A Lesson Before Dying

The story explores the question of organized religion’s capacity for liberation and transformation. By the end of the novel, it seems as though the Black church can play this role for some, but for others it is no more than another set of false promises and a false hope. Reverend Ambrose, the local pastor of the Black church, struggles to “save” both Grant and Jefferson, but he must confront that it is Grant and not himself who is able to touch Jefferson’s soul.

Grant struggles with religion throughout the story. He stopped attending church after he started attending college. His aunt, however, is devout. For her and other members of the community, there can be nothing without the church. Grant knows he is missing something to believe in, and he even refers to Sunday as the “saddest” day of the week. Vivian, his aunt, and Reverend Ambrose all try to convince him that he will feel better if he just goes to church. Grant is not convinced. Intellectually, he sees the church as just another way to keep Black men in line with white control.

When Reverend Ambrose appeals to Grant to use his influence with Jefferson to convince him to get down on his knees and be “saved” before he dies, Grant says he will not. In a moment of sincerity, Grant explains that he will not lie to Jefferson. Grant does not “believe” and so he can’t tell Jefferson to “believe.” In the end, it is Grant, a self-proclaimed lost man, who helps Jefferson find his humanity. The authenticity of religion remains ambiguous in this story. It provides Reverend Ambrose the strength he needs to be with Jefferson in that final hour, but it isn’t enough to save Jefferson. Religion also provides comfort and friendship to the women in the novel. Grant, who struggles to define who he is apart from everything he is told he is supposed to be, has yet to find peace.

Interestingly, the novel often draws the comparison between Jefferson and Jesus. Jefferson realizes he must die “like a man” for the sake of the Black community, just like Jesus died, as Jefferson notes, without saying a word. When Jefferson dies, Grant has the schoolchildren get down on their knees. The implication is that, while Grant doesn’t have faith in God, he has faith in Jefferson. 

The novel demonstrates the healing and transformative power of friendship among and between Black women and Black men. At the end of the novel, transformation, redemption, and hope are shown through a new, authentic kind of friendship that crosses racial lines.

Tante Lou is by Miss Emma’s side throughout this story. She tends to her health, her heart, and her soul. The two women worked together as cooks at Henri Pichot’s plantation home. Tante Lou is there in the courtroom with her to hear the verdict, she attends almost every visit to the jail with Miss Emma, and she accompanies her to make the case for visitation to Henri Pichot and Sheriff Guidry. The women attend church together and visit with each other every day. Their shared experiences of working together, raising young men, living in the quarter, and attending church bond them together.

Friendship between the men of the quarter is not central to the story, but there seems to be an easy relationship between the men who work in the fields and deliver the wood to the school. Both Grant and Jefferson recall friendship with other boys. The difference for Grant is that most of these men are now gone. Grant explains that they left for other cities and towns, for other jobs, or for jail. Unlike himself, they find a way out of the town, but not necessarily a way to live a better life.

The relationships between and among white women and men are superficial and performative. Henri Pichot is always accompanied by Louis Rougon, but there is no indication of an authentic friendship. Louis Rougon is there to push his own agenda and support the status quo. Sam Guidry and Henri Pichot are brothers-in-law, but they have no relationship beyond obligatory custom. Edna Guidry likes to think of herself as a being in a friendship with Black women, but this is one-sided. Edna is white and performs polite interactions to appease her own guilt or protect her own sensibilities. She is an example of how years of racism and injustice prevent her from ever having an authentic friendship across racial lines. Because there are no examples of friendship between white people in the novel, there is the possibility that racism has made this impossible for white people.

It is only the relationship between Grant and Paul that evolves into an authentic friendship across racial lines. Throughout Grant’s visits to the jail, Paul shows him respect and genuine care. This extends to Jefferson as well. At the same time, Paul is a white deputy who is complicit in the unjust persecution of Black men. When Jefferson’s execution transforms him, he reaches out to Grant and states that he wants to be his “friend.” Paul does this in person by traveling to the quarter for the first time ever. He literally crosses the segregation line to bring Grant Jefferson’s journal. His gesture demonstrates a mutual respect between two men, who see each other as equals. This is the friendship that indicates hope.

The novel challenges education, like the justice system and the institution of religion, as a racist institution rather than a liberating path. The story explores the meaning of education, and the power of education to oppress as well as to empower. Tante Lou always stressed the importance of schooling to Grant. She made him go to college to try ensure a better life for him. She believed that education could make the difference, and so did Grant. When the story begins, Grant feels betrayed by education and the false promise of equality and respect that it was supposed to give him. He works as a teacher in the same school he attended. His heart is not in it because he only teaches what the white people tell him to teach. He does not feel he ever teaches what the children really need to learn about: who they are and how the world works. Grant says he wants to make a difference with his education, but being a teacher is the only thing an educated Black man in the South is allowed to do. By the end of the story, Grant has been just the teacher that Jefferson needs, but he can’t accept his own role in Jefferson’s transformation. Because the novel closes with Grant standing before his students and crying, the novel might offer hope that his teaching is transformed. Crying in front of his students has nothing to do with reading, writing, or arithmetic, but everything to do with Grant’s humanity.