My mom and brother both recommended that I read "A Lesson Before Dying." Ernest J. Gaines writes about an innocent, young black man who is wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Bayonne, Louisiana in the 1940's. But, this book is not about injustice; it is about what a person can learn and gain through hardship. In A Lesson Before Dying, Gaines uses a descriptive style to involve you in the struggle to gain dignity and rise above expectations in a very emotional and moving way. Gaines has a very descriptive and detailed writing style. For example, on the very first page of the book he describes his aunt and godmother in the courtroom scene. "His godmother became as immobile as a great stone or as one of our oak or cypress stumps... she just sat there staring at the boy's clean cropped head  (3). I could picture his godmother and aunt sitting there, and this image has stayed with me. I also have a clear recollection of the time when the narrator, Grant Wiggins, is speaking to his teacher, Matthew Antoine. As Matthew tells his students to flee from the oppressive southern town, he gives images of black people "having no place to run... seeking work  (63). According to Antoine the only thing that Grant could learn from him was to escape. Through these images and the dialogue that follows, we are pulled in to the emotion of hopelessness. The final image that shows the quality of Gaines' descriptive style is when Grant prays with his students at the time of Jefferson's execution (250). As we listen to Grant's inner dialogue we feel the tremendous loss of his friend and student. The last three words of the book are "I was crying  (256). It is impossible not to get emotional when reading the last chapter of this book. Even though the text is very emotional about the injustice towards blacks, the book is really about gaining dignity and low expectations. The low expectations are first shown in the courtroom when the defe