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Assignment: A Lesson Before Dying Ch. 3-4/ Quotation Assignment
Ch.
3
1. How does Henri Pichot's insistence
that Jefferson "did it" redirect the plot narrative?Pichot's insistence that Jefferson
did it redirected the plot narrative by setting a darker tone. She went from
asking him in the at least somewhat dignified response to begging him to do so.
It also showed his true opinion about the family that even though he respected
hurt It still did not help his opinion of Jefferson. It also lost some of his
more racist feelings to surface. He believes that the African Americans are
below them and belittles everything she says to him me. It's almost like he
thinks of her as a slave even though she's a free woman and she acts as though
it he is her master.
2.
Miss
Emma keeps saying that Grant "doesn't have to go" to visit Jefferson
in prison. The narrator comments, "She was looking at me but not seeing
me, and not meaning what she was saying either." What is Grant implying by
this, and what does he think she means?
Grant is implying that what Miss Emma
is doing this strictly out of formality. She said he doesn't have to go but it
doesn't truly mean it. It it further emphasizes that she actually wants him to
go and want him to be there. Her distant gaze furthers this cause showing
that she's basically in some sort of autopilot. She's obviously in some distant
place, thinking about what is to come.
3.
What
does the back door of Henri Pichot's plantation house symbolize to Grant and
his aunt? Why does having to enter the plantation house through the back door
rankle Grant?
The back door to Mr. Pichot's
Plantation House symbolizes the past to both Grant and his aunt. It's is the
time before they were out from under his thumb. Before they were simple
servants and did not have the ability to enter any other way. Call grant in
particular is a great loss of dignity he never thought he'd have to go through
that door again and yet here they were back begging for a favor from a man that
did Jefferson doesn't even really like.
4. How
does Miss Emma prevail on Henri Pichot to speak to the sheriff on her
behalf?
Miss. Emma prevails in getting Mr.
Pichot to speak to the sheriff by basically begging him. She brings up the all
the things that she's done for this family and also kind of makes him feel
sorry for her. She also acts very submissive towards him of reminiscent of
times she was working for him.
Ch. 4
1. In describing Beyonne, the narrator mentions that of the town's major industries include "a slaughterhouse, mostly for hogs." How does this echo and expand on the public defender's summation in Jefferson's trial in Chapter 1?
The fact that town has a slaughterhouse for hogs enforces the fact that the defender actually wanted Jefferson to be sentence guilty. He was comparing him as a pig to the slaughter, something that deserved to die. It proves that everything was stacked against Jefferson and he was gonna be proven guilty either way.
2. Several ties in the course of the novel, including Chapter 4, the narrator expresses the need to get away from the town where he lives. Explain why he feels compelled to flee and what keeps him there despite the urge to leave?
The reason Grant wants to flee so badly is because he doesn't feel like he is living here. He feel sad in this town he's being basically controlled and has no choice of what to do. The only thing that makes him stay is his girlfriend Vivian. She is committed to teaching in does not want to leave. He wants to flee with her, away from her husband which she is separated from and away from the obligations to the town. He is tired the commitment and feels that he needs an escape.
Quotation Assignment
Quote: “I need to go someplace where I can feel I’m living,” I said. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life teaching school in a plantation church. I want to be with you, someplace where we could have a choice of things to do. I don’t feel alive here. I’m not living here. I know we can do better someplace else.”
1. Does the quotation indicate a conflict? If so, what conflict?
This quote indicates the conflict between Grant wanting to stay versus wanting to leave. He feels that they could do better anywhere else but not here where they were trapped, locked into to doing whatever the town tells them to. He cares about Vivian and wants her to come as well and she's the only reason he stays in the first place.
2. Does the quotation symbolize the lack of freedom of a black person at this time? Does the quotation symbolize the history of oppression of a black person? If so, to what part of history does the quotation relate?
The quote does in fact symbolize the lack of Freedom and the oppression of black people at the time. It shows defective segregation can have on an African American, and emphasizes the lack of freedom they have at the time in any career that they do such as teaching. In later chapter it can be seen how Grant is conflicted about what he is teaching and wants to do more.
