Ernest Gaines: Overcoming Racial Deficits

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Brendon Little Ms. Doyle Honors American Literature 29 April 2013 Ernest Gaines: Overcoming racial deficits Ernest J. Gaines grew up on a plantation in Pointe Coupee, Louisiana, the setting for many of his novels about racial issues in the South. In Gaines novel A Lesson Before Dying, Jefferson, one of the protagonists gets wrongfully accused of murder because of his skin color. Sentenced to death, he begins on a journey to find his manhood before his execution with the help of Grant’s guiding hand. Gaines conveys, through Jefferson, that social injustices do not define a person and that redemption comes in many forms, especially death. In the novel Of Love and Dust, Jim becomes enveloped in the plantation’s racial tensions with the introduction of Marcus. Marcus, sentenced to serve on the plantation under the guidance of Jim, seeks revenge on the plantations overseer, Bonbon, for treating him so harshly. Controlled by the white community, Marcus must overcome racial deficits to be content with himself. However, Jim must maintain peace on the plantation by restraining Marcus and his destructive habits. In doing so, Jim is tempted to remain quite about the events that take place on the plantation. Individual triumphs of internal conflict, manhood, self-determination, and redemption are all common topics in Gaines’ novels. These triumphs often come from strained racial tensions amidst the lives of Gaines’ protagonists. Gaines suggests through A Lesson Before Dying and Of Love and Dust that individual triumphs must precede purposeful societal depression to overcome racial deficits. Grants ability to overcome his internal conflict reflects his individual triumph in A Lesson Before Dying. Grant knows that he has to help Jefferson, a reclusive black man, find his self-dignity before he is wrongfully executed. However, he feels as
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