A Lesson Before Dying

Lessons before dying Chapter 29,30,31 *NEEDED*

6. Shift in perspective of the narrator; we go from person to person on the morning of the execution. Why?
7. Does the chair, and the truck (it’s black) serve as some form of symbolism?
8. Someone in the courthouse notes that “The lord died between 12 and 3.” Why mention this?
9. What role has Paul come to play in this novel? Why does Gaines include him?
10. In the end, Jefferson walks straight and tall to his death. What messages can we take from this beyond the significance to this particular story?
11. Why does Gaines end the story with a conversation between Paul and Grant? Why Paul, and not the Reverend or Pichot?
12. Who is this story really about?
13. Is it important that Grant cries at the conclusion? What does it signify?

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Does the chair, and the truck (it’s black) serve as some form of symbolism?

When it arrives in a large black truck, the chair in which Jefferson must die represents many different reactions from people in the town. The truck itself is black: the color associated with death and mourning. Some fear the chair. Some become nauseous looking at it or thinking about it. Some treat it with great care and find it auspicious to joke about it. Some white men, joke about using it to warn black men to watch their steps. The chair becomes a symbol the violence of the unjust racist system.

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