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Diagnostic essay on "A Lesson Before Dying"

In life, there are many lessons to be learned that may provoke positive changes in people for the better. Once recognized, these lessons may have the power to completely change ones point of view about certain issues. In Gaines’s novel, A Lesson Before Dying, character Grant Wiggins learns important lessons about his responsibility to his community, to those who love him, and to his cultural identity.
Gaines’s novel takes place in Louisiana during a tough time when blacks were definitely not treated equally by whites in society. Although slavery is no longer an issue in this novel, the plight of the black people is very similar to that time. Because the times are so trying, the blacks in the community have very little hope that change will come. For this reason the community prizes those individuals whom they feel can initiate movements to bring about change for the future generations. The people viewed Grant as the type of person who is educated enough to inspire such ...

Posted by: Arianna Escobar

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