A Lesson Before Dying: A Literary Analysis

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In the novel A Lesson before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines elaborates upon the lives of a close-knit, southern community during a time of strife. Mr. Grant Wiggins, a school teacher suffering internal conflict, is sought teach humanity and mortality to Jefferson, an innocent man on death row. Throughout Devil in a Blue Dress, author Walter Mosley fabricates the character of Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, an unemployed assembly-line worker. Once Easy finds an alternative vocation, he encounters several dangerous lifestyles that transcend racial profiles. In the work Fences, playwright August Wilson depicts a blue-collar family, led by Troy, a father with an unorthodox parenting style. Troy is unaffectionate toward his children and brash, caused by his jaded …show more content…
In Lesson, Grant struggles to uphold his obligations to his aunt and Jefferson’s godmother prior to Jefferson’s execution. Grant expresses “I wish I could just run away from this place” (94) to which Vivian, Grant’s girlfriend and voice of reason, replies “You love them more than you hate this place”(94). Grant romanticizes a life without responsibility in California; however, his love of his family and the moral obligation he feels toward them and Jefferson, prohibit him from seeking a more comfortable lifestyle. During Devil, Easy feels an overpowering need to keep and maintain property of his own, property that allows him a sense of validation. Easy expresses this need when claiming “The thought of paying my mortgage reminded me of my front yard and the shade of my fruit trees in the summer heat… but if I didn’t even own my front door then people would look at me like just another poor beggar, with his hand outstretched”(53). He finds alternative employment in order to keep his home, a possession he is obligated to himself to sustain. In Fences, Troy is a man burdened by the responsibility of family and life, burdens that cause him to resent and lose affection for both. Troy exemplifies this characteristic when he describes “It’s my job. It’s my responsibility! You understand that? A man got to take care of his family” (38). Troy does not “like” his children, but because they are an element of his …show more content…
Lesson is set in the 1940s south, an area plagued by racial discrimination and Jim Crow Laws. Such discrimination enhances Grant’s temptation to leave behind his commitments to Jefferson and his family in Louisiana and migrate toward his parents in California. This has also inhibited Grant from reaching a more desirable occupation; nonetheless, he persists in Bayonne for the sake of his responsibilities and moral health. Similarly, Devil transpires in the 1940s, post-war era, but it takes place in a slightly more welcoming Los Angeles. Easy has moved to this area of the country to escape the discriminatory, southern life he was accustomed to. He believes this environment to be appropriate for personal success; however, financial setbacks discourage him from remaining in California and encourage him to return to his hometown. Despite his misfortune, Easy is prideful in himself and refuses to ignore the obligations made to himself. Fences explores life in 1950s Pittsburgh, where racial tensions are ever-prevalent during the pre-civil-rights era. Troy needs to continue working in order to uphold the responsibilities he harbors for his family, but his age and physical condition are unsympathetic of these responsibilities. Because of this Troy requires a less laborious job, driving a garbage truck,
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