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Summary Of A Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Haines

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Summary Of A Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Haines
The historical fiction novel A Lesson Before Dying written by Ernest J. Haines is about the life of a black man named Jefferson in 1940’s Bayonne, Louisiana. During a time period permeated with segregation, Jefferson was found guilty for a crime that he did not commit; the sole reason being the pigment of his skin. His lawyer, a white man, compared him to a hog whilst trying to win his case. Jefferson’s actions started to reflect those of a hog, and reflect how he thought the White Man expected him to act. He transitioned from his once strong and loving self into an uncivilized shell of a once great man. Jefferson conformed metaphorically into a hog because his lawyer paralleled him to an uncivilized, doltish animal such as a hog.

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