From Accusation to Prison and Death: A Study of Ernest James Gaines’s A Lesson Before Dying

Abstract

Through this exploration, one discovers that the issue of racial conflicts between Blacks and Whites in the United States is still evident in Ernest James Gaines’s A Lesson Before Dying. For, the author’s portrayal of black characters in general as victims of rejection and of Jefferson in particular as victim of accusationbecause of his blackness in this great nation, recalls the racist atmosphere that prevailed in American society during the colonial era. His account for this black male character who is killed mercilessly by his white peers for an uncommitted crime,appears as a way for him to inform the reader about the plight of all black Americans in this “so-called democratic nation” which rejects its own citizens on behalf of racial belonging. This act of murder endured by this black character attests of the white man’s eagerness to create an America deprived of black citizens.