Post by Pistache:

"Ernest Gaines was the writer at UL for some years, and right now the university is building a research center named for him.

A few years ago the community read A Lesson Before Dying. It is often viewed as a book about the oppression of blacks in the South, but one of the more interesting comments was that, although the whites could move more, and were more comfortable, they were also oppressed in a way, because they were locked into their roles in the community as rigidly as the blacks were. It reminds me of the pop psychology idea that hating others cuts both ways, it hurts them, but it hurts you too.

But beyond that, I'm reminded of the Greek tragedy, where the hero is locked into his fate; his tragic flaw is that, even if he/she knew the outcome, the hero could not choose differently. Everyone in A Lesson Before Dying is like that, they have no choices.

Except, surprisingly, the "hero", Jefferson. The one person in the book who is the completely innocent victim, is the only person who makes a choice in the book. The choice is a small, personal victory, but it is the most powerful one, because he chooses to no longer be a victim. Even as he is about to be taken to the electric chair, he chooses to live with dignity, and to take possession and control of his own life.

I was thinking that it's a very stoic choice, which I would guess was the original response to the tragedy & fatalism of the ancient Greeks? One cannot control one's fate, but one can control one's self."

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