Georg Engel's Ernest J. Gaines: A Lesson Before Dying To understand or not to understand, that is the question...

Grant and School

Part II:

Chapts 8 and 9

In chapter 7 and 8 the development of the main action of the novel comes to a standstill and is suspended, because Grant has to wait for a few weeks before he can start his difficult task and visit Jefferson in jail. To give the reader a feeling for the time elapsed, the narrator describes the shortcomings of Black education through the superintendent’s visit to the school (chapt 7) and the delivery of the first load of wood for winter (chapt.8).