When trying to find the exact meaning of the word “manhood,” several definitions come to mind. Over the years, different societies have defined the meaning of the word “manhood” in many different ways. In A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest Gaines portrays a society where a white majority intends to condition the thinking and behavior of a black minority group in order to demonstrate and exercise their corrupt power. In the book, various approaches for the meaning of “manhood” are analyzed.

The theoretical value of the word is described, compared, analyzed, and contrasted. Evidence of this is shown when sectors of the white majority intend to dehumanize Jefferson, a black man unfairly sentenced to trial, by attributing him the identity of a hog. On the other hand, the symbolic value of the word “manhood” is also discussed and analyzed by linking the word to human values and morals. Set up in a place and time where strong segregation was the social norm, Ernest Gaines’ novel A Lesson Before Dying offers moral definitions of manhood and humanity and uses them as an act of subversion to white people’s power.

From the beginning of the story until its very end, the struggle to achieve manhood is a central issue for the two main characters, Grant and Jefferson. This is shown in the book when Grant expresses his concerns to his girlfriend Vivian by saying, “I’m still trying to figure out how a man should live. Am I supposed to tell someone how to die who has never lived?” (Gaines 31). But the quest to achieve the so longed for attribute of being a real man may be obstructed by a thick layer of suppression built upon years of slavery, oppression, and diminished self-esteem. Katie Fay, a scholar from East Tennessee State University, writes in her dissertation, “ [i]n order for the two characters to reach their manhood, they must learn from the other’s experience and connect it to their lives” (74).

Grant and Jefferson must learn to trust each other and accept the fact that they do not have anyone but each other to start the epic internal journey searching for manhood. However, from the time he is sentenced to death, Jefferson suppresses his own identity as a man and doubts Grant when he is trying to reaffirm it to him. During Jefferson’s ephemeral suppression of identity, Grant reluctantly faces him and realizes his own lack of values, perseverance, and courage, all key elements related to manhood.

Fay states, “[w]hen this connection is made, and a cycle of suppressed manhood breaks, Grant is able to return to his plantation life with higher expectations of discovering not only his manhood but also teaching his male students that they too can become men” (74). In this case, Grant, a professor, must learn a lesson about manhood before being able to teach it, applying the principle of teaching by example.

Although Grant struggles internally with his own manhood, his purpose is to rescue Jefferson’s identity before he is put to death. Philip Auger writes in his essay about manhood in A Lesson Before Dying, “the problem Grant and Jefferson are faced with is a problem of redefining Jefferson, from his identity given to him by the white dominant culture, hog, to a new identity, man” (2). Jefferson’s identity as a man is already inside him and had not been challenged before the death sentence.

However, it must be salvaged, a task Grant is assigned to help him achieve. Throughout the story, Gaines’ purpose is the same as Grant’s: to identify Jefferson as a real man, not only to society but also to Jefferson himself. Grant reluctantly undertakes the responsibility of teaching Jefferson a lesson on manhood to prove the white people that “Jefferson is indeed a “man,” and not a “hog” as his white attorney declared as part of his defense strategy” (Auger 1). Making Jefferson realize that he is indeed a man challenges the

white people’s authority in a pacifistic yet subversive manner. However, accomplishing this task is not easy since the white majority has already labeled him, and even the few white people who try to help make use of the word “man” in a diminishing way. This ambiguity raises concerns of true purpose and creates a doubt of whether the word is used by these white people to truly help or to reinforce Jefferson’s inhuman identity and therefore, reinforce their power.

Another subversive element in the story is the ability of Jefferson to express his feelings by written means. Ernest Gaines writes on an article for the Southern Review literary journal, “Jefferson is barely literate. He has never written a letter in his life. He was only barely able to write his elementary school assignments. But now, with his pencil and notebook, he tries to define his humanity” (776). Jefferson’s ability to describe emotions and express concerns in writing perpetuates his human identity since these are actions that a hog is unable to perform.

Also, by writing, Jefferson proves that just like a white man, a black man can produce thoughts and have the enough intelligence to communicate them coherently. Jefferson writes in one of his journals, “good by mr wigin tell them im strong tell them im a man good by mr wigin” (Gaines 234). As Jefferson writes, he starts to believe again in himself and reaffirms his manhood. David Vancil writes on his essay about redemption in Gaines work, “[n]ear the end of the novel, Jefferson’s barely literate writings, which have been encouraged by Grant, speak eloquently of his humanity” (2). Jefferson’s ability to write is a powerful and effective weapon against the constructed racial stereotypes that declare he should not be a man.

In the story, religion seems to play an important role in shaping the ideas and views on manhood of the white and black sectors of the population. Auger says, “A Lesson Before Dying explores the roles of social institutions such as education, law, and especially religion as they all have a part in producing human dignity and self worth” (2). The image of a loving and caring God has been abducted and tergiversated by humans. This crude reality is observed not only in the book, but also in real life, where humans beings often commit atrocities in God’s name in order to impose their own views on religion and maintain power and control.

As I read trough the whole book, I could not help but ask myself the same question Grant asks himself: “How do people come up with a date and time to take life from another man? Who made them God?” (Gaines 157). This and other ethical predicaments such as justice and compassion are explored in the book. With all these elements, A Lesson Before Dying offers more than what its title suggest. Instead of a single lesson, the book offers multiple lessons, especially about morality and humanity, to define manhood and to attack racist stereotypes against black people at the time.