Earnest Gaine’s book A Lesson Before Dying depicts a life of a convicted man named Jefferson and his time before his execution. Although Jefferson claims to be innocent of the crime, he is still being sentenced for his murder charge. Throughout his time in jail, he is helped by Grant Wiggins, a well-educated teacher. The ideas of manhood, writing, and freedom is portrayed through the character Grant Wiggins. His goal is to spread these ideas to Jefferson so he can “feel like a man.” Grant teaches Jefferson about dignity and to understand that he has worth. Jefferson refused to comply at first and said “that’s only for Youmans” (Gaines). However, Grant’s dedication in helping Jefferson understand life is phenomenal. He buys Jefferson a radio, books, and other items to help him be free in his mind. After understanding Grant, Jefferson begins to turn his life around in jail. He begins to write in his journal daily, starts to understand life, death, and society. Although it ended in a sorrow way for Jefferson, he “died like a man” ( Gaines) as his Godmother wanted.

In his autobiography, Malcolm X, describe his time in jail, and how he became self-educated even in the most trapped places. The relationship between manhood and writing is shown during his time in Jail. “I not only wasn’t articulate, I wasn’t even functional.” (Malcolm X). Malcolm wasn’t quite literate and it had a lot to do with his manhood. He began to change the way he spoke and got a hold of a dictionary. One thing that jail taught him was to become educated and learn about the world around him. Although he wasn’t a free man because he was in jail, he wanted to free his mind. “in every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading on my bunk.” (Malcolm X.)  Malcolm became really dedicated with reading because it allowed him to be free. Malcolm also began to get answers from all the readings he had done. “Book after book showed me how the white man had brought upon the world’s black, brown, red, and yellow peoples.” (Malcolm X).  A connection between writing, reading and freedom is made here. Malcolm understood the oppression against the colored people by the whites, and understood why the black community needed to free. His self-education allowed him to build his manhood and also allowed him to be free.