THE QUEST FOR HUMAN DIGNITY IN ERNEST JAMES GAINES’S A LESSON BEFORE DYIN

THE QUEST FOR HUMAN DIGNITY IN ERNEST JAMES GAINES’S A LESSON BEFORE DYIN

The issue of human dignity has always been one of deep concern for any kind of people. In fact, people face issues related to our topic on a daily basic. For, the theme of Human Dignity encompasses all the other that are linked to the well being of human beings. No wonder then, it has been at the innermost of the preoccupations of the people who play an important social role. Writers, who are part of these main social figures, are also very often sensitive to the problems faced by their communities. And Ernest James Gaines, one of the most AfricanAmerican writers, has always dealt with that issue of highest importance. The definition given by Wikipedia emphasizes all the aspects of human life taken into account by the theme of Human Dignity: “Dignity is a term often used in moral, ethnical, political discussion to signify that a being has an innate right to respect and ethnical treatment. It is an extension of enlightenment –era beliefs that individuals have inherent inviolable rights, and thus is closely related to concepts like virtue, respect and self respect, autonomy, human rights and enlightened reason” 1 Moreover, the Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen States of America in Congress, July 4th, 1776 in Congress clearly stipulates that: “…all men are created equal , that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that 1www. En. Wikipedia.org/ wiki/ dignity 3 among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”2 These lines show that America is a country founded on Human Dignity which is based on freedom and equality for all mankind. Whenever these principles are flouted, the country experiences some difficult situations. Those same principles are stated in the first article of the universal declaration of Human Rights which states that: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood”3 In addition, like many African-American writers of the nineteenth century, Ernest James Gaines handles human dignity as a major theme in his writings. A Lesson Before Dying reveals Gaines’ deep commitment to this theme as he deals with the issue especially through the characters of Jefferson and Grant Wiggins. Thus, the problem raised by such a topic is whether the principles underlying Human Dignity are fully respected regarding the story. To what extent are races important in human relationships? Does the system set up by the defense attorney for example favor the respect of Human Dignity? Is it possible to 2www.ushistory.org/declaration /document 3 http // unicode.org/udhr/assemblies/first-article-all.pdf 4 overcome these difficulties and get away with it cost-free? Those are some of the many questions we will try to answer throughout our analysis. Ernest J. Gaines is a novelist, a short story writer and a teacher in 1933 on a plantation in Louisiana. He grew up in rural Louisiana and started to study there at an early age, experiencing the racism of the deep south first hand. One of his earliest influences was his aunt Augustine Jefferson who had no legs, but was able to fulfill the obligations of a parent to the child. In 1948, he went with his family to Vallejo, California where he pursued his studies and started to read a lot of books, especially about the south. Gaines is among the most widely read and highly respected African – American fiction writers. This fiction novel, A Lesson Before Dying, is set in Louisiana with its unique mixture of White, African- American and Creole cultures and the relationships between these racial groups are central themes. Likewise,Gaines’ fictional story portrays the everyday life of African-American in rural Louisiana. Needless to say, such human being belongs to a race, which W.E.B Du Bois defines as: “ A vast family of human beings, generally of common blood and language, always of common history, traditions and impulses, who are both voluntarily striving for the accomplishment of certain more or less vividly conceived ideas of life”4 4W.E.B Du Bois The Conservation of Race. Washington D.C , the Academy.1987 p. 6 5 The African-American race is composed of individuals who shared a great deal of painful experiences, ranging from the dehumanization of slaves to their discrimination. Despite the abolition of slavery, African-Americans remained segregated. Indeed, white supremacists made them believe they were intellectually inferior to them and would serve only as working instruments. Therefore, studying these racial groups will allow us to have a thorough understanding of the system set up on the plantations. Since we are to explore Human Dignity in the book we have to do it within the framework of Louisiana’s social stratification. In the novel, our narrator is Grant Wiggins, an educated African-American who has returned to his hometown to teach. He witnesses and narrates the story of Jefferson who is guilty of being at the wrong place and at the wrong time. Yet sentenced to death despite his innocence. The turning point is when the defense attorney seeking to spare him the death penalty calls him a “hog”. His aunt, convinced that she did not raise a hog, wants him to be aware of the fact that he is a human as any other person. It is Grant Wiggins who is then given the responsibility for making him a man and above all him die with dignity. This work indicates the context in which we are going to broaden our analysis. We have three chapters among which there; first of all the different racial groups then the issue of human dignity on the plantations, and, at last the consequence of the quest.

The different racial groups on the plantations.

The study of human dignity theme in A Lesson Before Dying requires the examination of the different groups. Races are always at the core of human relationships. In Unites States of America the melting pot which characterizes the society makes it all the more true. It represents indeed the society’s main distinctive feature. On the top of that, the story has taken place in the south with its rich racial history ranging from slavery to segregation. Gaines, who was born and grew up in the south, is really well acquainted with complex social stratification it represents. He reflected in a conversation with Ruth Laney: “I think one of the greatest things that have happened to me, as a writer and as a human being, is I was born in the south, that I was born in Louisiana.”5 He thus tries to capture that social structure. He does this by figuring out the different races that compose Louisiana society and determining their specifies. It will also allow us to shed light on the kind of relationships people have between themselves. In the story whose eloquence, thematic and moral richness is very poignant, Gaines summons the reader to confront the entire bitter history of black people in the south. Indeed, that story is so rich and full of lessons that he thinks that it deserves to be related, studied and explored. Consequently, he uses literature to depict the realities of Louisiana folks. 5 http// www.answer.com-topic/ernest-gaines/ 8 So we will first focus on the various racial groups on the plantations then the relationships between them will be elaborately explored so as to see if they preclude the respect of the principle of human dignity. 

The various racial groups

The plantations that constitute the main settings are not racially identical. In the story, we have different races namely Whites, Blacks, Creoles and Cajuns. It is a well structured discriminatory society that determines the status of everybody according to the groups. The organization of the society shows us people from different races are set apart. Public places are categorized depending on whether one is white or colored. Therefore their access to public placesis restricted on the ground of racial considerations. This can be clearly noticed in the presentation of the town of Bayonne in A Lesson Before Dying: “Bayonne wasa small town of about six thousand. Approximately three thousand five hundred whites, approximately two thousand five hundred colored. It was the parish seat of St Raphael. The courthouse was there. So was the jail. There was a Catholic Church uptown for whites, a catholic church off town for colored. There was a white movie theater uptown, a colored movie theater back of town. There were two 9 elementary schools uptown, one public for whites; and the same back of town for colored”6 However, the idiosyncrasy of the society is worth studying elaborately. On the top of the ladder, we have the whites. For, the white people consider themselves as being superior and the system is set up so as to let the others never forget this. They are the decisions makers and theyalso control the law. So, they are in a position to manipulate the law in order to serve their own interests. That enables them to commit crimes without undergoing just trials. Actually, they have nothing to fear from other races. Even though the others want to restore justice; they do not have the means to do it, for they are helpless. The white people decide the position each person has to assume in the society. Therefore, the plantations are managed according to their will. In fact, the story takes place in the Jim Crow era which institutionalized the “separate but equal” system. It started after the Reconstruction period (1865- 1877) and ended in the mid sixties. It was a segregator system aiming to assert and to implement the superiority of whites over any race. Thus, stereotypes are spread in order to remind others of their social ranks. Even Thomas Jefferson, who is the one who mainly drafted the declaration of independence which states the equality of “all people” said in his only book entitled Notes on the State ofVirginia, written in 1781 and first published in 1784: “…that the blacks, 6 Ernest J.Gaines, A Lesson Before Dying, New York, Vintage Books, 1994 ,p 25 10 whether originally a distinct race, or made by time and circumstances are inferior to the whites in the endowment both of body and mind”7 This underlines that even among the most respected American, these stereotypes were and are consciously or unconsciously admitted. However, their intension being to draw a demoniac picture of blacks, they start with representations. They are destined to justify and to legitimate any misdeed committed by them against blacks. In her famous novel entitled Beloved, Toni Morrison depicts in a sarcastic and sadistic way, the hideous popular perception whites spread about blacks. Indeed, through the state of mind of the character Stamp Paid, she reveals how stereotypes dehumanize blacks but also the way it backfires on whites themselves and the character of Schoolteacher embodies that fact: “White believed that whatever the manners, under every black skin was a jungle. Swift unavoidable waters swinging, screaming baboons, sleeping snakes, red gums ready for their white blood. In a way…They were right. But it wasn’t the jungle blacks brought with them to this place…It was the jungle white folks planted in them. And it grew. It spread…until it invaded the whites who had made it…made them bloody, silly, worse than even they wanted to be scared were they of the jungle they had made.  baboon lived under their own white skin; the red gums were their own”8 No wonder then, that these popular beliefs held by many whites are more obvious in a southern society led by white supremacists. Moreover, they breed strange feelings in the mind the black. No matter what he does, these stereotypes keep hunting him. Even if slavery is supposed to be abolished in the late forties when these stories take place, these beliefs are as widely held as they were. The daily grind of life constitutes also a constant reminder of that regretful reality. That why William Edward Burghart Du Bois in his book The Souls Of BlackFolks emphasizes that aspect of the black character shaped by centuries of sufferings; that sense of feeling in the skin o two different personalities: “One ever feels his two-nees an American, a negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings two warring ideals in one dark body whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” 9 That feeling of being lost and having the impression of not fitting in the society is all-pervasive in A Lesson before Dying among black people. The example of Grant Wiggins is obvious. Being well learned and highly educated, he aspires to be granted a well deserved respect. At least, he seeks a humanity that would belie the knowledge he has received at schools with lectures about humanism. Instead, he realizes that he will have to fight for his rights if he wants to get any. 8 Toni Morrison, Beloved, New-York, Penguin Books, 1987 ,p 198-199 9 Du Bois, W.E .B, The Souls of Black Folk, New York, A Signet Classic, 1903 , p 48 12 Indeed, their supremacy takes on more presumptuous side. Their hypocrisy has reached here the highest degree. Thus, they decide to sentence an innocent black man to death and even worse they determine the moment they deem appropriate for his execution. By doing so, they assume one of God’s prerogatives. This shows how far they are ready to go to give evidence of their supremacy. All this is done with no remorse and when it comes down for the convict to have his last words, they just want to make sure that he will speak well of them and try to incur his favor. Hence, the gravity of the prejudices from which Blacks are suffering in the novels. Likewise, the way these prejudices stunt their possibilities or other purposes is outstanding and denigrating. They are made to believe that they are inferior to whites and even to Creoles to such a point that they take it for granted. Or, if they do not, they have to pretend that they do. Ideologically, such thoughts have gained ground to such an extent that it is very difficult to get ride of them in the minds of whites but more worryingly, in the minds of blacks themselves. It is at this level that the critic Sandra L. Banes stresses the multiform aspect of the consequences of centuries of racism and discrimination while studying Du Bois’sSoul of Black Folk: “Certain consequences of racism and discrimination were separate spheres of life, physical abuse, paternalism and economic disenfranchisement. Other consequences were less visible but just as detrimental- 13 angst, conflicted identity, self-hate, self-doubt, and a lack of industriousness and self- reliance”10 They are materialized through the social hierarchy, but also through the economic opportunities offered to each one and the possibilities to become wealthy and to live properly. Ashmore S. Harry insists on that fact but he goes further by asserting the consequences segregation brought about as far as human identity is concerned: “Segregation denied opportunity and for most blacks, imposed poverty, but its great blight was denial of identity”