I Is Not There Yet I Was There Mean

The novel starts off with Grant Wiggins saying “I was not there, yet I was there” (Gaines, 1). What Grant means by this is that he is physically not at the trial, but he knows everything that is going to occur at the trial. That one line already shows what Grant thinks of the society he lives in. The society Grant lives is in a racist community. He does not like the white people and thinks they are awful people. It also characterizes Grant and shows what his views are throughout the book. Another way the quote can be interpreted is how Grant understands Jefferson and his situation. He does not physically experience the pain that Jefferson is going through and he does not know him very well, but he is there to help him go through his situation.
He understands how he feels knowing that Jefferson will die in a couple of days for doing nothing wrong. Grant is not physically in Jefferson’s situation sitting in jail, but he is mentally there with him knowing everything about it. Grant knows that just because Jefferson is a black man, no matter he does or says he will always be guilty by the law. When Grant starts the novel with “I was not there, yet I was there” (1) it shows what kind of man Grant is. He already knows what the people of the town are going to do with Jefferson. He is angry at the fact that just because Jefferson is black, he will die no matter what.
“They sentence you to death because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time, with no proof that you had anything at all to do with the crime other than being there when it happened.
Yet six months later they have come and unlock your cage and tell you, We, us white folks all have decided it’s time for you to die, because this is the convenient date and time” (158). Grant shows that he is angry at the white people for not being fair-minded with Jefferson. They automatically sentence Jefferson to death with no evidence that Jefferson committed the crime. The way Grant told the story in the novel is Brother and Bear pick up Jefferson and the three of them go to the store. Brother and Bear demand whiskey from Old Groupé, and Old Groupé refused to give them any whiskey until they gave Old Groupé all the money. Things get out of control and shooting started and it ended with Jefferson being the only one alive. Jefferson did not know what to do. He panicked and saw a full drawer of money and decided to take the money even though he knew stealing was wrong. Two white men walk in and see the scene and automatically blame everything on Jefferson. Jefferson is at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Now since he is a black man it made everything worse for him. The people that decided his death were all white men and the men that decided that he is guilty were all white men also. There is never a chance for equality in the South for a black man like Jefferson. Grant knows what is going to happen to Jefferson, but he cannot do anything about it except help him die with pride and
dignity. The first line in the novel can also be seen as Grant not being there physically with Jefferson, but mentally in the situation. “We looked at each other, and I could see in those big reddened eyes that he was not going to scream. He was full of anger - and who could blame him? - but he was no fool. He needed me, and he wanted me here, if only to insult me” (130). This shows that Grant understood Jefferson and understood that he needed Grant no matter what disrespectful thing he said to him. It is hard for both of them to get along in the beginning, but then they start liking each other at the end. Jefferson keeps a diary while he is in jail, and he gives the diary to Grant and nobody else. They barely know each other when Grant’s aunt asks him to visit Jefferson while he is in jail. At the end of the novel, it shows that Grant understands Jefferson and helps him die the way his aunt wants Jefferson to die. “Good by mr wiggin tell them im strong tell them im a good by mr wiggin im gon ax paul if can bring you this” (234). Everything that Jefferson wrote in his diary is only meant for Grant. Jefferson now respects Grant and realizes how much Grant cares for him. “I caught myself grinning like a fool. I wanted to throw my arms around him and hug him” (186). Grant really does like Jefferson and gets emotionally attached to him. He is proud that he could be there along the way helping Jefferson die happily even though there is nothing happy about death.
The first line of the novel unravels the story and gives a little bit of foreshadowing of what the book is about. The quotation is mainly about Jefferson and his situation. The whole novel is about Jefferson and how he is getting ready to die and Grant prepares him for the situation. He helps him by trying to prepare him mentally for his death and helps him understand that he is worth more than what the white people think of him.
“I was not there, yet I was there” (1) gets people really thinking about what Grant means by that. The reason Ernest Gaines starts off the book with that quote is because he wants the reader to think like Grant. Gaines wants the reader to get engaged in the book along with the characters. Gaines also wants the reader to feel what the characters feel. It’s a statement that helps the reader read the novel understanding it along the way and to understand what Grant and Jefferson are going through.
The quote is eye opening for the reader and it helps them understand the novel in a different way. Gaines puts the quote in a good spot because it helps get the reader engaged in the novel by more than just reading it. He gets the reader involved by mentally being there with Grant, Jefferson, and the other characters. The great detail of the novel gets the reader emotionally attached and gets the reader to understand what it is like for Jefferson and Grant. Gaines also wrote the book because he was not physically there, but he was mentally there with the characters.