Grant Wiggins In Romulus Linney's A Lesson Before Dying

Grant Wiggins in Romulus Linney’s A Lesson before Dying
In this riveting drama Romulus Linney brings us to a small town in Louisiana around 1948. This play is centered on a boy named Jefferson who has just been wrongly accused of murder. Jefferson was a victim of racial injustice(which is a major theme throughout the play). Because Jefferson was black and simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, he was convicted with no evidence. Jefferson’s lawyer tries to help as much as he can although Jefferson doesn’t realize it, due to the fact that his own Lawyer called him nothing but a hog. But it didn’t help and the all-white jury still finds him guilty and he sentenced to death by electric chair. This is where (in my opinion) the most important character in the story is introduced Grant Wiggins. Jefferson’s godmother enlists the aid of the local school teacher Grant Wiggins to help Jefferson die like a man. Not only during this part of the play but through the whole play it doesn’t seem like anyone gets upset enough about this boys wrongful conviction. I may just be a naturally angry person. But very little uproar is made for this boy’s life. He is being executed for
something everyone knows is wrong yet the entire play continues like everyone just accepted it as normal.
Grant and Jefferson’s relationship is really what makes this play. Watching Grant open up to Jefferson is so fascinating. In the beginning of their relationship in the play we see Grant trying to break through to Jefferson as Miss Emma pleads Grant to help Jefferson. Unfortunately this is the only thing keeping Grant there as he hates watching his black students go through this “vicious cycle”. Grant uses that phrase a lot because it signifies that how no matter how hard he tries his students will all either go to jail or be killed or just harvest sugar cane all their lives. . Grant uses this as an excuse to leave, and though he doesn’t he wants to so badly. Grant feels like he’s wasting his time and feels like he can’t survive there anymore. This is where Jefferson and Grant’s relationship starts to build each other up. As Grant becomes more and more frustrated by Jefferson’s actions (like acting and eating like a hog and calling himself worthless) it brings up some buried hatred in Grant for the “dominant white society” which is portrayed by Paul and the Sheriff.
Grant does have a girlfriend named Vivian which isn’t a very huge part of the play, but rather she is more of a support role for Grant. She keeps him grounded through the play by saying she won’t leave the town with Grant, and pressuring him to keep trying to get Jefferson to open up. Grant and Vivian’s relationship is interesting although I’m not sure why, they seem more like drinking buddies then they do lovers. The time they do spend together is more focused on the town rather than their relationship. Which I think is a huge miss by Linney, I think adding in some extra dialogue between the two to show some actual romance or affection would have been great.
The next big character introduced is Reverend Ambrose, Jefferson doesn’t really seem to care much what he says but he plays a big part in Grant’s story. Grant starts the play off as if the world owes him something, but the Reverend sets him straight by explaining to him about how hard everyone worked most importantly Miss Emma to send him to college. This is a wakeup call for Grant because he never realized what everyone gave up so he could go to college. The Reverend also informs him of the reason Miss Emma and Aunt Lou worked so hard, he uses the word “Pain” to describe all the hardships that the town faces and the Reverend tells Grant that he was supposed to come back from college and end this pain. This is the tipping point I think where Grant finally understands why everyone wants him to stay. Grant goes through such an incredible change from the selfish brat he was at the beginning to the community-oriented man he seems to be at the end.
A very difficult theme to understand in this play to understand is religion.
Although the author has no clear bias to one or the other, I think the anti-religious tone is a bit heavier although it seems unintended. I think religion should been placed under greater importance just because of the location and the culture in the area. There are only a few really religious characters in this play (Reverend, Miss Emma, and Aunt Lou) and the Reverend is a bit crazy, if passionate none the less. Despite the fact that this play takes place in the south which is dominantly Christian and especially in this area. I know this because I grew up in rural Louisiana. But then the two main characters seem Atheist, mentioning god once in a while but both reluctant to share any deep personal feelings about
Heaven.
I feel Grant and Jefferson’s friendship starts when Grant gives Jefferson the radio while he’s in prison. Jefferson is really excited that he has his own radio now because he grew up so poor, this is where Jefferson starts to trust Grant and recognizes he just wants the best for him. Although the people in the story didn’t make a very big deal out of it, Grant gets into a fight with three black men for mocking Jefferson saying they’d kill him and this proves how strongly Grant feels about Jefferson’s situation and how much he really cares for the kid now. Next Grant gives Jefferson the Notebook to write his thoughts in, this is where we really see the bridge between teacher and student the way Grant I think realizes how he needs to start teaching to all his students in his class not just Jefferson. This notebook also allows Grant to see into Jefferson’s emotions something he wasn’t really able to do until now. Jefferson writes down basically everything he thinks about, which allows Grant to really help Jefferson understand what’s going on, and how to be a man.
Grant and Jefferson’s attitudes change so much during this play its real pleasure to read and see. Especially Jefferson’s transition from an angry child who was mad at the world to a brave man who showed so much more humanity when the children from the school came to visit. I think the visit from the children and Vivian helped give him the courage to walk to the electric chair like the man Miss Emma wanted to see. What I really liked about Jefferson’s ending was how peaceful he was when he left. He said good bye to everyone and wished them all well even the “whites” (Paul and The Sheriff), despite having his life taken away from him for something he didn’t do. Grant finally realizes what he has to do with is life at the end, and like Jefferson he must give up the life he wanted to better his community because he understands that’s all that matters.
All in all, this was an incredible play and by far my favorite. I wish it had been a little longer just because I wanted to keep reading about these fantastic characters and learning more about them. The oppressive white theme really made it easy to relate to the story in an effort to try to feel what they were going through.