Beginning of Essay
In the novel, A Lesson Before Dying, By Ernest Gaines, the main character, Grant Wiggins gives a man meaning in his last days alive. Wiggins gives him a book to write his thoughts in, and helps him to realize that he is not a “hog.” He shows him that ....

Middle of Essay
.... label that Jefferson's godmother wants disproved. She enlists the help of a plantation school teacher, Grant Wiggins, who at first isn’t too keen on the idea of helping a crook. Wiggins agrees to talk with Jefferson only out of a sense of duty--he is an unhappy, angry man who dreamt of escape from his deprived childhood yet returned to his hometown after a university education to teach in the same one-room parish school he attended. Despite humiliation at the hands of the white sheriff, Jefferson's lack of cooperation, and his own sense of futility and uncertain faith, Wiggins forges a bond with Jefferson that leads to wisdom and courage ....