A Lesson Before Dying

2 Pages 388 Words

A Lesson Before Dying

This movie was based on the novel, “Flight”, written by Ernest J. Gaines. This movie takes place in St. Paul, Louisiana in the 1948. This movie is about a young black man being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In this movie a young man by the name of Clarence Jefferson, got in the car with his friends not knowing they had plans on robbing a liquor store. So they go in the store and his friends pull out their guns on the store clerk, but to their surprise the clerk pulled out a gun of his own and they began shooting. Once the shooting had commence Clarence was the only man left standing, and now he was faced with a decision; take the money from the register, run or call for help; he decided to take the money, as he was taking the money a few townsmen walked in, because of the gun shots, and caught him taking the money. He was arrested and sentenced to death and also labeled as a HOG. So his mother and grandmother hired Mr. Wiggins, the town teacher, to go and convince Clarence he is a man not a hog. There were a couple of other problems involving Mr. Wiggins. Mr. Wiggins was in conflict with the Pastor and also his girlfriend (Mr. Wiggins). The Pastor was upset because Mr. Wiggins refused to teach Clarence about God , because felt as if God was letting him die ,so why teach him about God. He and his girlfriend had conflict because Mr. Wiggins wanted to leave town and run away from his, instead of facing them like a man. Mr. Wiggins was convinced to teach Clarence. Each day, every session Mr. Wiggins learned something new about Clarence and what he though, do to the journal entries Clarence wrote and what they discussed. In his last journal entry Clarence wrote, “A HOG walks on FOUR hooves and a man walks on TWO feet”, symbolizing that he was confident he was a man and not a HOG. Although Clarence Jefferson was sent into a everlasting sleep, he went to rest with dignity and as a man; ...