All the characters in a lesson Before Dying by a single word hog Jefferson's attorney compared him to to a hog. Miss Emma wants Grant to prove that her godson is not a hog and Jefferson at first eat the food she has sent him on his knees because that's how a old hog eat
The word hog was used in numerous ways. Jefferson's lawyer uses the word, hoping the court will grant Jefferson leniency. He cites Jefferson as too stupid to have committed the murder, and that execution would be like killing a "hog"..... killing a harmless animal. Jefferson, of course, takes these words to heart. His lawyers attempts to get him lemiency only served to humiliate Jefferson, who them proceeded to act like a hog.
Miss Emma and Tante Lou go to Grant in desperation. Over the course of the novel, and through Grant's intervention, Jefferson learns that he is not what the courts have made him out to be. He comes to understand that he is a man..... and he dies like a man.
A Lesson Before Dying
