Thomas Jefferson's Diary Analysis

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Jefferson’s diary testifies to the mutual benefits he and Grant get from their friendship and love for one another. Grant bought the diary for Jefferson, and Jefferson writes in it usually as if writing a letter to Grant. Even when he is alone in his cell, Jefferson can write to Grant and feel he has companionship. As Jefferson writes down his thoughts, he begins to think seriously about the world and his role in it. Showing the influence of Grant’s words, Jefferson writes that he realizes how important he has become to his community. Moreover, the diary will serve as a boon for Grant’s self-confidence and his sense of self-worth, as he himself initiated the use of the diary by engaging Jefferson and buying him the notebook and pencil. The white characters are not uniformly cruel to Jefferson, although their token kindnesses do not matter much in the face of the death penalty their people imposed on Jefferson. Mr. Pichot shows some compassion toward Jefferson by offering to sharpen his pencil and then giving him the knife as a gift. Guidry kindly offers to leave the light on so Jefferson can write. Also, in the past, Guidry has allowed numerous visitors to see Jefferson. Guidry asks Jefferson to speak well of him in the…show more content…
Misspellings and grammatical errors fill Jefferson’s diary, but they do nothing to detract from the sophistication of his thoughts and the bravery and sadness that comes through in his writing. In some ways, Jefferson’s writing seems superior to Grant’s. We know Grant’s writing intimately; he narrates the novel except for this chapter. Although Grant writes intelligent, affecting prose, he does not match the unembarrassed expression of emotion that comes through in Jefferson’s writing. Neither does he match Jefferson’s lyricism, especially in the last few lines of the diary, in which Jefferson notes the bluebird singing and the blue sky in the last few hours before his

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