In a Lesson Before Dying, Grant, the protagonist, and narrator of the novel is an elementary school teacher, who has taken on the of making Jefferson a man. Since Grant has spent his whole life in a segregated, racist community, his views on dignity and their job as men are counterproductive. In the beginning of the novel, Grant was asked by Miss Emma to go and visit Jefferson and teach him to die with dignity. Grant replies by saying, “I’m the teacher ... and I teach what the white folks around here tell me to teach—reading, writing, and ‘arithmetic. They never told me how to keep a black boy out of a liquor store,”(Gaines 13). In this quote, it is …show more content…
Dignity has the potential to change the world, but only if people like you help to spread its profound message. Towards the end of, In a Lesson before Dying, the characters realize that their individual survivals depend on the mutual support they have for each other. Although it is Jefferson's story, it is equally Grant’s story because in the end they learn the lesson, of dignity and respect for each other and for