Free Essays - Jefferson’s Character in A Lesson Before Dying :: Lesson Before Dying Essays

Jeffersons Character A Lesson Before Dying takes place in a small Louisiana Cajun community in the late1940s. In the novel, Jefferson, a young black man, is an unwitting party to a liquor store shootout in which three men are killed beingness the only survivor, he is convicted of a murder andsentenced to death. Jeffersons personality and physical appearance in the novel provides not onlya relationship to the motor lodge and his cell, but also connected to the geographical setting of the book. In the initial setting of the novel, Jefferson sits in a homage located in ruralLouisiana, which is change with exasperation , tension, isolation, and quietness from the people in theroom. This setting of the book supports Jeffersons personality in chapter 9 when Jeffersonscharacter is introduced. Jeffersons cell could be considered the second setting or Jeffersonssetting in the book. Jeffersons relationship to the courtroom (initial setting) supports Jeffersonspersonality in t he prison. He is isolated serious like in the courtroom. There was an empty cellbetween Jefferson and the rest of the prisoners (Gaines 71). Jeffersons cell was not only isolatedlike a courtroom in rural Louisiana, but quiet. Jeffersons been quiet . . . He didnt answer (71).Due to Jeffersons isolation and quietness, he has built anger inside. An anger which had beenbuilding up since the courtroom conviction. Nothing dont matter,he said, looking up at the ceiling. (73) The first setting of the novel is similar to Jeffersons cell setting. The three settings thecourtroom , location of the town, and prison all have similarities to Jeffersons character traits. Theme Jeffersons character represents race the best. The opportunity for enoughrepresentation for the African Americans in the book is shown through Jefferson. There is aconstant comparison and view of blacks vs. whites in the novel. To show too much wisdomwould have been an insult to them. (47) The respect of rac e varied in the book, but at the endJeffersons character prevailed. The author summons the reader to demonstrate the entire bitterhistory of black people in the South and America as a whole. The theme of race ties into the novelwhen the characters begin to deem the value of their lives in a time and place in which thoselives seemingly count for nothing. Jeffersons relationship to the theme in the novel only occurs