Becoming a Man in A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

"The ultimate measure of a person is not a place to stand at a comfortable and convenient time but a place to stand when you are challenged and controversial.The true neighbor is your position, Life for the welfare of the people "- MLK Jr. Ernest J. Gaines of the 1940s is exploring the relationship between students and teachers in Bayonne, Louisiana, and their behavior. Jefferson, a young black man, was indicted for murder and sentenced to death for racial reasons.

Ernest J. Gains 'Lessons before Death' (1993) raises one of the most common questions literature can pose: we know we die, how should we live Is it? This is Grant Wiggins from Louisiana, a university young black man named Jefferson who is accused of killing a white housekeeper and a college student teaching at a plantation school. Of the 250 pages or more, the two men named after the president found friendship that changed at least two lives. In the first chapter, Jefferson's thought about Jefferson's legal strategy appointed in the court was to insist that "why, I will put pigs on the electric chair as soon as possible". Emma and Grant's aunt Tante Lou got angry with grandmother Emma and grandmother of grieved man's sorrow. They persuaded passive grants to spend time with Jefferson in their solitary confinement, so he could raise his head and fight death.

A black man, Jefferson, who was sentenced to death by an electric chair in Ernest J. Gains 'Lessons before Death' is probably the strongest person in today's African-American literature. Jefferson was a brave young black man and all white juries found he was not a crime of murder. But he will not yet allow this failure to destroy his personal character. Ernest Gaine thus explained Jefferson and showed that human failures do not necessarily lead to his basic belief in destruction. Using Jefferson's behavior, the author still enjoys external comfort, shows compassion to others, and seeks to improve himself before he ends. These behaviors clearly show that although society may regard Jefferson as a black murderer, he still managed to know that he retained good human qualities.