A Lesson Before Dying

Detailed Summary & Analysis

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31

Themes

All Themes Racism Education Religion, Cynicism, and Hope Heroism and Sacrifice Women and Femininity Roots, Connections, and Morality

Quotes

Characters

All Characters Grant Wiggins Jefferson Tante Lou Miss Emma Glenn The defense attorney Henri Pichot Vivian Baptiste Deputy Paul Bonin Reverend Moses Ambrose Edna Guidry Matthew Antoine

Symbols

All Symbols Fire, Heat, and Warmth Wood Food and Meals

Upgrade to LitCharts A⁺

Instant downloads of all 1173 LitChart PDFs (including A Lesson Before Dying).

LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does.

Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts.

The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play.

LitCharts From the creators of SparkNotes, something better.

Shakespeare Translations

A Lesson Before Dying

Ernest Gaines

Upgrade to A⁺

Download this LitChart! (PDF)

Introduction

Plot Summary

Detailed Summary
& Analysis

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31

Themes

All Themes
Racism
Education
Religion, Cynicism, and Hope
Heroism and Sacrifice
Women and Femininity
Roots, Connections, and Morality

Quotes

Characters

All Characters
Grant Wiggins
Jefferson
Tante Lou
Miss Emma Glenn
The defense attorney
Henri Pichot
Vivian Baptiste
Deputy Paul Bonin
Reverend Moses Ambrose
Edna Guidry
Matthew Antoine

Symbols

All Symbols
Fire, Heat, and Warmth
Wood
Food and Meals

Theme Wheel

A Lesson Before Dying Study Guide

It's easy to cite LitCharts for use in academic papers and reports.

MLA

Arn, Jackson. "A Lesson Before Dying." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 20 Aug 2015. Web. 10 Dec 2019.

Chicago

Arn, Jackson. "A Lesson Before Dying." LitCharts LLC, August 20, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2019. https://www.litcharts.com/lit/a-lesson-before-dying.

Download this Chart (PDF)

The printed PDF version of the LitChart on A Lesson Before Dying

“Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!”

Download!

Get the Teacher Edition

The Teacher Edition of the LitChart on A Lesson Before Dying

“This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class.”

Get it!

Which guides should we add? Request one!

How can we improve? Tell us!

LitCharts is hiring.

Company

About Us Our Story Jobs

Connect

Help Contact Blog Facebook Twitter

Mobile Apps

iOS Android

Legal

Home About Story Contact Help

LitCharts is hiring!

Terms Privacy GDPR

LitCharts uses cookies to personalize our services. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Cookie Policy, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service.