"I was not there, yet I was there."

"I was not there, yet I was there."

Early in the novel, you explained the basic meaning of this quote. You said that even though Grant wasn't physically there, he still has an understanding of what went on in the coutroom that day. However, I believe there is a deeper meaning to this quote. Reading further into the novel showed me different ways this quote could be explained.

The first thing that came to me recently about this quote was that I believe Grant thinks that he has to live out Jefferson's final days as if it were himself being executed. Grant saying that he was not there means that he didnt commit the crime but he is being "forced"--(Grant technically has a choice not to help Jefferson but decides to do it) to visit and be in the same conditions as Jeffereson. Therefore, Graqnt isn't there meaning he is not going to die like Jefferson but he is there because he will be with him every step of the way.

Another relationship I noticed with this quote is how it effects Grant mentally. When he says, "Yet I was there," I think he means that he is effected by it as much as Jefferson is. He may not be in a cell but he thinks about the situation almost every moment in his life. He even showed that he cannot control it at times when he explained Jefferson's future execution in depth to his young students.(See Chapter 5). I have a feeling that there will be many more relations to this quote later on in the novel.