Narrative Structure In Ernest J. Gainess A Lesson Before...

Narrative Structure: In his novel, A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines leaves the readers with a clear message. His writing style and organization throughout the novel make the story easy to understand. Gaines utilizes point of view, style and setting in order to construct a genuine story which reflected many nonfiction events. Gaines uses Grant Wiggins to narrate the novel. Through the first person point of view, the reader gets to see everything through Grant’s eyes. The point of view reveals Grant’s fickle character and allows for an alteration from the beginning when he is mostly cynical to the end when he attains a sort of confidence. From the first page of the novel, Grant’s pessimistic view is shown, â€Å"No, I did not go†¦show more content†¦The novel is set in the fictional town of Bayonne, Louisiana in the pre-Civil Rights (1940s) south. The genuine feeling of this novel derives from Gaines’ ability to recreate the era and time per iod. Gaines is able to transport the reader back to pre-Civil Rights life of an African American on a plantation in the south. Grant Wiggins, protagonist narrator shares his experiences as a boy, living on the plantation and slaving over Pichot family alongside his aunt and Miss Emma (42). Grant is always upset when going to the Pichot’s plantation because he recognizes the injustice of the employment opportunities in the small black community. The town represents the stereotypical racist southern community and serves to create the conflicts that arise in the story. The setting is one of the most important factors to the story because if it weren’t in the small divided town of Bayonne, there would not be an unjust trial, and Jefferson probably wouldn’t have been involved at all with the murder case because he would not be picking sugar cane if this story was set in California in the 1980s. The setting is everything. It makes the story a story about racism and di gnity. The jail is where Grants greatest struggles are resolved. At first he doesn’t want to be there. His visits cause him to be humiliated because he had to be patted down, â€Å"To search my body as if I’m some kind of common criminal†(79). Grant struggles to continue to