A Lesson Before Dying

Jefferson is a 21-year-old Black man who has been sentenced to death. He has never been outside the quarter, a small Black community on the larger plantation where everyone works. He is poor, undereducated, and raised by his godmother. Jefferson has been sentenced to death for being at a store shootout. He hears his attorney refer to him as a “hog,” and Jefferson embraces this idea. He doesn’t say much until Chapter 29 when he says everything he can think of. He writes in the dialect he speaks, and his statements are clear and innocent.

Jefferson ironically shares a name with the man who wrote the country’s constitution, was a slave owner, and also a proponent of education for all. Jefferson represents all that is innocent in the novel. He is powerless to survive his situation. He has suffered under generations of both oppressive and underserved people. He has no idea how to process what has happened to him or why. He does not question his circumstances and never has. The only idea he can grab onto is the idea that he is a hog and not a man. Sitting alone in a cell, he is forced to think about living and dying, and about the people in his life. He thinks about his feelings, and he slowly learns to appreciate Grant’s words and deeds. In the end, Jefferson fills a chapter with his words, stands and walks straight to the electric chair, and demonstrates that he is the bravest and strongest man in the crowded death chamber. He gives his godmother her proud moment, he gives Grant the opportunity to make a difference, and he dies with dignity in the face of adversity.

Miss Emma is Jefferson’s godmother, and he often refers to her as “Nannan.” She was a servant for many years in the plantation big house, and she uses that status to try and leverage Grant’s visits to Jefferson. Miss Emma is a woman of fortitude and a pillar of the community in the quarter. Like many members of her generation in the quarter, Miss Emma is functionally illiterate, a lifelong member of the Christian church, and raising a child that is not her own. When she hears her godson referred to as a “hog” in the courtroom, she commits to proving that image and stereotype wrong. While her vision does not include details for how this will be achieved, she knows that the best way to do it is to have the teacher teach him how to be a man.

Though a woman of few words, Miss Emma communicates volumes with her looks, deeds, actions, and food. Miss Emma always prepares a food basket for every visitation to the jail, and there is always enough food to feed the entire cell block. She employs every tool she has to convince people to do right by Jefferson. She feigns illness, she begs, she commands, she guilt-trips, and she implores. Her love for Jefferson is clear, though her capacity to support him in becoming a man is questionable. In keeping with her character, she knows enough to know she cannot do it alone, and she asks for help. She needs Jefferson to know, with confidence, that he is a man and not a hog. It is her request that sets the plot in motion. Without her insistence, Grant would never have made the visits to the jail. It is also Miss Emma who insists that Grant and a Reverend Ambrose must work together to make Jefferson a man and save his soul. Arguably, Miss Emma is the facilitator of humanity, and even manhood, in this story.

Tante Lou is Grant’s aunt and friend to Miss Emma. She functions as Grant’s mother and is the one who raised him. She accompanies Miss Emma on nearly all the visits to the jail, and she is the one who makes sure Grant does his part. She expresses her emotions through her often-disapproving looks at Grant. Tante Lou is at the courthouse, she attends every church service, she visits with Miss Emma every day, and she entertains the visitors who drop by to pay their respects. It is Tante Lou who insists that Grant study hard and go to college, and it is she who insists that he teach Jefferson to die like a man. Grant spends most of the novel mad at his aunt, whom he likes to blame for everything unpleasant in his life. He blames her for making him feel tricked into teaching, trapped in the quarter, and now confined to humiliating visits to the jail. Grant thinks it is his aunt that is holding him back from living like a man. Tante Lou is strong and resolute in her expectations of Grant, and like Miss Emma, she ensures that Grant, too, become the man they need him to be.

Reverend Ambrose is the local Black minister, elder, and confidante to Miss Emma. He has been tasked with saving Jefferson’s soul. While not formally educated himself, Reverend Ambrose prides himself on being knowledgeable about his people. This is especially important when he clashes with Grant about how to best serve Jefferson in his final days. Reverend Ambrose sees saving Jefferson’s soul as the only way to save the man before he dies.

It is Reverend Ambrose who challenges Grant and his elitist thinking about education. Reverend Ambrose knows his role in the community and is cognizant of everyone’s imperfections, but he understands how much they sacrifice, and he does not take this for granted. He check’s Grant’s arrogance by reminding him that it is his aunt who has lied, cheated, and sacrificed to get him where he is today. In the end, Grant acknowledges that Reverend Ambrose is stronger than he is because it is Ambrose who volunteers to be with Jefferson in his final hour.

Vivian Baptiste is Grant Wiggins’ love interest. She is the mother of two children, and she is separated from children’s father. Because she is in the middle of trying to formalize her divorce and custody arrangements her children, she does not want to draw attention to her relationship with Grant. Vivian is a beautiful, light-skinned woman who does not have much contact with her own family because they resented her marrying a dark-skinned man. Vivian is strong enough to defy the internalized racism of her own light-skinned family members and break out on her own. She loves Grant, but she does not like how he can’t seem to rise above his circumstances and put her first for a change. This is clearest in the aftermath of Grant’s fight with the bricklayers. Vivian accuses him of being self-centered and not thinking about how his actions could jeopardize her custody of her kids. Grant is confused by this and can only focus on how he had to fight that same Jefferson had to fight: because neither man has a choice in these circumstances. Vivian argues that he does have a choice, but he does not want to take responsibility for that and is choosing to die a statistic and up in a grave to which Vivian says she might someday bring flowers.

Edna Guidry is the sister of Henri Pichot, and the wife of Sam Guidry, the local sheriff. Edna is representative of antebellum white woman sensibility. She never challenges the status quo, but she cannot stand lapses in social graces. She is a minor character who only appears a few times in the story, but she seems to be active behind the scenes and drives the plot in important ways. Edna is a tall white woman in her fifties who prides herself on “knowing” the Black people who work on the plantation. Her platitudes are self-serving, and she performs her role of caring, concerned, but delicate white, southern woman. On the day when Grant is made to wait two and half hours to see Henri Pichot and the sheriff, Edna stops by the kitchen and assumes a familiarity with Grant that is not shared.

Edna is also the one to push the men to allow the visitations to take place in the dayroom instead of at Jefferson’s jail cell. Miss Emma approached her about this possibility and let Edna do the speaking for her. Because Edna raised it, the sheriff must now confront the issue and deal with it.

Farrell Jarreau is an older man who has lived and worked in the quarter all his life. He runs errands and serves as a handyman for Henri Pichot. Grant reflects on how Jarreau is a good example of a wasted life and what can happen to any men who never leave the quarter. To Grant, Jarreau is complacent and subservient to the white men of the plantation. Jarreau never complains and does not speak much in the novel, but he is always going to fetch someone to go stop by someone else’s house. Grant mentions that Farrell Jarreau treated him differently and with more respect when he returned from college. At the end of the novel, it is Farrell Jarreau and his ability to turn a piece of driftwood into an amazing slingshot handle that Grant uses as the metaphor for Jefferson’s transformation. Grant seems to have reached a new level of appreciation for Jarreau and his role in the community.

Henri Pichot is owner of the plantation and resides in the big house. His sister, Edna, is married to the sheriff. Henri lives comfortably on the spoils of his antebellum plantation home, where he still functions as the master of his domain. He knows Miss Emma because she was a servant during the years he and Edna were growing up on the plantation. He feels obligated to give Miss Emma an audience, but he is not happy about it. It is Henri who facilitates the meeting with the sheriff and makes the actual request on Miss Emma’s behalf for Grant to visit Jefferson.

Inez Lane works in the kitchen at the big house and is the next generation of servant to fill the roles Tante Lou and Miss Emma once occupied. Inez Lane keeps with the customs of the plantation home and works hard to uphold existing power structures. At the same time, she is the one who greets Grant at the back door, lets him in, offers to feed him, and keeps him posted on how much longer he will have to wait before he can meet with the white men who summoned him.

Alcee Gropé is the white shopkeeper killed in the shootout with Brother and Bear. He was long-time resident of the community and was known to often allow Black members of the quarter to buy things on credit. Gropé understood the crop cycles and pay cycles and, according to Brother and Bear, was willing to make accommodations for the Black customers. Arguably also a victim of circumstance, Gropé gets overconfident about his discretionary power and loses his life over it.

Joe and Thelma Claiborne own and operate the Rainbow Club that Grant frequents. Joe is an older man who works as the barkeep and Thelma is his wife who runs the kitchen. They consistently treat Grant with warmth and respect. In some ways, they represent a Black middle-class couple who own their own business, could afford a new Cadillac, and can support allowing their customer base to get things on credit when needed. They donate the money for Grant to purchase Jefferson’s radio, and they have to contend with Grant when he nearly destroys the place in a barroom brawl with the bricklayers.

Paul Bonin is the white deputy who comes from “good stock.” He is the only white person who treats Grant like an equal. Paul has worked in the courthouse for long enough to have enabled the unjust persecution of many Black men in the community. He seems to think of Jefferson as a man and not a “thing” or a “hog.” He still conducts the humiliating searches when Grant visits, but he seems to do so reluctantly. He volunteers information about how Jefferson is doing, what his days look like, and offers to accommodate as he can. Jefferson picks up on this respectfulness as well and asks Paul if he will be at his execution. Paul witnesses the death of Jefferson and is the first person to tell Grant what transpired. Paul immediately drives out to the quarter, something he has never done before, and seeks out Grant. Paul seems transformed by this experience and pledges genuine friendship with Grant and professes never to forget Jefferson. Paul literally crosses racial lines with his car, his friendship, and his humanity. His character is comparable to the apostle Paul, who goes through a similar transformation after witnessing the death of Jesus and swearing his discipleship to Jesus’ teachings forever after. Paul’s character offers hope and possibility for a different and better future.

Dr. Joseph Morgan is a white man who serves as the superintendent of schools. He makes his annual visit to Grant’s building and is far more concerned with the students’ hygiene than with their academics. Dr. Joseph is a minor character who represents another white institution, education, that continues to humiliate and demoralize Black people. Grant feels played but does not see a way out of the visits.