Letter from Mr. Grant

Dear Mobile Connections,
I am Mr. Grant and I was writing pertaining to my friend Jefferson. He has just been sentenced for a crime he did not commit. While on trial, he was compared to a "hog". This has really affected the way he sees himself now. He sees himself as less than a man and now his mind is just everywhere. While on a trip visting him in his cell, we tried our best to comfort him but we got no response. When he finally decided to talk to us all we got was,"It doesn't matter...None of it matters." It really hurts knowing that my friend is being sentenced to death row and I have no way to make him feel like a man before dying. How am I supposed to make him feel like a man before dying?

Sincerely,
Mr. Grant Wiggins

Quotation Assignment

"He's still going to die... Why not let the hog die without knowing anything?" (Page 31)

4. Does the quotation provide detail about the setting? If so, what type of description does it provide? How does the setting description classify the time period? The quotation does provide detail about the setting. It describes the way blacks were treated then. It classifies the time period by putting the reader in the time frame of racism and allowing the reader to understand the point of view.

5. Does the quotation symbolize the lack of freedom of a black person at this time? Does the quotation symbolize the history of oppression of a black person? If so, to what part of history does the quotation relate? This quote does in fact symbolize the lack of freedom of a black person at this time. Yes, it does symbolize the history of oppression of a black person. This quote relates to the Pre-Civil Rights South.

Chapters 3 - 4 Discussion Questions

Chapter 3

1. Pichot's insistence that Jefferson "did it" redirected the plot narrative by setting a sad tone.  It allowed some of his more racist feelings to surface. He believes that the blacks are below them and barely acknowledges everything she says to him me. It's like he thinks of her as his slave even though she's a free woman.

2. Miss Emma was exhausted from Jefferson's trial and conviction. Grant knew that Miss Emma wanted his help, however he also knew that her mind was everywhere and she did not have the energy to beg him for help..

3. When Grant went away from college, he vowed to never enter through the servant's entrance of Pichot ever again. He refreshed that in his memory and how he felt that when he was young. It like things have never changed.

4. Miss Emma prevailed on Henri Pichot to speak to the sheriff because she knew blacks were often denied the right to speak their thoughts and feelings. Yet, their is much irony here as Miss Emma seems to have no problem speaking for herself.

Chapter 4

1. The description of Bayonne further expounds on the summation in Jefferson's trail by comparing him to a hog and how they were going to slaughter as one.

2. Grant wants to leave because he feels like he is not living his life to the fullest, he feels trapped in a sense. The only reason that he has not left is because he does not want to leave without Vivian.