Character Analysis Essay: Grant Wiggins of “A Lesson Before Dying” Grant Wiggins is very conflicted and confused about many aspects of his life when he comes back to his home town. Despite his reluctance, he is eventually forced to overcome his defeatist attitude and accept the sense of responsibility that Tante Lou and Miss Emma are trying to instill in him. Grant is also haunted by his past having grown up in a very racist small town which he could never find a way to deal with. I believe that, much like myself, Grant Wiggins experiences a great deal of internal struggle and confusion when he returns to his home town. I think that he is trying to get over the negative experiences that he had during his childhood in Bayonne by moving …show more content…

The previous quotation very effectively makes use of repetition by repeating “I need you” to add emphasis so that the reader is aware that it is an important point in the dialogue. The repetition of that phrase is effective mainly because it repeats the key phrase so that it sticks in the readers head on a repetitive loop.
"What justice would there be to take this life? Justice, gentlemen? Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this." (Jefferson's attorney 8). This is perhaps one of the most poignant examples of a good idea gone wrong that I have ever seen. I say this not because Jefferson’s attorney did not even attempt to convince the jury that his client was innocent, but because I believe that his attorney had the bright idea to suggest that by finding Jefferson guilty, they are acknowledging that Jefferson is a human who is capable of sequential thought, planning, and preparation just like them. He knew that that would bother the racist jury to the point that they might consider letting Jefferson go free due to the sub human status which the attorney had ascribed to him. Unfortunately it did not work the way that his attorney had planned and Jefferson was still found guilty of theft and triple homicide which resulted in the death penalty. "... They sentence you to death because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time, with no proof that you had anything at all to do