The Unbearable Pain of Being: Self Denial and Identity Negotiation in Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying.

Dr. Hamdi Doukali

Institut Préparatoire aux études d’ingénieurs de Tunis, Université de Tunis- Tunis.

Abstract:

Milan Kundera’s “lightness” finds no resonance in Ernest Gaines’ novel. Because of his race, because of being black in the wrong place, Jefferson, the main character, is wrongly accused of a crime he did not commit. His defense lawyer repetitively dehumanizes and (mis)treats him as “a hog” to save him from execution. Jefferson refutes that defense and wants to accept his fate in dignity, as. a human. His sense of identity is caught in the dynamic interplay of social, psychological and personal factors where both the pain of affirming his humanity and his willingness to transcend his inner suffering underscore a much-contested identity negotiation. Enduring suffering left Jefferson so despondent to accept the pleasure of feeling liberated through giving in to the execution rather than tolerate the agonizing weight of being nonhuman, of “nonbeing.” Jefferson’s self-denial and readiness to renunciate testify both to the complexity as well as the frailty of identity when faced with burdensome experiences. The ultimate lesson is entrusted to Grant, a teacher, in order to restore Jefferson’s faith in human interaction and heal deeper scars left by an unjust society bent on racial discrimination. While Grant is faced with his own burden of delivering his hardest lesson yet, Jefferson insists on his inscrutable identity. The novel stresses the need to curb the psychological strain and physical damage wrought by pain and suffering and a person’s capacity to reach “pleasure” as a defense mechanism against a society that mistreats and misjudges the vulnerable minority, namely African Americans.

Keywords: identity negotiation, invisibility, pain of being, pleasure of nonbeing, self-denial.