The Strangers That Came To Town Essay

924 Words4 Pages
Chelsea MacGibbon Lessons in Self-Empowerment Mahatma Gandhi once wrote “strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will”. Earnest J. Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying, Ambrose Flack’s The Strangers that Came to Town and Henrik Isben’s A Doll’s House all have one thing in common: they explore a progression to self-empowerment. The novel A Lesson Before Dying features a character that progresses to self-empowerment. In the novel, Jefferson is first thought to be an unintelligent, dirty and uncivilized animal; a hog. His attorney states in trial “Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this” (Gaines 8). This causes Jefferson to become defeated and alienated, believing himself to be the animal he was accused of being. Jefferson blocks out his family and all connection with his humanity, refusing to eat or communicate. When his nannan cooks him and brings him food he tells Grant that hogs don’t eat and declares “That’s for youmans” (Gaines 83). It is only after Grant continues to reach out to Jefferson and asks for his help that he begins to change: “‘I need you to know what to do with my life. I want to run away, but go where and do what? I’m needed here and I know it, but I feel all that I am doing here is choking myself. I need someone to tell me what to do. I need you to tell me, to show me. I’m no hero; I can just give something small. I can just give something small. That’s all I have to offer. It is the only way that we can chip away at the myth.”(Gaines 193) After Grant tells him about being a hero and “chipping away at the myth”, Jefferson begins to eat and this shows his growth in recognizing his self worth. In the end, Jefferson finally opens up to Grant through his journal. He writes ““goodbye mr wigin tell them im strong tell them im a man” (Gaines 234). In the end, he proved the whites that he was
Open Document