The book starts off with Jefferson speaking. Jefferson stated “I was not there, yet I was there. No, I did not go to the trial, I did not hear the verdict, because I knew all the time what it would be. Still, I was there. I was there as much as anyone else was there.” (Gaines, 3). Jefferson was a young African American man who had no rights and his life was taken from him. Although he wasn’t killed during the robbery at the liquor store, the law and society stripped him from the world. Jefferson was sitting in jail awaiting for the day he would be placed in an electric chair for a crime he did not commit. It made no sense for Jefferson to try to “fight” for his justice because it would be pointless. No matter how much he would say or do, he would still be blamed for the crime. There were other people at the crime scene who were killed, except for Jefferson. Everyone assumed and made it clear that he was in the wrong, when he wasn’t even given any time to speak up for himself. Not only as a man but also being a human Jefferson had no real placement in society because of the color of his skin. He could not change who he was, he could not alter his skin color, or his race. All he had left was time left to adapt to his current predicament.
Jefferson was already limited and held back from being a normal human outside of jail. But now that he was physically confined in jail, it was slowly destroying his mentality. It gave him time to continuously think about his day coming. How many days he had left before he’d be gone forever. This time in Jefferson’s life caused the people that loved him the most to support him and be by his side. But in Jefferson’s eyes it didn’t mean much because he would soon be killed. Should Jefferson have felt some type of love and specialty since everybody came to him and everything was being brought to him? It seemed like he was receiving attention and the right love from people at the wrong time.
All his life Jefferson wanted things that he was never able to have. Now that he was in jail, the fact that everyone amongst him is asking him what he wants, only made him feel worst. Jefferson expressed “The kind of day I want?” he said. “The kind of day I want? I never got nothing I wanted in my whole life. Now I’m go’n get a whole day?” (Gaines, 170). Now that his last days are coming up and he has nothing to live for people are asking him what he wants. He gets to choose the weather, he gets to have a whole day focused on him, is he supposed to be happy about this?
Grants task was to make Jefferson into a man before he was placed in the chair. It was up to Grant to break the cycle of feeling worthless and useless as a black man in society. There was no real set way of how to turn Jefferson into a man. But I believe it was more of allowing him to leave this world feeling like somebody. Not leaving this world feeling like a hog and whatever else society compared him to. Although the circumstances were no way near good, Jefferson still had time to feel and tell himself that he was somebody, no matter how much society down played him.
Manhood is supposed to be a time in life that is appreciated and valued. It gives a man a chance to reveal his intelligence, strength, and worth to the world. One group of men that never get to fully experience being a man are African American men. Being a black man in society is a reason of always having it harder, not being able to move forward, and having that purpose of living taken away from them.
Jefferson was sentenced to death as a “hog”. At certain moments he reminds Grant that all he was, was a “hog”. Grant’s task, like you have mentioned, was to make Jefferson realize that he was a man. His initial attempts in his visits were feeble. As it happens, Grant starts to show more effort in engaging Jefferson and readers can see the change in their relationship. When Grant asked Jefferson, “Do you believe I’m your friend, Jefferson? Do you believe I care about you?” (Gaines, 185), Grant really wishes for Jefferson to trust him. For Grant, this task was not only for Jefferson’s sake but for himself also. His constant regret of not staying away from this town plagued his everyday life. If he were to succeed in Jefferson’s ability to recognize himself to be a man, Grant himself would feel as though his stay and return in the town was not for nothing.
” It was up to Grant to break the cycle of feeling worthless and useless as a black man in society. ”
I appreciate the approach you took in defining Grant’s obligation. I would go further to argue the cause of his hesitation to fulfill this task is due to his own insecurities about his place in society. While he is deemed accomplished within his community, he is marked with the same level of inferiority by the white community. Deep down, he knows that if he had been on the stand that he would have likely suffered the same fate. Would he act any different if he were incarcerated? I would further argue that he would have been more stubborn than Jefferson and perhaps unreachable.