“A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines takes place in the South, during the time of the Civil War as blacks started to gain there freedom. A black man by the name of Jefferson happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and was convicted of murdering a white bar tender. In front of the jury he was made to look like a fool by his own attorney. His attorney trying to plea the smphathtic role, made Jefferson out to be a “hog”, which angered his mom. Thought he was still found guilty of the crime, his mother wanted him to dye a man not a “hog”. So his mom had a school teacher by the name of Wiggins teach Jefferson that he wasn’t a “hog”, but a man. As Wiggins visited Jefferson and paid attention to his time of distress, they both had changing attitude toward what was happen and both learned an valuable lesson from each other. At the beginning of the story when Jefferson’s mom asks Wiggins to help Jefferson, Wiggins really didn’t want to be bothered with him. He was flustered with his job as a school teacher and sick in tried of not living life. Even thought he agreed to help Jefferson out, he still had no idea how he would do it. He took out his frustration on the children he taught, by telling them
his problem. He said, “ Do you know what his nannan wants me to do before they kill him?”(39) and “Suppose I was allowed to visit him, and suppose I reached him and made him realize that he was as much a man as any other man; then what, he’s still going to dye.”(39) These are key examples showing that he didn’t want to do this and he had a very negative attuide toward helping Jefferson. With his attuide for helping Jefferson being in a negative way and Jefferson’s attuide being negative because of what his attorney had said about him and him dying. How would he learn to became a man? Jefferson’s negative attuide was understandable because he was about to die, but he still had to realize he is a man not a “hog”. He believed what the attorney had said about him and when the judge asked if he had any last words he just, “looked down in self pity and shock his head .”(9) He was show assumed of himself that he wouldn’t eat or wear any of the things his mom brought to him. Even when his mom brought him his favorite dish he replied, “It don’t matter.”(73) As Wiggins stared to visit Jefferson they both started to change there negative attunes about there situation. Wiggins started to open himself to Jefferson and he did the same. At first when Jeff
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