events and feature epic characters who display heroism in the face of significant challenges. In Wiggins’s case, there is no hope of saving Jefferson from his impending death, a consequence of pervasive societal racism. Nevertheless, Wiggins helps Jefferson attain self-respect before his execution, despite the efforts of those who persecute him for his race. Paul Bonin regards Wiggins as a hero, even if Wiggins himself does not see it that way.

Gaines draws from the Southern rural folk tradition, which he absorbed in his aunt's home on a plantation similar to Bayonne, to depict the intricacies of this cultural system. "Gaines's novels link individuals to their social context with the explicit purpose of combating the alienation of capitalist and racist society," says Folks. Gaines explains that he writes "for the Black youth of the South, to let them know that their lives are worth writing about, and maybe in that way I could help them find themselves . . . [and] for the White youth of the South to let them know that unless they know their neighbor of three hundred years, they know only half of their own history" (National Forum, Winter, 1998).

To achieve this, Gaines vividly describes the Bayonne community, from its physical setting to the language spoken by its residents. Readers are left with no doubt that the Black and White communities are as separate as if they were on different planets. The White men in authority expect Grant to conform to their stereotypical image of a "nigger." Initially, he complies by saying "Sir" when required, but gradually he changes, using proper grammar, holding his head high, and making eye contact with White people. Gaines uses phonetic spelling to capture the local dialect. For example, Jefferson says "yer" instead of "here" and writes his journal phonetically, without punctuation or capitalization.

The plantation school is housed in the church. Blackboards cover the back and right walls, student desks are church pews, and the teacher's desk is the table used for the collection plate on Sundays. A wood stove, supplied with wood by the children's parents, heats the building. The children are vulnerable to the teacher's bad moods, with discipline enforced using a Westcott ruler. Grant is initially indifferent to the children's feelings, including those of Estelle, Jefferson's cousin. However, after the Christmas program, Grant slowly changes, eventually giving Jefferson's journal to the children.

The fields encircle the Quarter; the road is dirt, turning to mud when it rains. Indoor plumbing is scarce, and wood stoves are used for heating and cooking. The community's life revolves around these fields and the weather. Before the Christmas program at the school, rain turns the road and fields into a quagmire, making it impossible to harvest the sugar cane. It is cold and wet, forcing people to stay home, huddled around fireplaces and stoves. This weather has actually benefited the program, as the children had more time to practice since they couldn't work after school. The turnout for the program is large because no one is in the fields or gardens. Some audience members must wear their coats because the stove does not adequately heat the church.

The program blends both secular and religious elements: it features a recitation of "The Night Before Christmas," the Biblical Christmas story, and reminisces about Christmas trees from past years—detailing the types of trees, how they were cut, brought inside, and decorated. People say that the Nativity's language is the "communal language . . . transferring the words and the imagery of the Biblical story into local experience." After the program concludes, Grant reflects on its consistent nature over the years, pondering the changes Vivian has mentioned, which he has yet to notice.

Descriptions of food prepared and served at various times throughout the story highlight a central thread in the community's life. The significance of food to daily life, well-being, and communal harmony brings the people closer together. Women offer food to others as a testament to their belief in human dignity and the dignity of their culture.

A Lesson before Dying takes place in the late 1940s, a period before desegregation, the Civil Rights movement, and pivotal court decisions transformed many aspects of our society. The Civil Rights movement significantly altered American life for the Black community, women, and other minority groups, including Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. These changes occurred due to the societal shifts initiated when various groups within our society demanded equality.

1. Schools in the 1940s differed greatly from today's schools. Discuss some of the differences you notice from the description of Grant Wiggins's school.

2. What qualities of an effective teacher did Grant Wiggins demonstrate? Do you believe his students enjoyed attending school?

3. Would Grant and Jefferson have had the same teacher during their school years in Bayonne? What factors led to the differing educational outcomes for Grant and Jefferson?

4. How has the judicial system evolved since the 1940s? Do you think Jefferson's trial would be handled the same way today?

5. What cultural divisions still exist in America? Do you observe any of these divisions in your community? Should these divisions persist, or should the community work towards change?

6. What defines a hero? Who are some individuals you consider heroes today? Why do these individuals attain hero status?

7. Identify examples of ebonics in the novel. Discuss ebonics as a distinct language.

8. At least one child in Grant's school aspires to a goal beyond working in the fields in the Quarter. Do you think she has a chance of achieving that goal? Do you suppose any other children have unexpressed goals in the novel? Do they have the potential to reach these goals?

9. One recurring theme in several of Gaines's works is the alienation between fathers and sons. How is this theme portrayed in A Lesson before Dying? Who would you consider to be the father and who the son in this story? What are some generational conflicts you have noticed or experienced? Do these characters succeed in bridging the generational gap?

10. Discuss the significance of the women in the Quarter. Would this be considered a matriarchal society? In what ways does Grant acknowledge this?

Years after the publication of A Lesson before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines remains deeply interested in the lives of Black residents in rural Louisiana, including how they interact with one another and how they are treated by those outside their community. His vivid depictions of life in this area, known as the Quarter, as well as in the White community and the town of Bayonne, are inspired by a plantation community in Pointe Coupee Parish, near New Roads, Louisiana, where he was born and spent part of his childhood.

Gaines explores the societal divisions in the South during the late 1940s. As a teenager, he relocated to California but later visited the plantation where he was born. In 1963, when he decided to write his first novel set in this region, he returned to Baton Rouge and lived with relatives for six months. This experience allowed him to reconnect with rural Louisiana life, enabling him to authentically convey the emotions and perspectives of its people.

Gaines portrays life before desegregation, addressing the quality of education, life expectations, discrimination, and the complex layers of prejudice. He believes that when community members understand their place in history, they are empowered to initiate social change.

A Lesson before Dying is set in Bayonne during the late 1940s. In this period, discrimination and prejudice are prevalent in both White and Black communities. Schools, churches, restaurants, bars, hotels, and residential areas are all segregated. The Black community predominantly resides in the Quarter, an area of the plantation where slaves were housed before emancipation. People in the Quarter live in houses built during slavery, on a dirt road that becomes impassable when it rains, with minimal indoor plumbing. The local school, situated in the church building, serves grades one through six, accommodating children aged six to fourteen, with just one teacher. Grant Wiggins, the teacher, was born in the Quarter but moved to California for college, returning annually to teach for six months. The school year runs from late October to mid-April, aligning with the harvest and planting seasons. Surrounded by sugar cane fields that have been there for over a century, the children face strict discipline, often receiving a slap on the hand or buttocks with a ruler. Older students are tasked with teaching the younger ones. There is a chronic shortage of school supplies, including chalk. The educational level is basic, focusing on minimal literacy skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic. The protagonist, Jefferson, is accused of robbery and murder and sentenced to death without a fair trial. In the final weeks of his life, Jefferson keeps a journal, which indicates the school's shortcomings. Despite these failings, Jefferson feels a strong connection to his community, and this sense of pride allows him to face his death courageously.

In town, Black residents live in an area often referred to in the South as "across the tracks," in housing similar to that in the Quarter but with better indoor plumbing. The stores, restaurants, bars, and churches are segregated, with establishments for the Black community located at the back of town, down a dirt road, while the White community occupies the paved main street. Although schools are segregated, the Black school in town has its own building and buses for the children. The quality of education for Black children in town is likely higher than that of those in the Quarter, as they attend school for a longer duration each year.

Segregation and prejudice are depicted throughout the narrative as everyday realities. Both the Black and White communities accept segregation as the norm, without questioning it. Even the Black community, despite knowing Jefferson’s death sentence is unjust, does not challenge the system. Instead, their focus is on ensuring Jefferson faces his punishment with as much dignity as possible. The community rallies to help him "die like a man." They understand that they cannot save Jefferson but believe that by maintaining his dignity, they can assert their equality with the White community.

Prejudice is not confined to interactions between Black and White communities; it also exists within the Black community itself. This internal prejudice is evident in the relationship between Grant’s girlfriend, Vivian, and her family. Vivian’s first marriage to a man with darker skin was unacceptable to her family. Despite her efforts to reconnect with them after her marriage and the birth of her first child, her parents rejected both her husband and child due to their skin color. Grant, who also has a darker complexion, faces the same rejection, leaving Vivian with no hope of reconciliation with her parents.

Jeffrey J. Folks, writing for The Mississippi Quarterly (Spring, 1999), states, "the basis for any civilization is an inherited culture with roots in folk and popular tradition." Folks believes that Gaines addresses a fundamental issue in African-American communities—a problem that began when Africans were brought to America as slaves, disrupting their folk culture, and continued as many freed slaves migrated to the North and West, hindering the formation of a New World culture. In the Southern Review, May 1990, Gaines wrote that by denying his historical identity, "not only was I lying to myself, but I was denying knowing the others, the ones I had left, and wasn't that the same as denying who I was?" Grant also grapples with these questions, finding answers through Jefferson.

The works of Alice Walker, especially The Color Purple, share notable similarities. Both novels are set in rural Southern farming communities and explore themes of self-esteem growth, self-pride, and feature a character who acts as a role model for the protagonist. Although Walker's main character is female and Gaines's is male, both require support from others to grow into strong adults. The authors use language to distinguish between their educated and uneducated characters, and in both stories, the oppressed characters use writing to express their emotions and gain self-respect.

The authors themselves share many commonalities. Both grew up in the rural South, pursued higher education elsewhere—Walker in New York and Gaines in California—and bring a broader perspective to their views of the South and the African-American communities there. Both have received awards for their work, and the film adaptations of their novels have also been acclaimed.

In the New York Times Book Review, Alice Walker notes that Gaines "claims and revels in the rich heritage of the Southern Black people and their customs; the community he feels with them is unmistakable and goes deeper even than pride." Gaines expresses that "too many Blacks have been writing to tell Whites all about 'the problems,' instead of writing something that all people, including their own, can find interesting, could enjoy." He acknowledges the influence of writers like William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Gustave Flaubert, and Guy de Maupassant on his language and style. Additionally, he credits Russian authors Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Turgenev, and Anton Chekhov for providing a model on how to write about rural Black America.

The fictional town of Bayonne, inspired by the plantation town where Gaines was raised, frequently appears in his novels. The first of these is Catherine Carmier, regarded by critics as his pivotal work. It tells the story of Jackson Bradley, who returns to Bayonne after being educated in California. Catherine, the daughter of a Creole family, has a father who believes that, as a Creole, he is racially and socially superior to anyone with darker skin. William E. Grant notes that the novel "seems to float outside time and place rather than being solidly anchored in the real world of the modern South" (Keith E. Byermann, Dictionary of Literary Biography).

Gaines recounts hearing about a Black man who killed another man over a woman. However, because he was considered a "good nigger," a White man could pay his bond, creating a debt that the Black man had to work off for the next five to seven years (National Forum). Of Love and Dust, the novel that emerged from this story, is a romance set in the South. This second novel juxtaposes the White overseer against the parolee and pairs the parolee with the overseer's wife, culminating in tragedy for the parolee.

Perhaps Gaines's most renowned work, and certainly the one that earned him national acclaim, is The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Narrated in the first person by Miss Jane, the story spans over a century of history, covering slavery, Reconstruction, two world wars, segregation, and the Civil Rights movement. An article in DIScovering Authors describes Jane Pittman as "an embodiment of the Black experience in America." Byermann comments, "By focusing on the particular yet typical events of a small part of Louisiana, those lives are given a concreteness and specificity not possible in general histories."

In My Father's House, Gaines's fourth novel, delves into the theme of fathers and sons striving to understand one another. The narrative centers on the repercussions of a father's absence—after being abandoned for twenty years, a son seeks out his father with the intent to kill him, believing his father's actions caused his suffering. The father, now a pastor and a prominent civil rights leader, embarks on a quest to find his first family and uncover what truly happened to them. In the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook, William Burke notes that "Phillip Martin's failure to keep his first family whole, to honor his and [his companion's] love by marriage, and the dissipation of the first half of his adult life—these unfortunate events are clearly a consequence of Martin's fear of accepting the responsibilities of Black manhood." Burke also references Gaines's remarks to Desruisseaux: "You must understand that the Blacks who were brought here as slaves were prevented from becoming the men that they could be. . . . A man can speak up, he can do things to protect himself, his home, and his family, but the slaves could never do that. If the White said the slave was wrong, he was wrong. . . . So eventually the Blacks started stepping over the line, [saying] 'Damn what you think I'm supposed to be—I will be what I ought to be. And if I must die to do it, I'll die'. . . . Quite a few of my characters step over that line."

In A Gathering of Old Men, Gaines introduces us to seventeen elderly Southern Black men and a 30-year-old White heiress who all confess to the murder of a member of a Cajun family. Each character provides a reason why he could have killed Beau Boutan. They take a stand because they have spent their lives in humiliation and fear. The deaths of these old men will catalyze societal change; the old ways will give way to a modern South.

The common thread in these novels is the setting and the depiction of a culture that exists alongside and beneath the more visible White community. In an interview with San Francisco, Gaines stated, "So many of our novels deal only with the great city ghettos; that is all we write about, as if there's nothing else. We've only been living in these ghettos for 75 years or so, but the other 300 years—I think this is worth writing about."

The HBO Original Movie, A Lesson Before Dying, premiered on May 22, 1999. The film features Don Cheadle as Grant Wiggins, Mekhi Phifer as Jefferson, Irma P. Hall as Miss Emma, and Cicely Tyson as Tante Lou. Don Cheadle earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his performance. Additionally, the film won Emmys in 1999 for Best Television Movie and Best Writing.

In a review published in the Christian Century on May 21, 1999, M. S. Mason states that the central question of both the novel and the film is "How shall we live?" He describes the movie as "an excellent, beautifully acted, star-studded event calculated to hearten even the most jaded" and emphasizes the importance of contemplating the "great questions" and "choosing our answers wisely." Mason concludes that these questions include: "How shall we live, with dignity or without it? How does one become a whole person? What shall my life mean—will it be all for self, or for others as well?" He notes that the film's humane and believable answers, grounded in timeless truths, contribute to its powerful impact and will likely encourage viewers to read the novel.

Producer Robert Benedetti adds, "Initially, Grant is unaware of the intrinsic dignity and richness of his own culture. He learns as much from Jefferson about being a man as Jefferson learns from him. He has been a head without a heart, and he emerges from this experience as a whole person."

An unabridged audio edition of A Lesson Before Dying, narrated by Jay Long, was released by Random House in 1997 (ISBN: 0375402586).

Juneteenth Audio Books provides an abridged version of A Lesson Before Dying, produced by Time Warner Audio Books (ISBN: 1570422230).

Sources

Alvin Aubert, “Ernest J. Gaines: Overview,” in Contemporary Novelists, 6th ed., edited by Susan Windisch Brown, St. James Press, 1996.

Jerry H. Bryant, Iowa Review, Winter, 1972.

Paul Desruisseaux, in New York Times Book Review, May 23, 1971.

Joseph McLellan, in Washington Post, January 13, 1976.

Larry McMurtry, in New York Times Book Review, November 19, 1967.

Alice Walker, in New York Times Book Review, October 30, 1983.

For Further Study

Alvin Aubert, “Ernest J. Gaines: Overview,” in Contemporary Novelists, 6th ed., edited by Susan Windisch Brown, St. James Press, 1996. This piece not only compares the works of Gaines and Faulkner but also examines how black-white relationships serve as a fundamental element in each of Gaines's novels.

H. A. Baker and P. Redmond, editors, AfroAmerican Literary Study in the 1990’s (Black Literature and Culture), University of Chicago Press, 1989. This is the first in a series of volumes dedicated to the academic study of African-American literature and culture.

B. Bell, “African American Literature,” in Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia [CD-ROM], Grolier Interactive, Inc., 1998. This entry explains the tradition and characteristics of African-American literature. The author discusses how race, ethnicity, class, gender, and nationality influence literature and explores African-American literature through its genres and key writers.

J. Dizard, “Racial Integration,” in Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia [CD-ROM], Grolier Interactive, Inc., 1998. The author defines racial integration and provides a historical overview within the United States, referencing significant Civil Rights acts.

D. C. Estes, Critical Reflections on the Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines, University of Georgia Press (Athens), 1994. This collection of essays offers an in-depth exploration of Gaines's work, covering themes, techniques, and his use of humor, with comparisons to other authors.

R. Laney, Ernest J. Gaines: Louisiana Stories, Video Production by Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Louisiana Educational Television Authority. [Online] Available at http://oscar.lpb.org/programs/gaines/, 1998. This video production provides an overview of Ernest Gaines's life through interviews with Gaines, his acquaintances, and notable writers and scholars, offering insights into the influences on his writing.

V. Smith and A. Walton, editors, African American Writer, Charles Scribner Sons, 1991. This compilation of essays combines biography and literary criticism, focusing on the unique experiences of African Americans and their cultural and historical context within American history.