A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson Before Dying

Ernest J. Gaines

CliffsNotes on A Lesson Before Dying tells Ernest Gaines' story of Jefferson, a young black man wrongfully accused of robbing and murdering a white man and sentenced to death. During the trial, Jefferson internalizes his attorney's argument that he is too dim to have planned such a robbery. His godmother, Miss Emma, enlists Grant Wiggins to teach Jefferson how to be a man and to die with dignity, and over the next few months, both men find the self-respect each had lost.