futility and systems

A Lesson Before Dying is a novel about systems and the people who fight them.

At the opening of the novel, we meet Grant Wiggins. The main thing that stuck out to me about him from the first few pages was just how deeply cynical he was. Grant seemed judgmental of everything that brought the people in his town- for example, his take on the adulation of sports heroes like Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis, given that these men will and can not materially improve the conditions the black community in Bayonne. He’s also questioning his role as a teacher, wondering if his actions will actually help his students.

The problem with Grant’s teaching reflects the greater issue with his role in society: Grant is forced to teach to the demands of a racist, white supremacist school system. The goal is not to create a well-educated, critically-thinking populace, but rather to give the children the basic literacy and mathematical skills they’ll need to be farm laborers. To properly educate the children would threaten the existing power structure, and so the school district deprives Grant’s classroom of essential tools, like chalk and books. Further, Grant must specifically train the children to be almost robotic, obeying his every command, in order to please the superintendent. Grant’s caught in a lose-lose situation: teaching the children this way is not his preference and may be actively harmful, he doesn’t meet these standards, he won’t be able to educate the children at all. As one teacher, he cannot lift them up in a system designed specifically to keep them down.

Given the situation, I don’t think it’s hard to see why Grant has become so jaded and, dare I say, kind of a dick. And it’s this resistance to the notion of individual change that leads him to question the necessity of teaching Jefferson. Grant seems to see the world in terms of largescale events: the children will still chop wood whether they can spell their names or not; Jefferson will die, regardless of if he thinks of himself as a man or a hog. So what’s the point in trying? And therein forms the basis for his emotional arc over the course of the novel; as he speaks to Jefferson, he learns the value in fighting, even if it’s futile, because it’s worth it, even if merely to lift people’s spirits. Learning simply to value his work and his mission may be what Grant takes away from these events. When he wants to stay in Bayonne, and no longer dreams of fleeing, and when he learns to respect the things that bring others happiness, even amidst their oppression, his emotional journey will be complete.