1.) In the beginning of the story it starts off in a jail house where the verdict is being read of a young black man named Jefferson for the murder of a white man during a robbery. In the small town the event is a huge scene to the public. Jefferson with a white defendant lawyer is called a hog without a brain to commit such a well thought out plot. However, Jefferson is found guilty and sentenced to death by electric chair. The narrator of the novel, Grant Wiggins,goes back and forth from present to past in the description of what occurred at the scene, in which Jefferson was honestly a bystander blamed for the murder. Later in the story Grant is asked by his aunt and Miss Emma to teach Jefferson how to be a man and go to the chair knowing he is a man. After asking permission from the master of the plantation and the Sheriff, Grant is forced to visit Jefferson by his aunt. Grant has many moments where he wants to quit and run away from the plantation but stays because his love Vivian a white woman is staying. He says this but he never really wants to go because of his connections to all of his family. At the beginning of the visits Jefferson would not participate and said he was a hog and acted like one. As the visits progressed Jefferson became more open to letting Grant in along with his Nannan (godmother) and the Reverend. After months of visiting the date was set for the execution and Jefferson was executed as a man.
2.)The theme of the novel is to live life as what we are and not what others say we are. Perspectives can be broken.
3.) The authors tone is understanding and respectful to that of his people in which he stands up for.
4.) 1. Repetition- "Gentlemen of the jury, this man planned a robbery? Oh pardon me, pardon me, I surely did not mean to insult your intelligence by saying 'man' would you please forgive me for commuting such an error? Gentlemen of the jury..." Pg. 8
2. Persuasion through logical Fallacies- "Please look. I want all twelve of you honorable men to turn your heads and look back to that mama, grandmother godmother-everything." Pg. 8
3. Euphemism- "I didn't ask for none of your uppity, mister." Pg 100
4. Imagery- " I stated beyond the garden toward the budding pecan trees in Farrell Jarreau's backyard. The sky was so low the trees seemed nearly to touch it." Pg 213
5. Metaphor- "The one behind the desk didn't look decent at all. His eyes were the color of cement."
Pg 70
6. Simile- "The courthouse, like most public buildings in town, was made of red brick. Built around the turn of the century, it looked like a small castle you might see in the country side somewhere in Europe." Pg 68
7. Foreshadowing- "But when it came to a discussion with a teacher, though he had known that teacher since his birth, then suddenly things were not so simple." Pg 101
8. Allusion- "None, none till He rose." Pg 215
9. Persuasion - "All of us on this earth. A piece of drifting wood until we each one of us visually decide to become something else. I am still that piece do drifting wood, and those out there are no better." Pg 193
10. Symbolism- "I probably would not have noticed it at all had a butterfly, a yellow butterfly with dark specks like ink dots on it's wings not lit there." Pg 251
Characterization
1.) Two examples of direct characterization are " He was the strongest man in that crowded room, Grant Wiggins." Pg 253 "You're smart," Guirdy said. "Maybe you're just a little too smart for your own good." Pg 49
Two examples of indirect characterization are "I went up to the desk and turned to face them. I was crying." Pg 256 "I though it would be rude to go inside and leave her in the road with no one to talk to." Pg 96
The author uses both effects because he wants to show the character fully.
2.) The authors syntax when he describes the characters of the novel remain the same when he talks about himself because everything is coming from the narrator and what is in his mind. "Do you believe I'm your friend Jefferson?" Pg 185
3.) The character is dynamic because he changes his mind about what life is really about through the experience with Jefferson. He goes from wanting to leave to being committed to stay with his people. He is a very round character because he has a lot of different values in which he expresses through out the novel. "I was crying." Pg 256 it's very interesting because as the last words of the novel you can tell he went from a touch hard edged man to soft and caring just as much on the outside as the inside.
4.) I personally thought I met a character because I was almost inside of his head, in that I knew what was going on with how Grant felt. I could tell that he was a. Hat acted of truth and care. I found this through his acts. Including fighting with the man in the diner, going and seeing Jefferson (brought him a radio and a notepad), and his determination to stop the whites in their myths about the black race. " I want you to chop away at the myth by standing. I want you yes you to call them liars." Pg 192
