A Lesson Before Dying

In A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines, Mr. Grant Wiggins' life crises were the center of the story. Although he was supposed to make Jefferson into a man, he himself became more of one as a result. Not to say that Jefferson was not in any way transformed from the "hog" he was into an actual man, but it could be believed this story was really written about Mr. Wiggins. Mr. Wiggins improved as a person greatly throughout the novel, and that helped his relationships with other people for the most part. But as a reader it cannot be forgotten about how Grant’s attitude was in the beginning to actually see the transformation in him. Grant’s bitterness was not one to look up to in the beginning of the novel because of his former teacher’s bitterness growing up. Though this was a negative in Grant’s personality he managed to have connections with people and grow through them. For example how he taught Jefferson meaning to life and to become a man. Through this Jefferson felt he could trust showing what impact each character had on each other. In the novel each character had their own characteristics and personality. There was something special about each character in the book. Each of them had their strong points and weak points for example Grant was always running away from his problems. This showed that even though Grant did become a man from teaching Jefferson in the end; for most of the novel Grant’s bitterness impacted his life strongly that he did not cope with his adversities well. Grant's many internal and external conflicts greatly played in the development of this major character. The temporal setting of the time, affect his internal conflicts with his self. This makes Grant become bitter of his treatment and often fantasies about escaping from this small town. His community and the people around him growing up brings on a lot of Grants internal conflicts. Such as his former teacher, Matthew Antoine who always gave Grant negative assumptions on a future