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%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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* DeadpanSnarker: Grant, especially to his aunt and Miss Emma.
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* SouthernGentleman: Henri Pichot.
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* StoicWoobie: Jefferson.
* SympatheticAdulterer: Vivian, Grant's married girlfriend.
* SympatheticAdulterer: Vivian, Grant's married girlfriend.
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[[quoteright:959:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/71spsqmnxul_sl1500.jpg]]
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* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Professor Antoine considers trying to educate and improve the lives of the plantation children an exercise in futility.
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* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Professor Antoine considers trying to educate and improve the lives of the plantation children an exercise in futility. Grant is worried he might be right.
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* ImNotAHeroIm: Grant tells Jefferson this because, despite staying in the quarter as a schoolteacher, he considers his mission of helping edify the townspeople in any permanent way futile and his job as the only option available to him.
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''A Lesson Before Dying'' is an award-winning historical fiction novel written in 1993 and the eighth novel by African-American author Ernest J. Gaines. Grant Wiggins is a schoolteacher for the black children of a plantation town near Bayonne, Louisiana who feels trapped in his role grappling with the racism of the pre-Civil Rights South. When a young man named Jefferson is wrongly convicted of murder and placed on death row, Wiggins' aunt enlists him to equip Jefferson with the self-concept he needs to die with dignity in a world that denies his humanity. Grant is less than enthusiastic about his mission.
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''A Lesson Before Dying'' is an award-winning historical fiction novel written in 1993 and the eighth novel by African-American author Ernest J. Gaines. Grant Wiggins is a schoolteacher for the black children of a plantation town near Bayonne, Louisiana Louisiana, who feels trapped in his role grappling with struggling the racism of the pre-Civil Rights South. When a young man named Jefferson is wrongly convicted of murder and placed on death row, Wiggins' aunt enlists him to equip Jefferson with the self-concept he needs to die with dignity in a world that denies his humanity. Grant is less than enthusiastic about his mission.
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* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: When Grant goes to visit Vivian at her school, he writes "Je t'aime" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I love you" [[/labelnote]] on the chalkboard next to some text from the class's French lesson. She writes back, "Je t'aimerais toujours" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I will love you always" [[/labelnote]].
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* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: When Grant goes to visit Vivian at her school, he writes "Je t'aime" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I love you" [[/labelnote]] on the chalkboard next to some text from after he erases the class's French lesson.exercises. She writes back, "Je t'aimerais toujours" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I will love you always" [[/labelnote]].
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* ThousandYardStare: Jefferson's default expression after he is imprisoned.
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* DehumanizingInsult: During Jefferson's trial, the public defender compares him to a hog, claiming that he has to be innocent of the murder because he is too stupid to have planned any kind of crime. The jury find him guilty anyway.
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* DehumanizingInsult: During Jefferson's trial, the public defender compares him to a hog, claiming arguing chiefly that he Jefferson has to be innocent of the murder because he is too stupid to have planned any kind of crime. [[AllForNothing The jury find him guilty anyway.]]
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* CorporalPunishment: True to the time, Grant doesn't mind using a ruler to put misbehaving students back in [[StealthPun line]].
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* SympatheticAdulterer: Vivian, Grant's girlfriend, is cheating on her estranged husband with him.
* ValuesDissonance: Grant's use of corporal punishment on his students.
* ValuesDissonance: Grant's use of corporal punishment on his students.
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* SympatheticAdulterer: Vivian, Grant's girlfriend, is cheating on her estranged husband with him.
* ValuesDissonance: Grant's use of corporal punishment on his students.married girlfriend.
* ValuesDissonance: Grant's use of corporal punishment on his students.
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* DehumanizingInsult: During Jefferson's trial, the public defender indirectly calls him a hog, claiming that he was innocent of the murder because he was too stupid to have planned any kind of crime. The jury find him guilty anyway.
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* DehumanizingInsult: During Jefferson's trial, the public defender indirectly calls compares him to a hog, claiming that he was has to be innocent of the murder because he was is too stupid to have planned any kind of crime. The jury find him guilty anyway.
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* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: When Grant goes to visit Vivian at her school, he writes "Je t'aime" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I love you" [[/labelnote]] on the chalkboard next to some text of the class's French lesson. She writes back, "Je t'aimerais toujours" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I will love you always" [[/labelnote]].
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* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: When Grant goes to visit Vivian at her school, he writes "Je t'aime" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I love you" [[/labelnote]] on the chalkboard next to some text of from the class's French lesson. She writes back, "Je t'aimerais toujours" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I will love you always" [[/labelnote]].
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* EverythingIsSexierInFrench: When Grant goes to visit Vivian at her school, he writes "Je t'aime" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I love you" [[/labelnote]] on the chalkboard next to some text of the class's French lesson. She writes back, "Je t'aimerais toujours" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I will love you always" [[/labelnote]].
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* EverythingIsSexierInFrench: EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: When Grant goes to visit Vivian at her school, he writes "Je t'aime" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I love you" [[/labelnote]] on the chalkboard next to some text of the class's French lesson. She writes back, "Je t'aimerais toujours" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I will love you always" [[/labelnote]].
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* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth:
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* ArcWords: "Man."
* BerserkButton: For Grant, hearing people talk about [[spoiler: looking forward to Jefferson's execution]].
* BoomerangBigot: Professor Antoine considers himself superior to anyone darker-skinned than himself, but white people superior to him. The only reason he still lives in the quarter because it's the only place he could feel superior to anyone.
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: While Grant is waiting outside [[spoiler:on the afternoon of Jefferson's execution]], a small butterfly lands near him for no apparent reason. [[spoiler: He takes it as a sign that it's all over.]]
* BerserkButton: For Grant, hearing people talk about [[spoiler: looking forward to Jefferson's execution]].
* BoomerangBigot: Professor Antoine considers himself superior to anyone darker-skinned than himself, but white people superior to him. The only reason he still lives in the quarter because it's the only place he could feel superior to anyone.
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: While Grant is waiting outside [[spoiler:on the afternoon of Jefferson's execution]], a small butterfly lands near him for no apparent reason. [[spoiler: He takes it as a sign that it's all over.]]
* EverythingIsSexierInFrench: When Grant goes to visit Vivian at her school, he writes "Je t'aime" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I love you" [[/labelnote]] on the chalkboard next to some text of the class's French lesson. She writes back, "Je t'aimerais toujours" [[labelnote:Translation]] "I will love you always" [[/labelnote]].
* GoneHorriblyRight: Grant buys Jefferson a radio in an effort to cheer him up. He likes it so much he spends all his time listening to it and won't leave his cell, even to meet with Miss Emma.
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* SouthernGentleman: Henri Pichot and Sam Guidry.
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* SouthernGentleman: Henri Pichot and Sam Guidry.Pichot.
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* SympatheticAdulterer: Vivian, Grant's girlfriend, is cheating on her husband with him.
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* SympatheticAdulterer: Vivian, Grant's girlfriend, is cheating on her estranged husband with him.
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* PosthumousCharacter: Brother and Bear, Jefferson's two friends; Alcee Gropé, the liquor store owner; and Matthew Antoine, Grant's former teacher.
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* PosthumousCharacter: Brother and Bear, Jefferson's two friends; Alcee Gropé, Gropé, the liquor store owner; and Matthew Antoine, Grant's former teacher.
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* INeedAFreakingDrink: According to Jefferson's testimony, after Jefferson's friends and the shopkeeper the friends attempted to hold up had all killed each other, Jefferson "suddenly realized he needed a drink, and needed it badly." He grabs a bottle of whisky off a shelf and swigs from it [[NotWhatItLooksLike just as two white customers walk in.]]
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* INeedAFreakingDrink: According to Jefferson's testimony, after Jefferson's friends and the shopkeeper the friends attempted to hold up had all killed each other, Jefferson "suddenly realized he needed a drink, and needed it badly." He grabs a bottle of whisky whiskey off a shelf and swigs from it [[NotWhatItLooksLike just as two white customers walk in.]]
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* CrapsackWorld: Grant considers the plantation town to be one for him and the other black residents, and one that he can't escape.
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* CrapsackWorld: Grant considers the plantation town to be one for him and the other black residents, and one that he can't can never improve and desperately wants to escape.
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* PosthumousCharacter: Brother and Bear, Jefferson's two friends Alcee Gropé, the liquor store owner; and Matthew Antoine, Grant's former teacher.
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* PosthumousCharacter: Brother and Bear, Jefferson's two friends friends; Alcee Gropé, Gropé, the liquor store owner; and Matthew Antoine, Grant's former teacher.
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* CrapsackWorld: Grant considers the plantation town to be one that he can't escape.
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* CrapsackWorld: Grant considers the plantation town to be one for him and the other black residents, and one that he can't escape.
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* MiscarriageofJustice: Jefferson's trial and conviction for a murder he did not commit is the inciting event of the novel.
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* MiscarriageofJustice: MiscarriageOfJustice: Jefferson's trial and conviction for a murder he did not commit is the inciting event of the novel.
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* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The trial and conviction in the novel is loosely based on the real-life conviction and execution of [[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Francis Willie Francis,]] a black teenager who was convicted of murder on slim evidence and sentenced to the electric chair twice in 1945 and 1947.
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* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The trial and conviction in the novel is loosely based on the real-life conviction and execution of [[[https://en.[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Francis Willie Francis,]] a black teenager who was convicted of murder on slim evidence and sentenced to the electric chair twice in 1945 and 1947.
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->''"Do you know what his nannan wants me to do before they kill him? The public defender called him a hog, and she wants me to make him a man. Within the next few weeks, maybe a month, whatever the law allows--make him a man. Exactly what I'm trying to do here with you now..."''
''A Lesson Before Dying'' is an award-winning historical fiction novel written in 1993 and the eighth novel by African-American author Ernest J. Gaines. Grant Wiggins is a schoolteacher for the black children of a plantation town near Bayonne, Louisiana who feels trapped in his role grappling with the racism of the pre-Civil Rights South. When a young man named Jefferson is wrongly convicted of murder and placed on death row, Wiggins' aunt enlists him to equip Jefferson with the self-concept he needs to die with dignity in a world that denies his humanity. Grant is less than enthusiastic about his mission.
The novel received a National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 1993, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and was chosen for [[Creator/OprahWinfrey Oprah's Book Club]] in October 1997.
!!''A Lesson Before Dying'' contains examples of the following tropes:
* AbsurdlyLongWait: Henri Pichot summons Grant to his home, telling him to be there by 5:00. Pichot does not come to meet him until 7:30.
* AccidentalMisnaming: Dr. Joseph Morgan, the school superintendent, repeatedly calls Grant (whose last name is Wiggins) Higgins. It's gotten better, though; he used to call him Washington.
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth:
* CorporalPunishment: True to the time, Grant doesn't mind using a ruler to put misbehaving students back in [[StealthPun line]].
* CrapsackWorld: Grant considers the plantation town to be one that he can't escape.
* DeadpanSnarker: Grant, especially to his aunt and Miss Emma.
* DehumanizingInsult: During Jefferson's trial, the public defender indirectly calls him a hog, claiming that he was innocent of the murder because he was too stupid to have planned any kind of crime. The jury find him guilty anyway.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Professor Antoine considers trying to educate and improve the lives of the plantation children an exercise in futility.
* FatSweatySouthernerInAWhiteSuit: The school superintendent, Dr. Joseph Morgan, is so obese he struggles to climb three stairs. Ironically, he also gives the students a lecture on the value of nutrition and exercise for health.
* FriendOnTheForce: Paul Bonin, a prison guard, is more sympathetic to Grant, Emma, and Jefferson than the other guards and he and Grant form a sort of friendship.
* GenerationXerox: Grant is afraid this is happening with his pupils and their older relatives.
* HistoryRepeats: As he watches the children cutting wood, Grant reflects on how he had been in their place years before and doubts whether he is reaching any of them.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: According to Jefferson's testimony, after Jefferson's friends and the shopkeeper the friends attempted to hold up had all killed each other, Jefferson "suddenly realized he needed a drink, and needed it badly." He grabs a bottle of whisky off a shelf and swigs from it [[NotWhatItLooksLike just as two white customers walk in.]]
* InternalizedCategorism:
** Jefferson, after being called a hog by the public defender, seems to believe he is one. The first time Grant visits him alone, he even gets down on his hands and knees and eats like an animal from the paper bag of food that Grant brings him.
** Matthew Antoine, Grant's former teacher, hates himself for being biracial.
* MiscarriageofJustice: Jefferson's trial and conviction for a murder he did not commit is the inciting event of the novel.
* PosthumousCharacter: Brother and Bear, Jefferson's two friends Alcee Gropé, the liquor store owner; and Matthew Antoine, Grant's former teacher.
* SouthernGentleman: Henri Pichot and Sam Guidry.
* StatusQuoIsGod: In-universe, Professor Antoine believes and Grant fears that improving the lives of the plantation community by educating the children is impossible and trying is a waste of effort.
* StoicWoobie: Jefferson.
* SympatheticAdulterer: Vivian, Grant's girlfriend, is cheating on her husband with him.
* ValuesDissonance: Grant's use of corporal punishment on his students.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The trial and conviction in the novel is loosely based on the real-life conviction and execution of [[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Francis Willie Francis,]] a black teenager who was convicted of murder on slim evidence and sentenced to the electric chair twice in 1945 and 1947.
''A Lesson Before Dying'' is an award-winning historical fiction novel written in 1993 and the eighth novel by African-American author Ernest J. Gaines. Grant Wiggins is a schoolteacher for the black children of a plantation town near Bayonne, Louisiana who feels trapped in his role grappling with the racism of the pre-Civil Rights South. When a young man named Jefferson is wrongly convicted of murder and placed on death row, Wiggins' aunt enlists him to equip Jefferson with the self-concept he needs to die with dignity in a world that denies his humanity. Grant is less than enthusiastic about his mission.
The novel received a National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 1993, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and was chosen for [[Creator/OprahWinfrey Oprah's Book Club]] in October 1997.
!!''A Lesson Before Dying'' contains examples of the following tropes:
* AbsurdlyLongWait: Henri Pichot summons Grant to his home, telling him to be there by 5:00. Pichot does not come to meet him until 7:30.
* AccidentalMisnaming: Dr. Joseph Morgan, the school superintendent, repeatedly calls Grant (whose last name is Wiggins) Higgins. It's gotten better, though; he used to call him Washington.
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth:
* CorporalPunishment: True to the time, Grant doesn't mind using a ruler to put misbehaving students back in [[StealthPun line]].
* CrapsackWorld: Grant considers the plantation town to be one that he can't escape.
* DeadpanSnarker: Grant, especially to his aunt and Miss Emma.
* DehumanizingInsult: During Jefferson's trial, the public defender indirectly calls him a hog, claiming that he was innocent of the murder because he was too stupid to have planned any kind of crime. The jury find him guilty anyway.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Professor Antoine considers trying to educate and improve the lives of the plantation children an exercise in futility.
* FatSweatySouthernerInAWhiteSuit: The school superintendent, Dr. Joseph Morgan, is so obese he struggles to climb three stairs. Ironically, he also gives the students a lecture on the value of nutrition and exercise for health.
* FriendOnTheForce: Paul Bonin, a prison guard, is more sympathetic to Grant, Emma, and Jefferson than the other guards and he and Grant form a sort of friendship.
* GenerationXerox: Grant is afraid this is happening with his pupils and their older relatives.
* HistoryRepeats: As he watches the children cutting wood, Grant reflects on how he had been in their place years before and doubts whether he is reaching any of them.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: According to Jefferson's testimony, after Jefferson's friends and the shopkeeper the friends attempted to hold up had all killed each other, Jefferson "suddenly realized he needed a drink, and needed it badly." He grabs a bottle of whisky off a shelf and swigs from it [[NotWhatItLooksLike just as two white customers walk in.]]
* InternalizedCategorism:
** Jefferson, after being called a hog by the public defender, seems to believe he is one. The first time Grant visits him alone, he even gets down on his hands and knees and eats like an animal from the paper bag of food that Grant brings him.
** Matthew Antoine, Grant's former teacher, hates himself for being biracial.
* MiscarriageofJustice: Jefferson's trial and conviction for a murder he did not commit is the inciting event of the novel.
* PosthumousCharacter: Brother and Bear, Jefferson's two friends Alcee Gropé, the liquor store owner; and Matthew Antoine, Grant's former teacher.
* SouthernGentleman: Henri Pichot and Sam Guidry.
* StatusQuoIsGod: In-universe, Professor Antoine believes and Grant fears that improving the lives of the plantation community by educating the children is impossible and trying is a waste of effort.
* StoicWoobie: Jefferson.
* SympatheticAdulterer: Vivian, Grant's girlfriend, is cheating on her husband with him.
* ValuesDissonance: Grant's use of corporal punishment on his students.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The trial and conviction in the novel is loosely based on the real-life conviction and execution of [[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Francis Willie Francis,]] a black teenager who was convicted of murder on slim evidence and sentenced to the electric chair twice in 1945 and 1947.
