Document Information
- Chapter: Chapter 28
- Scene: Grant’s last dramatized visit to Jefferson in his cell
- Draft: Manuscript
- File location: Box 10, folder 53
Discussion Questions
- In the published edition of A Lesson Before Dying, Gaines added the words, “big and tall” in his description of Jefferson while standing by the window in this scene. Also, he used the phrase “studied me” instead of “looked at me” to display Jefferson’s facial expressions during his conversation with Grant. How could you relate both changes to the development of Jefferson’s character toward the end of the novel?
“My eyes were shut before now, Jefferson.”
He looked at me a while, then he turned
his back and looked up at the window.
“So pretty as there,” I heard him saying.
“So pretty.” I looked at him standing there,
his broad back toward me. “What’s it go’n feel like, Mr. Grant?”
I didn’t answer him. He turned to face me.
“What is go’n feel like, Mr. Grant?
I shook my head. I felt tears in my eyes.
“I hope it ain’t long.”
“It ain’t long,” I said.
“How do you know, Mr. Grant?”
“I read it.”
I was not looking at him. I was looking at the wall. But I had read it in the paper. The first jolt immediately knocked you unconscious.
He came back and sat down on the bunk.
“I’m all right, Mr. Grant.
I nodded without looking at him.
“Want a tatoe, Mr. Grant?”
“Sure,” I said.
Document Information
- Chapter: Chapter 28
- Scene: Grant’s last dramatized visit to Jefferson in his cell
- Draft: Early typescript
File location: Box 10, folder 53
Discussion Questions
- In the published version of this scene, Jefferson asks Grant two different questions about the method of his death sentence, one is “What it go’n be like?” and the other is “What’s it go’n feel like.” However, in the transcripts and manuscripts of this novel, Gaines repeats the same question “What it go’n feel like” twice. How are the two questions different?
- What message is Grant trying to communicate to Jefferson through his saying, “You’re more man than I am”? What do these words show about how Jefferson has changed towards the end of the novel?
My head bowed, I nodded.
“You can look at me, Mr. Grant, I don’t mind.”
He stood there big and tall, not slooped as I had seen him in the chains.
“I’m go’n do my best, Mr. Grant. I don’t know if it’s go’n be here, in another room, or where it go’n be. But I’m go’n do my best. That’ all I can say.”
“You’re more man than I am, Jefferson.”
“ ‘Cause I just have two weeks left, Mr. Grant? Saying that make me feel good?”
“No, I mean it.”
“Not ‘fore now, Mr. Grant.”
“My eyes were shut before now, Jefferson.”
He studied me a while, then he turned ghis back and looked up at the window again.
“So pretty out there,” he said. “So pretty.” I looked at him standing there big and tall, his broad back toward me. “What’s it go’n feel like, Mr. Grant?”
I didn’t answer him. He turned around to face me.
“What’s it go’n feel like, Mr. Grant?”
I shook my head. I felt my eyes burning.
“I hope it ain’t long.”
“It’s not long,” I said.
“How do you know, Mr. Grant?”
“I read it.”
I was not looking at him. I was looking at the wall. But I had read it in the newspaper. The first jolt immediately knocked you unconscious.
He came back and sat down on the bunk.
“I’m all right, Mr. Grant.”
I nodded without looking at him.
“Want a ‘tatoe, Mr. Grant?”
“Sure,” I said.