Grant, Hero of A Lesson Before Dying Essay

How we act or react in difficult situations defines our per intelligencea. Sometimes these situations provide opportunities to be a wedge heel. After reading naming Wigginss own definition of a numbfish, it is apparent that allot becomes a hero. consort states, A hero is someone who does something for other people. He does something that other men dont and set up to. He is different from other men. He is above other men. No matter who those other men are, the hero, no matter who he is, is above them. allow for becomes a hero by earning an education to become a teacher, undergoing mental transplants, and counseling Jefferson to die with dignity.A hero is different from others and does something others can non. Grants drive to defy stereo type, become a teacher, and raise to the community demonstrates that he is a hero. Grant is an African American son of cane-cutters who worked on a Louisiana plantation. He grew up working a labor job and was expected by society to contin ue as a laborer. Through determination he was able to escape his environs to earn a college education. He paying backs as an educated university man hoping to ease up a positive meeting on society, provided is still looked put down upon.College gave him a new perspective and educated way of speaking and thinking, but he was still non equal to the whites. Grant continued to append through with(predicate) segregation and unfair treatment. He maintained his goal of fashioning a difference by teaching in a church service without desks or other supplies. Grants ability to escape his environment and stereotyping, earn an education, and return to his community to make changes, makes him different from others in his community. Grant was different from others and taught in conditions that most could not. Grant is a hero.Grant proved himself a hero, not only by overcoming struggles with racism, but with overcoming struggles within his own mind. A hero is above all other men. Many t imes a change must take place for man to become a hero above all other men. Throughout the novel, Grant undergoes psychological changes that stop him to become a hero. Grants life is filled with fretfulness for the way he is treated by whites. Eventually this rage becomes self-loathing and cynicism, because he feels he is taking the unjust treatment from whites lying down. This downward whorl causes him to alienate himself from people he loves and feel that the community is helpless. During a communication with Vivian, Grant says, he cannot face Jefferson because he cannot face himself and his own life. Vivian helps Grant realize that he has left the South in the past, has returned, and still has not left.This helps him realize that he is there for a reason. Another change happens when he accepts the task of helping Jefferson. At first Grant is angry and regards that young lady Emma wants him to perform a difficult and maybe impossible task of convince Jefferson to die with d efiance and character. After accepting this task and dealings with Jefferson, Grant realizes what a hero is and he can urinate an impact on the community. Finally when Grant breaks down in front of his students he realizes that he is ready to connect with the children that he has been so strict with. Many heroes have to overcome an inner struggle to realize their potential for greatness. Eventually through his interactions with his family, Vivian, Jefferson, and students he realizes to view everyone positively which gives him the strength and courage to make an impact in his community.Grants actions with Jefferson embody the heroic effort of doing something for someone else. Jefferson is thought of as an animal, and even compared to a hog. Grant wants Jefferson to believe that he is more than convict and just a black man. Grant wants Jefferson to believe that he can change society. Grant visits Jefferson regularly, councils him, gives him a radio, and hope. in the beginning Jeffers ons death, Grant confides in him and says, My faith is in you, Jefferson. Through his efforts and faith, Jefferson completes his innovation into a dignified human being.Grants perspectives change throughout the novel as a result of his interactions with his family, Vivian, Jefferson, and his students. When given the opportunity to be a hero, he accepts and becomes a hero. His escaping his environment and stereotyping to become a teacher, overcoming psychological struggles, and helping Jefferson die with dignity proves that he is a hero in the novel.