Ignasiak 1

Andrew Ignasiak
Ms. Smit
12 AP English
October 28, 2014
Historical Look at a Southern U.S. 1940s Setting
Historical Criticism Paper on A Lesson Before Dying
To best understand Ernest J. Gainess novel A Lesson Before Dying readers should have
basic knowledge of the time in which the story took place. The setting of the novel is in the
South in the 1940s, a time in which civil rights were a major issue. The history of this time
period makes the plot for this story possible. The customs, events, and the people in the novel are
all things that are considered when looking at this novel through a historical lens. A historical
critic would argue that this novel is connected directly to the period in which it is based. A critic
would also argue the piece should take into account where it was written and when it was written
as well, when analyzing pieces of literature. The novels main character, Grant Wiggins is a
college educated black man. His education is what separates him from other black men in the
south during this time. Ernest Gaines molds Wiggins after himself, as they are both black men
who grew up doing field labor, who managed to break free from normal traditions and worked
toward and received a college education. In Gainess novel A Lesson Before Dying, a historical
critic would look at how the racism of the time plays a role in the small mannerisms white people
display and how those mannerisms affect the black people in the novel. The novel embodies the

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historic sense of time through the treatment of blacks and through the actions those black people
take in response to the ways they are treated by white people.
Viewing how black people treated white people in the late 1800s until the mid 1950s
shows how reluctant black people were to treat white people with anything less than pure
inferiority. Black people acted like they were less simply because they were treated and saw
themselves as less. Even as this novel took place not too long before the civil rights movements
and the 1950s, Gaines still includes minor details that show how blacks were accustomed to
being inferior to white people. Grant Wiggins is given the task of going to a jail and helping a
black man prepare himself to die, as courts jury found Jefferson, the man in jail, guilty of
murdering three men. Grant has to face multiple white men throughout the novel, especially
when he needed permission to visit Jeffersons jail cell. Gaines adds interesting details to
seeming less unimportant scenes and acts in the novel. Chapter six in the novel begins with
Wiggins coming to the house of white residents, which isnt odd but what is odd is that without
hesitation I came up the back stairs (Gaines 42). Wiggins is a college graduate who teachers
school in the community, yet being black, he knows his place still, knowing he must approach a
white persons house not from the front, but from the back. Wiggins is waiting for hours in the
house for the residents to greet him. A tall woman in her early fifties finally welcomes Wiggins,
smiling and coming up to me with her hand out. She stopped a good distance back, and I had to
lean forward to shake her hand (44). This woman is letting Wiggins into her house, but letting
him know that she does not respect him, or maybe even trust him enough to shake his hand from
a certain distance away. The respected historical period of when the story was written makes
small mannerisms characters do in the story understandable. Grant makes an effort to improve
his hometown by coming back and teaching in a black elementary school. As a pretty successful

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man, Grant finds ways to interact with students and the superintendent, but ultimately finds that
it is easier for him to just adjust to how things should be for a southern school teacher, instead of
how things could be. Gaines also includes I waved at him, but he did not wave back. as the
superintendent leaves Grants classroom. Although this detail is meaningless, it just continues to
show the lack of respect Grant receives from people, and how it affects him and eats away at his
attitude very little at a time.
The color skin a person had during the 1940s decided a lot of things for them, and a lot
of things were out of many peoples control just by the color their skin. Jefferson was a black
man, and he was considered guilty from the jurys eyes simply because of his color. Jeffersons
reaction toward that was not dramatic, as he knew that is how things would play out. Jeffersons
attorney defended him in court by claiming he is not guilty because he is a fool, and A fool is
not aware of right and wrong. A fool does what others tell him to do (7). Jeffersons defense
also made the case that Jefferson lacks the intelligence to commit the crimes he was convicted
of. This is true in Jeffersons case, as he is a young, twenty-one year old boy. Jeffersons
attorney finishes off his defense by going back to the idea that Jefferson is not capable of
planning, and referenced, of course, his race; A cornered animal to strike quickly out of fear, a
trait inherited from his ancestors in the deepest jungle of the blackest Africa (7). Even
Jeffersons defense in court attempted to gain the jurys vote by referencing idea that Jefferson
committed the crime, not because he needed money or hated the mean enough to murder them,
but because it is in his blood he react by instinct and kill because of his skin color and
background. Jeffersons attorney in court never made the argument that Jefferson was wrongly
accused of the crimes against him, which he very well could have been and from the readers
perspective, it is told that he was wrongly accused. It is crucial to know the time period of this

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book, because any black man accused of a crime was almost always found guilty by a white
dominated court system. It took very little time for the jury to decide on this mans fate, as it was
meaningless to a group of men and women in the South in the 1940s. Jeffersons fate was
decided to be death by an electric chair, a method of death that has been outdated for a while, as
the death penalty in general is time specific. As Jefferson is about to be killed, Wiggins has his
students knee and pray in his classroom. Although Grant has lost many black friends, he says
that losing the next ones does not make it any easier for him. Hearing someone say a line such as
this would sound a bit astonishing, but taking the historical period into account, Grants words
seem fairly reasonable.
A historical perspective of this novel would focus on Grant Wiggins and how he is
treated and how racism is all around him in Gainess novel. Wiggins did not let a lot bother him,
as he knows his place in society and unfortunately has no alternative but to accept it. The setting
of the novel reflects the characters and the decisions made by the characters. This novel cannot
be fully understood without the reader being aware of the historical time period in which the
setting takes place.