Reading "A Lesson before Dying" provoked some rather stirring emotions within me, in part, because of personal experiences growing up in a "segregated" Chicago during the 60's and 70's. ... My grandmother, who was born in Alexandria, Louisiana in the early 1900's, would often tell us about the hardships that her parents experienced. As in the story, she said that it was the norm to hear derogatory attributes and remarks directed at and about blacks without a blink of an eye. ... This led me to issue of recent court rulings that have overturned wrongful convictions with innocent ...

• Word Count: 492
• Approx Pages: 2

The image of Jefferson dying as a hog began very early in the book.. ... The school kids would occasionally ask about Jefferson*s progress. ... So Jefferson began to think in the way of "If we must die, O let us nobly die." I believe that understanding this poem is not necessarily essential to understanding A Lesson Before Dying. ... I read this book with out ever hearing the poem by Claude McKay and understood it with out significant difficulty. ...

• Word Count: 507
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School