The Role Of Women

The role of women in the A lesson before Dying is a key factor in the development of Jefferson and Grant. Both started off as bitter and angry man who naïve in what happened in the world. Jefferson didn’t want to listen to Grant at first because he believed that he was going to die anyway so what was the point of learning anything. Grant had several instances where he was naïve. He didn’t believe that teaching the kids was going to get them anywhere because they would all end up like the men who were unloading the wood. As his teacher Mathew Antoine said, there was no future for black people in the society.  Also, Grant did not believe that he could change Jefferson. He too thought that he was going to die so what difference did it make. However, the woman in this novel changed both of these men’s mindsets.

The one female in Jefferson’s life that he loved the most was Miss Emma. In the beginning of the novel, Jefferson would say something disrespectful to Grant until his godmother was mentioned. Grant noticed that the only way to get to Jefferson was to show him that the one woman that did everything for him needed him the most. He told him that the only thing that would make her happy is if he did things such as eat her food and walk to the electric chair as a man. Because of her, Jefferson did become a man at the end of the novel. As for Grant, he had two important women in his life that helped him progress as a person. These two people were Vivian and Tante Lou. As much as Tante Lou would aggravate Grant, he seemed to always listen to her. She is part of the reason that Grant agreed to see Jefferson. Without her, Grant would have probably not gone to the jailhouse to see Jefferson. Vivian on the other hand, also played an important factor in Grant’s life. Grant started out as a very bitter man that could only be happy when he was with Vivian. He was contemplating not visiting Jefferson anymore, but she encouraged him to keep seeing him. She always showed Grant that there was ar reason why he came back to Bayonne and that was to help the community. This showed Grant that he actually wanted to contribute and change the society he lived in. He wanted to make a difference in the lives of the children and adults in the town.

These were just some of the effects that women had in this novel. There were also minor roles that women had in the book. One of the minor roles was how Grant would always leave Irene Cole in charge of the class whenever he needed to attend to something else. Although this was not very big in the novel it shows that even a child had an impact on Grants life.