Summary: A Lesson Before Dying

Grant Wig­gins, a well-edu­cat­ed African Amer­i­can, resides in a rur­al area near Bay­onne, Louisiana, work­ing as an edu­ca­tor. His life takes an unfore­seen turn when Jef­fer­son, a men­tal­ly chal­lenged man, is false­ly accused of a mur­der he did not com­mit and sen­tenced to exe­cu­tion. Fol­low­ing a botched rob­bery at a liquor store, Jef­fer­son is dis­cov­ered at the crime scene where the shop own­er and two oth­ers were killed. Dur­ing the tri­al, Jef­fer­son­’s legal advi­sor por­trays him as no more than a “hog” inca­pable of such a deed. Despite this defense, the jury con­victs Jef­fer­son. Deeply dis­turbed by this degrad­ing com­par­i­son, Jef­fer­son­’s god­moth­er, Miss Emma, implores Grant to assist Jef­fer­son in fac­ing his impend­ing demise with grace. Ini­tial­ly hes­i­tant to involve him­self in Jef­fer­son­’s sit­u­a­tion, Grant even­tu­al­ly agrees under pres­sure from his aunt, Tante Lou. In their ini­tial encoun­ters, Grant, Miss Emma, and Tante Lou find Jef­fer­son unre­spon­sive and despon­dent, hav­ing absorbed the lawyer’s dis­parag­ing words. Jef­fer­son resists Grant’s per­sis­tent attempts to restore his dig­ni­ty. How­ev­er, a break­through occurs when Jef­fer­son express­es his desire for a gal­lon of vanil­la ice cream, a shared love that helps to bridge the divide between them. Grant deep­ens their con­nec­tion by gift­ing Jef­fer­son a radio and a note­book to doc­u­ment his thoughts. As the exe­cu­tion date approach­es, Grant’s rela­tion­ships with his girl­friend, Vivian, and Rev­erend Ambrose become strained. Vivian feels neglect­ed as Grant uti­lizes their rela­tion­ship as a refuge from his trou­bles, while Rev­erend Ambrose urges Grant to set aside his athe­is­tic beliefs to save not just Jef­fer­son­’s rep­u­ta­tion but his soul. The impend­ing exe­cu­tion of Jef­fer­son becomes a town top­ic, lead­ing to an influx of vis­i­tors, which makes Jef­fer­son com­pre­hend the seri­ous­ness of his sit­u­a­tion. Though he does not wit­ness the exe­cu­tion, Grant instructs his stu­dents to hon­or Jef­fer­son­’s mem­o­ry. Learn­ing of Jef­fer­son­’s dig­ni­fied con­duct dur­ing the exe­cu­tion leaves Grant pro­found­ly saddened.

Chapter 1

Grant Wig­gins rem­i­nisces about a tri­al ver­dict despite his absence. He imag­ines the court­room set­ting, the judge, and the attor­neys. In his vision, his aunt, Tante Lou, sits rigid­ly beside Miss Emma, Jef­fer­son­’s god­moth­er. Grant observes Jef­fer­son from the rear. He recounts the events lead­ing up to the tri­al, detail­ing how Jef­fer­son, accom­pa­nied by two oth­er indi­vid­u­als, stopped at a store where a fatal alter­ca­tion ensued, result­ing in Jef­fer­son­’s wrong­ful accu­sa­tion of orches­trat­ing the crime. Despite Jef­fer­son­’s lawyer defend­ing him, the jury finds him guilty of rob­bery and mur­der. Jef­fer­son is ulti­mate­ly sen­tenced to death by electrocution.

Chapter 2

Upon return­ing home after the tri­al, Grant finds his Aunt Lou and Miss Emma seat­ed at the table, like­ly to dis­cuss the tri­al. Although Grant ini­tial­ly retreats to his room, he even­tu­al­ly joins them in the kitchen. Miss Emma, dis­traught by Jef­fer­son­’s degrad­ing por­tray­al, implores Grant to men­tor Jef­fer­son in jail. Grant hes­i­tates but is encour­aged by Aunt Lou to vis­it Mr. Hen­ry Pichot, whose con­nec­tions may allow Grant to meet Jef­fer­son. Unhap­py with the sug­ges­tion, Grant refrains from express­ing his dis­dain for the town.

Chapter 3

Tante Lou, Miss Emma, and Grant vis­it the Pichot estate, seek­ing per­mis­sion from Mr. Pichot to assist Jef­fer­son. After a for­mal exchange in the kitchen, Pichot agrees to dis­cuss the mat­ter fur­ther with his broth­er-in-law, the sheriff.

Chapter 4

Sub­se­quent to part­ing ways with Miss Emma, Grant informs Aunt Lou he will dine in town, caus­ing offense. He heads to Bay­onne, park­ing in the dim­ly lit area where he shares a meal with Vivian, his fair-skinned part­ner. Their con­ver­sa­tion involves Grant sug­gest­ing they leave town togeth­er, which Vivian deems imprac­ti­cal. She ques­tions his pro­longed stay in town, to which Grant responds with his desire to be with her. Vivian chal­lenges Grant’s sin­cer­i­ty and com­mit­ment. As they dis­cuss Jef­fer­son­’s fate, Grant ques­tions his abil­i­ty to pre­pare Jef­fer­son to face death while bat­tling his own demons.

Chapter 5

Grant, teach­ing young black chil­dren up to the sixth grade, resumes his duties at the church school on the plan­ta­tion, where ses­sions last a mere five and a half months annu­al­ly. Frus­trat­ed with his role, Grant con­tem­plates how to engage his stu­dents effectively.

Off­spring for minor offens­es, as they strive to remain in his favor. He takes a pause, wan­der­ing out­doors and inspect­ing the adja­cent res­i­dences, cog­nizant of the chal­leng­ing exis­tences of the inhab­i­tants. Upon return­ing to the class­room, he catch­es a pupil dis­tract­ed by a bug and firm­ly chas­tis­es him. In his fury, he divulges to the class his task bestowed by Miss Emma, to refine Jef­fer­son into a man before his exe­cu­tion — a pur­suit akin to how he is endeav­or­ing to mold them. As the class comes to a close, a diminu­tive man arrives to beck­on Grant, announc­ing Mr. Hen­ri Pichot’s desire for his presence.

Chapter 6

Upon reach­ing the Pichot kitchen, Grant is wel­comed by a maid who informs him that Sher­iff Sam Guidry, Mr. Pichot’s broth­er-in-law, is expect­ed immi­nent­ly. Dur­ing his wait, Grant con­tem­plates his involve­ment in Jef­fer­son­’s cir­cum­stances. After some time, he hears Sam Guidry and his wife Edna arrive. Edna sub­se­quent­ly enters the kitchen and inun­dates Grant with queries, afford­ing him no space to reply. She express­es regret over Jef­fer­son­’s predica­ment and the mur­der, all while sip­ping bour­bon. Sher­iff Sam Guidry, Hen­ri Pichot, Louis Rougon, and an unnamed port­ly man enter the kitchen hours lat­er. When asked about his wait dura­tion, Grant replies, “Around two and a half hours,” lament­ing his fail­ure to con­ceal his annoy­ance due to his ego. Inquired about his plans for Jef­fer­son, Grant con­fess­es his uncer­tain­ty. Ulti­mate­ly, Guidry dis­clos­es that Grant can vis­it Jef­fer­son in a few weeks, notwith­stand­ing his belief that Grant’s efforts will be futile and that he should per­mit Jef­fer­son to per­ish as a “con­tent­ed hog.” The sher­iff also cau­tions Grant that any dis­tress inflict­ed upon Jef­fer­son will lead to the annul­ment of his vis­i­ta­tion privileges.

Chapter 7

In the approach­ing weeks, Grant antic­i­pates the annu­al vis­it from the school super­in­ten­dent. He ensures his stu­dents are tidy and well-man­nered in readi­ness for the unan­tic­i­pat­ed arrival of the super­in­ten­dent. The super­in­ten­dent, Dr. Joseph Mor­gan, even­tu­al­ly mate­ri­al­izes, with Grant not­ing his cor­pu­lence and strug­gle to dis­em­bark from his vehi­cle. Grant escorts Dr. Mor­gan to his desk and aligns with his pupils. Dr. Mor­gan sin­gles out cer­tain stu­dents, par­tic­u­lar­ly those appear­ing reserved or trou­ble­some, for scruti­ny. He inspects their oral hygiene and tasks them with recit­ing Bible vers­es. A young boy’s inabil­i­ty to recite accu­rate­ly pro­vokes Dr. Mor­gan’s ire and sense of val­i­da­tion. Grant likens this appraisal to those con­duct­ed by slave­hold­ers. Dr. Mor­gan empha­sizes the sig­nif­i­cance of prop­er nutri­tion, clean­li­ness, and phys­i­cal labor to the class, laud­ing Grant for his instruc­tion. Grant artic­u­lates his dis­plea­sure regard­ing the shab­by state of their school books, pre­dom­i­nant­ly hand-me-downs from white schools. This griev­ance agi­tates Dr. Mor­gan, who retorts that white schools also encounter obsta­cles. Before depart­ing, Dr. Mor­gan sug­gests that Grant have the stu­dents engage in agri­cul­tur­al work to raise funds.

chapter 8

The school receives its win­ter sup­ply of wood the sub­se­quent week. While his stu­dents engage in cut­ting the wood, Grant’s thoughts drift back to his ear­ly school years and his men­tor, Matthew Antoine. He recalls Mr. Antoine as a embit­tered, dis­en­chant­ed indi­vid­ual who loathed his pro­fes­sion and his pupils. Grant high­lights that Mr. Antoine, being a mulat­to with bira­cial lin­eage, deemed him­self supe­ri­or to blacks and scorned their yearn­ing for edu­ca­tion in a soci­ety that debased them. After sev­er­al years at uni­ver­si­ty, Grant returned to the plan­ta­tion to teach and resolved to pay a vis­it to Mr. Antoine. Despite Mr. Antoine advis­ing Grant to give his utmost, he har­bored doubts about Grant’s capa­bil­i­ty to effect change. Accord­ing to Mr. Antoine, the sole recourse for blacks in the South was to flee.

chapter 9

Grant accom­pa­nies Miss Emma to Bay­onne jail, encoun­ter­ing deputies Clark and Paul. Post Paul scru­ti­niz­ing Emma’s par­cel for Jef­fer­son, they gain entry to his cell. They find Jef­fer­son reclin­ing on his bunk, gaz­ing at the ceil­ing, unre­spon­sive to Emma’s inquiries. He rebuffs her food, stat­ing, “It doesn’t mat­ter.” When prompt­ed to elab­o­rate, he sim­ply responds, “Noth­ing doesn’t mat­ter.” He cryp­ti­cal­ly inquires about his impend­ing exe­cu­tion date. Emma is puz­zled by his inquiry, but Grant com­pre­hends. Despite Emma’s efforts to engage, Jef­fer­son remains most­ly taciturn.

chapter 10

Suc­ces­sive vis­its unfold in a sim­i­lar fash­ion. On the fourth vis­it’s day, Tante Lou appris­es Grant that Miss Emma is indis­posed and will not accom­pa­ny him to the prison. Grant finds Miss Emma in her abode, feign­ing a cough. He sus­pects that she and his aunt are orches­trat­ing for him to ven­ture to the jail unac­com­pa­nied. Feel­ing humil­i­at­ed by their pre­sump­tions, Grant voic­es his vex­a­tion. Tear­ful­ly, Miss Emma acknowl­edges her humil­i­a­tion of him, elu­ci­dat­ing that she has no alter­na­tive as she requires his aid. Grant departs.

chapter 11

Upon reach­ing Jef­fer­son­’s cell, Grant is unsure of his approach. He queries if Jef­fer­son is fam­ished. Jef­fer­son reverse­ly inquires if Grant pos­sess­es any corn, high­light­ing that it’s fod­der for swine. Sport­ing a wrath­ful grin, Jef­fer­son mim­ics a hog’s actions, stoop­ing to plunge his head into the food bag brought by Grant. Observ­ing this, Grant pon­ders if it’s Jef­fer­son­’s bid to incul­cate guilt in him so he would cease pes­ter­ing him. He men­tions that the white men view Jef­fer­son­’s predica­ment as irre­deemable. Jef­fer­son remains silent. Grant is tempt­ed to inter­ro­gate Jef­fer­son about his mus­ings, yet he resists the impulse.

chapter 12

Grant, sens­ing a duty to shield Miss Emma from the dis­qui­et­ing par­tic­u­lars of Jef­fer­son­’s indig­na­tion, retreats to the Rain­bow Club instead. While there, he over­hears some men dis­cussing Jack­ie Robin­son, elic­it­ing rec­ol­lec­tions of the com­mu­ni­ty’s jubi­la­tion over the vic­to­ries of pugilist Joe Louis. He rumi­nates on a recur­ring dream he had of a youth des­tined for the elec­tric chair implor­ing for Joe Louis’s inter­ven­tion, con­tem­plat­ing if Jef­fer­son would seek anal­o­gous solace in Jack­ie Robin­son. Over­whelmed, Grant departs the bar and heads to the local school where Vivian, his para­mour, instructs. He dis­cov­ers her soli­tary in her class­room and pro­pos­es they abscond togeth­er that night. How­ev­er, she insists on main­tain­ing dis­cre­tion to pre­vent her spouse from claim­ing cus­tody of their off­spring. He con­fides his dis­con­cert­ing vis­it to Jef­fer­son­’s cell to her and reit­er­ates his yearn­ing to flee the South per­ma­nent­ly. She posits that, notwith­stand­ing his ani­mos­i­ty towards the South, his attach­ment to his com­mu­ni­ty restrains him. Grant dis­clos­es his dis­sat­is­fac­tion with his present cir­cum­stance. Before depart­ing for a drink, Vivian dis­clos­es that their clan­des­tine liai­son is pub­lic knowl­edge among her school’s fac­ul­ty and pupils.

chapter 13

On Deter­mi­na­tion Sun­day, a day entail­ing church atten­dees singing favored hymns and divulging their eter­nal rest­ing sites, Emma attends church.Looking back to the pre­vi­ous Fri­day, Grant rem­i­nisces about his dia­logue with Vivian. Upon his arrival home, he dis­cov­ered Emma and Rev­erend Ambrose present, engaged in con­ver­sa­tion about his recent trip to Jef­fer­son­’s cell. Deceit­ful­ly, Grant assured them that Jef­fer­son was man­ag­ing well and had con­sumed some of Emma’s pro­vi­sions. Rev­erend Ambrose, who had also vis­it­ed Jef­fer­son, queried Grant about the foun­da­tion of his teach­ings to Jef­fer­son, con­cerned that Grant’s world­ly views might chal­lenge his reli­gious prin­ci­ples. Grant, hav­ing dis­tanced him­self from spir­i­tu­al con­vic­tions after years of exten­sive schol­ar­ly pur­suits, felt vexed by these inter­ro­ga­tions. As his aunt returned from wor­ship, Grant spent his hours grad­ing papers at his desk. He rem­i­nisced about his involve­ment with the church until his final year at uni­ver­si­ty when his aca­d­e­m­ic respon­si­bil­i­ties caused a divi­sion between him and his faith. This divi­sion strained his rela­tion­ship with Tante Lou. He con­tem­plat­ed Pro­fes­sor Antoine’s sug­ges­tion of per­ma­nent­ly leav­ing Bay­onne, even going as far as vis­it­ing his par­ents in Cal­i­for­nia. Nonethe­less, he opt­ed to con­tin­ue teach­ing in Bay­onne, still influ­enced by the pro­found pres­ence of the black church. In his own words, he sensed as though he was “tread­ing water, unable to rec­on­cile what was once my exis­tence, inca­pable of mov­ing on.” Unex­pect­ed­ly, Vivian made an appear­ance at Grant’s dwelling.

chapter 14

For her inau­gur­al vis­it to Grant’s home, Vivian was shown around and offered cof­fee and cake. Despite Grant’s assur­ances about the dish­ware, she insist­ed on clear­ing their plates. Sub­se­quent­ly, they decid­ed to embark on a leisure­ly walk. Their stroll led them through the plan­ta­tion, past a ceme­tery, and into the sug­ar­cane fields. They shared an inti­mate inter­lude with­in the seclu­sion of the sug­ar­cane. After their encounter, they exchanged thoughts on poten­tial names for their future off­spring, with Grant express­ing hes­i­tance about rais­ing chil­dren in their cur­rent vicinity.

chapter 15

Vivian shared her aspi­ra­tion that Grant’s fam­i­ly would embrace her. She dis­closed her back­ground, detail­ing her ori­gin from the fair-skinned mulat­to com­mu­ni­ty of Free LaCove, and her clan­des­tine mar­riage to a dark­er man she met at Xavier Uni­ver­si­ty. The rev­e­la­tion led to her fam­i­ly’s rejec­tion, a sit­u­a­tion that per­sist­ed even after her sep­a­ra­tion from her spouse. Upon arriv­ing at Grant’s aun­t’s res­i­dence, they encoun­tered Tante Lou, Miss Emma, and oth­ers. Grant intro­duced Vivian to them and attempt­ed to brew cof­fee, which his aunt resist­ed as an encroach­ment upon her domes­tic respon­si­bil­i­ties. This result­ed in an uneasy ambiance. Tante Lou probed about Vivian’s lin­eage and con­vic­tions. Despite Vivian’s atten­dance at a Catholic con­gre­ga­tion, Tante Lou inquired if she would for­sake her faith to wed the non-believ­er Grant. Vivian expressed her hope that such a sac­ri­fice would be unnec­es­sary, yet she was pre­pared to make it if required. This prompt­ed Grant to escort Vivian out­side. Vivian con­fid­ed in Grant her relief in know­ing oth­er fam­i­lies also cri­tique their off­spring. Grant coun­tered say­ing his fam­i­ly was dis­tinct from hers. This procla­ma­tion left Vivian speech­less, prompt­ing her depar­ture. The women com­mend­ed Vivian’s char­ac­ter and encour­aged her to stay stead­fast to her Chris­t­ian faith. Fol­low­ing the intense exchange, Vivian depart­ed with Grant. They spot­ted a young black cou­ple strolling hand in hand from church, to whom Grant silent­ly offered his well wish­es, “Good luck.”

chapter 16

Observ­ing Tante Lou, Rev­erend Ambrose, and Miss Emma return from their vis­it with Jef­fer­son, Grant wit­nessed them enter Miss Emma’s abode. Simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, at school, he dis­cov­ered his stu­dents engrossed in prepa­ra­tions for the annu­al Christ­mas fes­tiv­i­ties, prompt­ing him to remind them of a spe­cif­ic indi­vid­ual dur­ing the fes­tive peri­od, allud­ing to Jef­fer­son. Grant acqui­esced to Miss Emma’s request for a vis­it, where she dis­closed her aware­ness of his fab­ri­ca­tions regard­ing a pri­or encounter with Jef­fer­son. Miss Emma recount­ed the dis­tress­ing episode with Jef­fer­son, where he vehe­ment­ly inquired about “corn for a hog,” pro­vok­ing her to strike him. An exas­per­at­ed Grant con­fessed his inad­e­qua­cy in aid­ing Jef­fer­son, express­ing his reluc­tance to bear cul­pa­bil­i­ty in the mat­ter, regard­less of Tante Lou’s insis­tence on con­tin­u­ing his visits.

chapter 17

Through­out the week, Grant’s wrath began to dimin­ish. He pon­dered his tran­sient fits of anger and his fleet­ing con­vic­tions. Upon meet­ing Jef­fer­son on Fri­day, Grant endeav­ored to broach the dis­tress Jef­fer­son­’s plight caused Miss Emma, but it fell on deaf ears. Jef­fer­son con­tend­ed that his out­look on love and com­pas­sion would dif­fer were he the one fac­ing exe­cu­tion. He assert­ed nev­er hav­ing sought life and expressed vex­a­tion at Grant’s vis­its, even threat­en­ing to cause a scene. Grant, how­ev­er, per­ceived Jef­fer­son­’s ani­mos­i­ty as a plea for his pres­ence. Jef­fer­son dis­card­ed social for­mal­i­ties, deem­ing them sole­ly nec­es­sary for the liv­ing, before fling­ing his food to the ground. Fol­low­ing a meet­ing with the sher­iff, Guidry, Grant remained as Guidry con­clud­ed a phone call. Sub­se­quent­ly, Guidry con­front­ed Grant regard­ing Jef­fer­son­’s progress, to which Grant hon­est­ly remarked no progress was evi­dent, trig­ger­ing Guidry’s ire. Grant dis­cov­ered that Miss Emma had request­ed a vis­it with Jef­fer­son in a more com­fort­able set­ting, fuel­ing Guidry’s fury. Grant refut­ed Guidry’s alle­ga­tion that he insti­gat­ed Miss Emma’s request. Guidry con­sult­ed Clark and Frank, a cor­pu­lent indi­vid­ual, on the sub­se­quent course of action. Clark advo­cat­ed for main­tain­ing Jef­fer­son in his cell while Frank abstained from offer­ing his view­point. Ulti­mate­ly, Guidry decid­ed to inquire of Jef­fer­son his pref­er­ence, stip­u­lat­ing that regard­less of the loca­tion, Jef­fer­son would remain restrained.

chapter 18

Adher­ing to his pre­vi­ous com­mit­ment, Guidry inquired if Jef­fer­son would desire to con­verse with his vis­i­tors in the day­room. Jef­fer­son assent­ed. Miss Emma, Tante Lou, and Rev­erend Ambrose arrived to meet Jef­fer­son in the day­room, where his extrem­i­ties were shack­led. Miss Emma endeav­ored to offer him a meal at the table, but he declined. Grant also vis­it­ed Jef­fer­son, who per­sist­ed in declin­ing nour­ish­ment. The con­ver­sa­tion shift­ed to the Christ­mas pro­gram, prompt­ing Jef­fer­son to ques­tion if Christ­mas com­mem­o­rat­ed the birth or death of Christ. Grant clar­i­fied that Christ­mas marked Christ’s birth and illu­mi­nat­ed that East­er marked Christ’s cru­ci­fix­ion. Grant then probed Jef­fer­son on his com­pre­hen­sion of “moral,” under­scor­ing the respon­si­bil­i­ties humans owe to one anoth­er. Jef­fer­son, nonethe­less, sus­tained his belief that he was akin to a swine rather than a human.

chapter 19

The towns­peo­ple had locat­ed a pine tree and pooled resources to pro­cure cloth­ing for Jef­fer­son. Grant’s stu­dents staged a Christ­mas pro­gram, with Rev­erend Ambrose ini­ti­at­ing it with a prayer, reflect­ing on the igno­rance of those who per­ceived them­selves as eru­dite but did not revere the Lord. Grant swal­lowed his vex­a­tion. The Christ­mas pro­gram encom­passed a poignant per­for­mance of “ ‘Twas the Night before Christ­mas,” evok­ing deep sen­ti­ments among the atten­dees. Nonethe­less, Grant found him­self dis­heart­ened by the repet­i­tive­ness of their annu­al tra­di­tion, ques­tion­ing if their com­mu­ni­ty would ever progress.

A young­ster presents Grant with some nour­ish­ment des­ig­nat­ed for Jef­fer­son, result­ing in him observ­ing the intend­ed offering.

Chapter 20

The date for Jef­fer­son­’s exe­cu­tion is set, prompt­ing Grant to make a vis­it to Hen­ri Pichot’s res­i­dence, where Rev­erend Ambrose is already in atten­dance. The house­keep­er assures of Sher­iff Guidry’s impend­ing arrival, a state­ment ini­tial­ly met with skep­ti­cism by Grant until Guidry actu­al­ly appears. Guidry dis­clos­es Jef­fer­son­’s des­tiny: demise on the sec­ond Fri­day post-East­er, between noon and three o’clock. The deci­sion to sched­ule the exe­cu­tion away from East­er or Lent was made based on the May­or’s pref­er­ence. Grant’s ani­mos­i­ty swells as he reflects on how Cau­casian males not only judged Jef­fer­son but also fixed his exe­cu­tion date. He con­tem­plates the ethics behind one man dic­tat­ing anoth­er’s death day and ques­tions the clas­si­fi­ca­tion of such a pro­ce­dure as justice.

Chapter 21

Grant pays a vis­it to ail­ing Miss Emma, desir­ing to make a swift exit after a brief pres­ence. Fol­low­ing his depar­ture, he returns to his aun­t’s abode and is graced by Vivian’s vis­it. She express­es a wish to see Miss Emma but hes­i­tates about the appro­pri­ate­ness of the tim­ing. Grant shares his aspi­ra­tion for Vivian to be more ingrained in his life, despite poten­tial dis­ap­proval from his aunt. They opt to jour­ney togeth­er and check on Miss Emma. Dur­ing their vis­it, Vivian whis­pers to Miss Emma, leav­ing the lat­ter vis­i­bly con­tent. At the Rain­bow Club, Grant and Vivian engage in a can­did con­ver­sa­tion over glass­es of brandy. He artic­u­lates his pon­der­ings about why his aunt and Miss Emma antic­i­pate so much from him. Their desire is for him to be a source of pride, akin to the way Miss Emma regards Jef­fer­son. Per­plexed, Vivian places her glass down. Grant elab­o­rates, recount­ing the his­to­ry of black men fail­ing to pro­vide secu­ri­ty for their women, result­ing in a loss of deter­mi­na­tion or aban­don­ment. He empha­sizes that those striv­ing to alter this exist­ing con­di­tion crum­ble under the weight of their ances­tors’ fail­ures, caught in an unyield­ing cycle. In his view, this elu­ci­dates why Miss Emma and Tante Lou are so attached to him; they per­ceive him as stray­ing from the norm. Nev­er­the­less, by doing so, they inad­ver­tent­ly impose a bur­den­some weight on him, has­ten­ing his demise. When Vivian inquires about break­ing free from this cycle, he responds, “It’s up to Jef­fer­son, my love.”

Chapter 22

Grant vis­its Jef­fer­son in con­fine­ment. Paul, albeit hes­i­tant, inspects the food par­cel ear­marked for the detainee. Their dia­logue flows more smooth­ly this time. Jef­fer­son express­es a desire for a gal­lon of vanil­la ice cream, a com­pen­sa­tion for a life lack­ing suf­fi­cient indul­gence in the treat. He shows inter­est in Grant’s offer to pro­cure a radio for him. Grant turns to the patrons at the Rain­bow Club to seek finan­cial assis­tance. With the funds col­lect­ed, he ven­tures to a city store to pur­chase a com­pact radio. Despite the white clerk’s attempts to pro­vide him with the dis­play mod­el, Grant insists on a new device. Cash­ing in on the new acqui­si­tion, he pro­ceeds to the cour­t­house. After obtain­ing approval from the sher­iff, he hands over the radio to Paul for con­veyance to Jefferson.

Chapter 23

Miss Emma, Tante Lou, and Rev­erend Ambrose pay Jef­fer­son a vis­it in his cell as he remains engrossed with his radio. They find him sprawled on his cot, gaz­ing at the wall in silence, immersed in music. Post their encounter, Tante Lou accus­es Grant of insti­gat­ing Jef­fer­son­’s demeanor. Rev­erend Ambrose cen­sures the radio’s adverse impact on Jef­fer­son, pro­vok­ing Grant’s ire. The pre­vi­ous Fri­day, Jef­fer­son exhib­it­ed signs of open­ing up to Grant, hence he refus­es to detach the radio and jeop­ar­dize this progress. Sub­se­quent­ly, Grant vis­its Jef­fer­son once more, car­ry­ing a large sack of nuts col­lect­ed by his pupils. He per­suades Jef­fer­son to con­sent to meet Miss Emma in the com­mon area next time. He also pro­pos­es procur­ing a note­book for Jef­fer­son to jot down his thoughts, an idea to which Jef­fer­son accedes. Upon his depar­ture, Jef­fer­son, some­what reluc­tant­ly, asks him to con­vey his grat­i­tude to the chil­dren for the nuts. This appeal fills Grant with delight, spark­ing a spir­i­tu­al awak­en­ing with­in him. He resists the urge to embrace Jef­fer­son, instead opt­ing to offer his hand a warm squeeze before bid­ding adieu.

Chapter 24

Grant escorts Miss Emma to vis­it Jef­fer­son, car­ry­ing a note­book and pen­cil. Jef­fer­son ini­tial­ly resists din­ing in the com­mon area. In a bid to engage him, Grant sug­gests a stroll around the vicin­i­ty. Through­out their amble, Grant expounds on his view of hero­ism, assert­ing that a hero exe­cutes deeds beyond the capa­bil­i­ty or will­ing­ness of oth­ers. Grant acknowl­edges his non-hero­ic sta­tus but affirms Jef­fer­son­’s poten­tial to embody one. He dis­cuss­es the pre­vail­ing mis­ap­pre­hen­sion among whites about blacks being sub­hu­man. Grant acknowl­edges his inad­e­qua­cy and the rev­erend’s reluc­tance to chal­lenge this mis­con­cep­tion, believ­ing Jef­fer­son holds the abil­i­ty to counter it. He con­veys to Jef­fer­son that he requires him more than Jef­fer­son needs him. Amid their dia­logue, both Jef­fer­son and Grant are moved to tears.

Chapter 25

Fail­ing to locate Vivian at the Rain­bow Club, Grant set­tles at the bar and orders a drink. Posi­tioned behind him, two bira­cial brick­lay­ers engage in a loud exchange intend­ed to cap­ture his atten­tion. They make dis­parag­ing remarks about Jef­fer­son, insin­u­at­ing that his exe­cu­tion should have already occurred. Despite his attempts to sus­tain com­po­sure, Grant even­tu­al­ly snaps. He rebukes them, demand­ing silence. His reproach esca­lates into a phys­i­cal alter­ca­tion, result­ing in him being knocked unconscious.

Chapter 26

Regain­ing con­scious­ness in Vivian’s abode after being felled by Clai­borne in an unavoid­able brawl, Grant, despite Vivian’s aver­sion to vio­lence, is offered a stay for the night. Con­tem­plat­ing ini­tial­ly to decline, cog­nizant of her spouse’s poten­tial return for their chil­dren, he is dis­com­posed by Vivian’s appeal for greater under­stand­ing from him. This unset­tles Grant, prompt­ing him to exit the room and take sta­tion by the front door, gaz­ing out into the night, hes­i­tant to for­sake his affec­tions in Vivian’s domi­cile. After a brief con­tem­pla­tion, he retraces his steps back to the kitchen, seek­ing solace in Vivian’s pres­ence, rest­ing his head in her lap.

Chapter 27

In a con­ver­sa­tion with Grant, Rev­erend Ambrose solic­its his aid in enlight­en­ing Jef­fer­son about God. Nev­er­the­less, Grant, hav­ing lost faith in the church, rebuffs the rev­erend’s request. This dis­pleas­es Rev­erend Ambrose, who cas­ti­gates Grant, label­ing him a “boy” and accus­ing him of igno­rance owing to his fail­ure to com­pre­hend oth­ers. Grant refutes this, assert­ing he can­not mis­lead Jef­fer­son by feign­ing belief in heav­en or the Bible. Rev­erend Ambrose admits to dis­sem­bling to alle­vi­ate peo­ple’s mis­ery, argu­ing that indi­vid­u­als often delude them­selves and oth­ers to make life more bear­able. He dis­clos­es that Tante Lou has per­pet­u­at­ed false­hoods to Grant through­out his life, assert­ing she con­veyed being fine when in actu­al­i­ty, she was toil­ing ardu­ous­ly to fund his col­le­giate education.

Chapter 28

Upon Grant’s sub­se­quent trip to Jef­fer­son, a note­book catch­es his eye on the ground. He observes Jef­fer­son­’s exten­sive writ­ings on the ini­tial page, delv­ing into thoughts on mor­tal­i­ty and the dis­tinc­tion between indi­vid­u­als and swine. Inquir­ing about Jef­fer­son­’s recent inter­ac­tion with Rev­erend Ambrose, Grant dis­cov­ers that the Rev­erend urged Jef­fer­son to engage in prayer, though Jef­fer­son remains doubt­ful about the exis­tence of heav­en. Grant shares his own lack of faith in prayer, express­ing a sense of aim­less­ness. Open­ing up about his desire for Jef­fer­son to embrace faith, hop­ing it could ignite belief with­in him as well. Jef­fer­son is puz­zled by Rev­erend Ambrose’s advice to let go of his pos­ses­sions, espe­cial­ly since he pos­sess­es very lit­tle. Grant reas­sures Jef­fer­son of his capac­i­ty to offer love. Feel­ing over­whelmed by oth­ers’ expec­ta­tions, Jef­fer­son pon­ders whether Miss Emma or Grant would make sac­ri­fices for him. Ques­tion­ing Grant’s faith in God, Jef­fer­son wish­es to meet his end with silent accep­tance, akin to Christ. Express­ing frus­tra­tion at the pres­sure to change after a life­time of ful­fill­ing per­ceived expec­ta­tions, Jef­fer­son con­fronts Grant, who hes­i­tates before meet­ing his gaze and accepts a sweet pota­to from Jefferson.

Chapter 29

With­in Jef­fer­son­’s diary entries, char­ac­ter­ized by unpol­ished, mis­spelled reflec­tions, he occa­sion­al­ly directs his mus­ings towards Grant. Con­tem­plat­ing the dai­ly rou­tines of his fel­low inmates, Jef­fer­son ques­tions why the under­priv­i­leged endure more bur­dens than the afflu­ent, lead­ing to a cyn­i­cal belief regard­ing a high­er pow­er’s bias towards whites. Reflect­ing on Grant’s belief in his wor­thi­ness, Jef­fer­son seeks proof with­in him­self. Rec­og­niz­ing his ten­den­cy to set low expec­ta­tions, Jef­fer­son notes vis­its from Sher­iff Guidry, Mr. Pichot, and Mr. Mor­gan in the days pre­ced­ing his exe­cu­tion. Amidst town vis­i­tors, the ges­ture of a mar­ble from his friend Bok touch­es Jef­fer­son, mark­ing a sig­nif­i­cant moment. On his final evening, joined by Vivian and Grant, Jef­fer­son express­es embar­rass­ment but finds solace in affir­ma­tions of his strength. Acknowl­edg­ing Grant’s impact on him and the nov­el feel­ing of sig­nif­i­cance, Jef­fer­son pre­pares for his last rites, pre­serv­ing his reflec­tions for Grant.

Chapter 30

A dark truck con­cealed under a gray tarp draws the towns­folk’s atten­tion as it arrives on the eve of Jef­fer­son­’s exe­cu­tion, head­ed towards the cour­t­house. That night, amidst prepa­ra­tions, Grant and Vivian part ways briefly as Vivian arranges for prayers with her stu­dents dur­ing the solemn peri­od. Reflect­ing on the impend­ing events, Grant’s aim­less dri­ve even­tu­al­ly leads him back home, where activ­i­ty at Miss Emma’s house cap­tures his atten­tion but does­n’t com­pel him to stop. The fol­low­ing morn­ing, a tense Sher­iff Guidry, inex­pe­ri­enced in exe­cu­tions, reflects on his exchange with Grant and Rev­erend Ambrose, mak­ing final prepa­ra­tions along­side the exe­cu­tion team at the cour­t­house, includ­ing the cer­e­mo­ni­ous shav­ing rit­u­al for Jef­fer­son as direct­ed by Hen­ry Vincent.

Chapter 31

As the hour of Jef­fer­son­’s exe­cu­tion approach­es, Grant finds him­self out­side the school, rem­i­nisc­ing about lost friends and con­tem­plat­ing his influ­ence on Jef­fer­son­’s faith. With emo­tions run­ning high, Grant seeks solace in his reflec­tion, grap­pling with his role in Jef­fer­son­’s spir­i­tu­al jour­ney and the impact of those around him. As the final moments tick by, Grant arranges his stu­dents to reflect solemn­ly, strug­gling with his own beliefs and ques­tion­ing the faith upheld by the jury that con­demned Jef­fer­son. As Paul arrives bear­ing Jef­fer­son­’s diary, he prais­es Jef­fer­son­’s resilience, attribut­ing part of the trans­for­ma­tion to Grant’s guid­ance. Accept­ing Paul’s ges­ture of friend­ship, Grant returns to his stu­dents, let­ting go of his reserved emotions.