A Lesson Before Dying

Grant drives to the Rainbow Club to consider what lies he will tell Miss Emma about his visit. The truth will hurt her too much. At the club, two old men and the bar tender, Joe Claiborne, discuss Jackie Robinson, who just completed his second year with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Grant notes that they do not discuss the Dodgers as a team, or any of the other players: “Only Jackie. Jackie this and Jackie that” (70). One of the old men acts out the various highlights as if he is Jackie himself. Grant recalls that before there was Jackie Robinson, there was Joe Louis, the boxer. Everyone cheered for Joe and when he lost the first fight to the German opponent, it was a time of mourning in the town. Grant recalls when “the little Irishman” visited their local university and talked with great pride about James Joyce. Grant realizes how the people in his town talk about their heroes, and he understands why James Joyce’s stories resonate for people.

Grant’s thoughts turn to Jefferson and to news accounts of an electrocution in Florida, where the accused called out for Joe Louis to help him as they strapped him to the chair.