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A Lesson Before Dying In Ernest J. Gaines’s novel “A Lesson Before Dying,” A young man named Jefferson is wrongfully accused of being an accessory to murder when he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The public defender pleaded for Jefferson’s innocence in front of the jury stating “Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this.” (Gaines, 8) This statement caused an uproar with Jefferson’s Godmother, who was present at the hearing. She knew that there was nothing she could do to prevent her Godson from dying, but she didn’t want to see him die like an animal, but rather a man. She called upon the services of Grant Wiggins, who was the plantation schoolteacher and the nephew of Tante Lou, her good friend. In the beginning, Grant was very reluctant to accept this undertaking for he felt that he held no responsibility in the matter, but after considerable pressure from Emma and Tante Lou, he regretfully accepted. Grant had been the teacher at the plantation as long as he could remember. He was very upset with