CliffsNotes on Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying

by Ernest J. Gaines

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.In "CliffsNotes on A Lesson Before Dying, " you get to know the story of a young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to teach. He visits a black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit, and together they come to understand the heroism of resisting.

This concise supplement to Ernest J. Gaines' "A Lesson Before Dying" helps you understand the overall structure of the work, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author. With expert commentaries and critical analyses, this study guide helps you explore the process of an oppressed people's attempt to gain recognition of their human dignity, acknowledgment of their human rights, and freedom to pursue their dreams. Other features that help you study includeA brief synopsis of the novelChapter summaries and analysesA glossary that helps you get the most out of your readingIn-depth character analysesCritical essays on plot and setting, and on the pre-Civil Rights SouthAn interactive quiz to test your knowledgeEssay topics and review questions

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Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2001

About the author

Ernest James Gaines was an American author whose works have been taught in college classrooms and translated into many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese. Four of his works were made into television movies.
His 1993 novel, A Lesson Before Dying, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Gaines was a MacArthur Foundation fellow, was awarded the National Humanities Medal, and was inducted into the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) as a Chevalier.