Mr. Wiggins in A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines Essay -- Lesson

Mr. Wiggins in A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In A Lesson Before Dying, Mr. Grant Wiggins' life crises were the center of the story. Although he was supposed to make Jefferson into a man, he himself became more of one as a result. Not to say that Jefferson was not in any way transformed from the "hog" he was into an actual man, but I believe this story was really written about Mr. Wiggins.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mr. Wiggins improved as a person greatly in this book, and that helped his relationships with other people for the most part. At the start of the book, he more or less hated Jefferson, but after a while he became his friend and probably the only person Jefferson felt he could trust. The turning point in their relationship was the one visit in which Jefferson told Mr. Wiggins that he wanted a gallon of ice cream, and that he never had enough ice cream in his whole life. At that point Jefferson confided something in Mr. Wiggins, something that I didn't see Jefferson doing often at all in this book.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  "I saw a slight smile come to his face, and it was not a bitter smile. Not bitter at all"; this is the first instance in which Jefferson breaks his somber barrier and shows emotions. At that point he became a man, not a hog. As far as the story tells, he never showed any sort of emotion before the shooting or after up until that point. A hog can't show emotions, but a man can. There is the epiphany of the story, where Mr. Wiggins realizes that the ...