As I begin the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines, I see only a few connections between the story and our current topic in class, Puritanism. The connections are formed not mostly by similarities found in the book and the time period of Puritanism but are created by sharp contrasts.The novel follows the conviction of a man named Jefferson as he gets wrongly convicted of murder through the eyes of Grant another black man in the community that is educated and a schoolteacher. He is asked by his aunt and Jefferson's grandmother to go become close with Jefferson and help him cope with what will soon come.
Grant displays a resent for his life situation and anger at his immediate displacement in society because of his race. He hates that even though he is educated and an abiding citizen he can't advance. This is something that I recognized because it is a parallel with the emotions from Anne Bradstreet's poems that we read in class. The automatic disadvantages of society on them is what hindered them yet both Grant and Bradstreet found success despite of their situations. Another noticeable similarity in the two was their feeling of not being appreciated by the world. The comparasions by Bradstreet to male authors that might not be as competent as her and Grant's reactions to Tante Lou's request are evidence of this.
