Progress Through Changes

This dissertation is a study of Ernest J. Gaines's representative work A Lesson before Dying from the perspective of Darwinian evolutionary theory, the principles of which have been borrowed from biology to be employed in literary criticism for almost half a century, though never having been a main critical school. Gaines, one of the greatest living African American authors, attempts not only to explore the damages done to the black community because of racial discrimination, but also to express his expectation that improvement could be achieved for the black people as individuals, or as a race, or indeed as part of the general progress of human beings. The central theme of this extraordinary novel, through two male characters'pursuing manhood and human dignity, is carefully explored, focusing on the central idea of adaptation and change that the author very much emphasizes. This main thread, demanding and striving for changes, is conspicuously hidden throughout the novel and can be traced and examined with the help of the magnifying glass of Darwinian literary and critical theory.The dissertation is divided into four sections of discussion in four chapters. Chapter One functions as an introduction, paving the way and providing the framework for the forthcoming analysis in the form of a summary of Ernest J. Gaines's literary career, his themes and concerns, and the critical responses and literary scholarship in the study of this unique writer. Also as a part of the introduction, Darwin's evolutionary theory and Darwinian literary criticism are outlined to provide the perspective from which the themes and characters of the novel A Lesson Before Dying are analyzed. This is followed by a general layout of the dissertation and the presentation of the main arguments of the dissertation.Chapter Two focuses on the ideological changes that Grant, one of the two main characters, has experienced and manifested in assuming the duty of teaching Jefferson a lesson before dying, and on Jefferson's changes which Grant has perceived as the narrator of the novel. Basing the discussion on Darwinian evolution theory that anyone who makes profitable change will have a better chance of surviving, the process of Grant's changes is examined in several aspects. In the process of fulfilling his task of educating others as well as himself, his change in attitude toward his fellow man and his community is interpreted as the necessary preparation and the initial step of a chain of relevant changes. The mutual influence between Grant and Jefferson in the course of the education is emphasized. Attention is also paid to the white men's changes caused by the chain effect, which also play an important role in the final emancipation of the black people. By the end of the chapter, we emphasize Gaines's purpose of setting Grant as a teacher as well as a learner in the design of the novel and the author's implied massage.In Chapter Three, highlighting Darwin's principle that"there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence,"the discussion centers on Jefferson's changes which can be divided into three phases: attaining his humanity, retrieving his human cognition, and achieving his manhood. Jefferson, the other of the two main characters and the object of the"lesson"to be taught, starts his ascendance toward being a fuller man from the very bottom of the social hierarchy. Furthermore, from the aspect of biological research on human nature, Jefferson's being dehumanized is discussed through studying the impacts of the racial discrimination. A detailed study is made on Jefferson's diary which gives a fuller view of Jefferson's humanity and discloses the fallacy of the myth of the white supremacy. The chapter concludes by underlining the motto of Gaines: learning how to die is an important lesson but learning to live better is more important.The analysis in Chapter Four is based on Darwin's principle that"any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form."The discussion focuses on the effects of the individual changes on the community, emphasizing the significance of the communal changes as the only way to social evolution. Special attention is paid to the meaning of the so-called"vicious circle"that the African Americans are trapped in, but we discover Gaines'"spiral-cycle"in the novel's plot alongside with his advocacy of the same pattern of progress and makes a close examination of it. Applying Darwin's remark that"natural selection acts by life and death,"the chapter winds up with an explanation of Gaines'intention in contrasting death with life and emphasizes the close connection between"lesson"and"death"and between"lesson"and"rebirth."...