A lessonbefore dying

1454 mots 6 pages
Extract 6

Reverend Ambrose wants to talk to Grant about the importance of saving Jefferson’s soul. There are only three weeks left before the execution and he knows that Grant is the only one Jefferson will listen to. Grant says that he can’t prepare Jefferson for a “better world” after death because he doesn’t believe in it. Reverend Ambrose tells him that although he went to college, Grant is far from educated, he knows little about his own people and doesn’t even really know himself.

In this extract taken from chapter 27 Reverend Ambrose challenges Grant.

Here we see the gulf between the two men: Grant the educated but detached college graduate filled with doubt, and Reverend Ambrose the preacher who has little or no formal education, but who is passionate about his faith and devoted to the community. Grant speaks in an unemotional way, his language is correct, whereas Reverend Ambrose uses emotional language and colloquial English.

Reverend Ambrose is overcome with anger. He is exasperated at Grant’s lack of concern for the fate of Jefferson’s soul, and his uncompromising attitude.

Grant (as narrator) says “He stared at me as if he could not make up his mind whether to hit me or scream”

Reverend Ambrose is totally convinced that if he doesn’t get down on his knees and pray to God for forgiveness before he dies, Jefferson will go to hell. For him, it is like a struggle, a religious crusade, and Grant is obstructing him;

Throughout the novel, the two men have had differing attitudes about what is important for Jefferson. Grant wants Jefferson to realise his own value as a human-being and be able to die with dignity, defying the white man’s definition of him as a hog. Reverend Ambrose wants to save his soul. It is like a battle between the “head” and the “heart”.
There has been tension between the two men, and in his descriptions of the preacher, Grant has made him appear as a rather obtuse character, jealous of the bond that Grant has

en relation

  • interview alain gerber
    39870 mots | 160 pages
  • VENISELEL OLE DE Venise
    610 mots | 3 pages
  • La morte amoureuse
    1088 mots | 5 pages
  • La Reine desOmbres, Manon
    10648 mots | 43 pages
  • La morte amoureuse
    528 mots | 3 pages
  • Le personnage de Torquemadaada
    7305 mots | 30 pages
  • La mort intime
    480 mots | 2 pages
  • La mort intime
    1230 mots | 5 pages
  • La mort pour memoire
    1440 mots | 6 pages
  • La mort intime
    2159 mots | 9 pages
  • Fiche de lecture (en anglais) de l'essai sur la compensation d'emerson
    1057 mots | 5 pages
  • la mort en dédicace
    318 mots | 2 pages
  • Dissert
    262 mots | 2 pages
  • La mort intime
    811 mots | 4 pages
  • La mort intime
    562 mots | 3 pages