Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Human Dignity In A Lesson Befo - College Essay

Human Dignity In A Lesson Befo


re Dying
Grant and Jefferson are on a journey. Though they have vastly different educational backgrounds, their commonality of being black men who have lost hope brings them together in the search for the meaning of their lives. In the 1940’s small Cajun town of Bayonne, Louisiana, blacks may have legally been emancipated, but they were still enslaved by the antebellum myth of the place of black people in society. Customs established during the years of slavery negated the laws meant to give black people equal rights and the chains of tradition prevailed leaving both Grant and Jefferson trapped in mental slavery in their communities.
The struggles of Grant and Jefferson share a ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

as Grant’s struggle. Jefferson is searching for the most basic identity, whether he is man or animal. It is this conflict of meaning and identity that bring Grant and Jefferson together.
In this book, Ernest J. Gaines presents three views to determine manhood: law, education and religion. Jefferson has been convicted of a crime, and though he did not commit it, he is sentenced to death as a “hog” a word that denies any sense of worth or fragment of dignity he may have possessed in a world ruled by oppressive white bigots. Jefferson is at an even greater loss as he has no education and after the conviction he doubts that God can even exist in a world that would send an innocent man to his death. It is clear that Jefferson does not believe he has any value. “ ‘I’m an old hog. Just an old hog they fattening up to kill for Christmas’ ” (83).
Though Grant may have had some advantages compared with Jefferson, his position in life was ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.


Already a member? Login

this new way of thinking, they forged a bond and both began to understand the simple heroic act of resistance in defying the expectation of white society that they were members of a lesser race “ ‘Do you know what a myth is, Jefferson?’ I asked him. ‘A myth is an old lie that people believe in. White people believe that they are better than anyone else on earth—and that’s a myth. The last thing they ever want is to see a black man stand, and think and show that common humanity that is in us all. It would destroy their myth’ ” (192).
Grant encouraged Jefferson to live beyond the stereotype white society had imposed on him. In doing that ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library.
Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports,
and research papers in 2 minutes or less.


CITE THIS PAGE:

Human Dignity In A Lesson Befo. (2005, September 2). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Human-Dignity-In-A-Lesson-Befo/32655
"Human Dignity In A Lesson Befo." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 2 Sep. 2005. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Human-Dignity-In-A-Lesson-Befo/32655>
"Human Dignity In A Lesson Befo." Essayworld.com. September 2, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Human-Dignity-In-A-Lesson-Befo/32655.
"Human Dignity In A Lesson Befo." Essayworld.com. September 2, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Human-Dignity-In-A-Lesson-Befo/32655.
JOIN NOW
Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays


PAPER DETAILS
Added: 9/2/2005 03:47:46 PM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1359
Pages: 5

Save | Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS
Save and find your favorite essays easier

SIMILAR ESSAYS
» Catcher In The Rye, Compares T
» Spin Cycle
» Differences And Similarities Of...
» Book Report On "A Dramatic Deat...
» The Fool in King Lear
» Marijuana history
» Egg Experiment
» Women In The Labour Force
» Is the American Dream Still Ali...
» Famous Author- Samuel Selvon
Copyright | Cancel | Contact Us

Copyright © 2024 Essayworld. All rights reserved