A Lesson Before Dying vs. The Help

July 28, 2011

First the facts: A Lesson Before Dying is set in Louisiana during the 1940's. The Help takes place in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960's. A Lesson centers around the future death of one man, as well as the racism African Americans faced in society. The Help is about brave women trying to change the future of society by easing out the racism they face. Of course both novels are fictional and written by two completely opposite authors, one a black man and the other a white woman. But somehow both novel place importance on the same central issue: racism and self discovery.

Grant's world is one where racism is acceptable. The idea of civil rights is still several years away, and that reflects on the unfair treatment and lack of advancement toward African Americans. Grant handles this with much resentment, but he learns there is a way to show society they're wrong. He helps to show a man, deemed swine-like, how to look people in the eye. In Aibileen and Minny's world, racism is something that exist, but it's not called that. Society makes it seem as if keeping colored people separate for the rest of the world is almost like doing them a favor. Minny and Aibileen seem much more content in their world, yet they desire change for future generation, not themselves. Grant fight racism through the power of education to another. And in their own way Minny and Aibileen fight racism through education too. They educate society on what really happens in white homes between maids and bosses. I've used the "knowledge is power" quote before, but this just further prove that education of facts, and of people's true personality is what really led to the end of racism.

Learning about ones' self is not a new concept. It is an idea that is expressed in many volumes of literary work. But in A Lesson Before Dying and The Help the concept is new to the central characters. Grant lived in a society where the white people told him who he was. And Skeeter was raised by a family who told her who she was. Grant and Skeeter are both free thinkers. They are individuals who want more for themselves, than just the life set for them. So through different paths, both characters ended their respective novels by learning who they truly are in respect to what society had told them what they were supposed to be. That is what helped to make them characters that people of any age can relate to, and what helped to make themes of the novels something that will always apply to society.

A Lesson Before Dying and The Help have many differences between them. They are two completely different books, yet they somehow cover the same topic and teach the same life lesson. Maybe it is because in order to have growth, characters must change who they are, and that's what makes them dynamic. Or maybe these novels just touch of a time in history when self discovery was something desired and sought after, but not encouraged, which is why characters like Grant and Skeeter are so interesting. Because they go against what society is telling them. I would like to think there is a connection between the ending of racism and discrimination, and the beginning of individualism and people becoming their own person, not just following the ways pervious generations have set for them.