This is a place for us to discuss openly and honestly the literature we are reading. Here we are all just communicating our thoughts on what we are reading. There are no right and wrong answers. However, you are expected to be polite, mature, and on topic.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
A LESSON BEFORE DYING
Jefferson's final spoken words to Grant, at the end of Chapter 28, are "I'm all right, Mr. Wiggins." What is the full impact of that statement?
Gaines uses these words to foreshadow Jefferson's walk. This shows that Jefferson has accepted his fate and will be a man. From this quote Jefferson shows his growth in the fact that he was able to keep trying and continue growing even because Jefferson knows that the town needs him to be a man. Jefferson becomes strong, and dies as such. IH
Ah, Jefferson, what a steadfast man. An educated person could have put his last words more eloquently or could have gone out quoting a historical figure Jefferson would not be familiar with, but none could match the effect Jefferson's had. As the potential "stick in the spokes" of the "vicious circle", the burden that for so long has awaited a lifting, Jefferson instills a sense of confidence in the idea of his dying as a man in his last words to Grant. For a man sentenced to Jefferson's fate to say "I'm all right" is to recognize, accept, and overcome the sheer terror inherent in the thought of man's only guarantee, death, but foremost, it is to defy...myth.
Jefferson's final words to Grant show that he has accepted the fact he is going to die. Jefferson knows he can not change his fate. These words almost seem to be closure in Jefferson's state of mind. KS
3 comments:
Gaines uses these words to foreshadow Jefferson's walk. This shows that Jefferson has accepted his fate and will be a man. From this quote Jefferson shows his growth in the fact that he was able to keep trying and continue growing even because Jefferson knows that the town needs him to be a man. Jefferson becomes strong, and dies as such. IH
Ah, Jefferson, what a steadfast man. An educated person could have put his last words more eloquently or could have gone out quoting a historical figure Jefferson would not be familiar with, but none could match the effect Jefferson's had. As the potential "stick in the spokes" of the "vicious circle", the burden that for so long has awaited a lifting, Jefferson instills a sense of confidence in the idea of his dying as a man in his last words to Grant. For a man sentenced to Jefferson's fate to say "I'm all right" is to recognize, accept, and overcome the sheer terror inherent in the thought of man's only guarantee, death, but foremost, it is to defy...myth.
Jefferson's final words to Grant show that he has accepted the fact he is going to die. Jefferson knows he can not change his fate. These words almost seem to be closure in Jefferson's state of mind. KS
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