LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 18:2 February 2018
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

Language in India www.languageinindia.com is included in the UGC Approved List of Journals. Serial Number 49042.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2016
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

A Lesson Before Dying: A Paradox of Religiosity

Mrs. J. M. Shoba


Abstract

The characters in the novels of Ernest J Gaines portray and uphold the Christian dogma indisputably. The religiosity of the Black community is so obvious in all the works of the author. Gaines explores the imposition of religion on the Black man and the oppression in the name of religion in a very subtle and light manner. The religiosity becomes stifling for few characters in A Lesson before Dying whereas the other characters visualize the redemption of soul as a higher calling. Gaines handles the ‘rhetorical manipulation’ without overtones through his characters. Though he is criticized for the ‘soft treatment’ of the “White God” and their religion, Gaines does not waver in his stand. He brings out the paradox of the religiosity the Black people have and also tries to create a “text of religiosity” through his characters. This paper analyses the paradox of the religion that the characters claim to profess in the novel A Lesson before Dying.

Keywords: rhetorical manipulation, religiosity, paradox, imposition, oppression, Black religion

Introduction

A Lesson before Dying is an apt novel of Gaines that portrays the Jim Crow generation as a people toiling in their land as well as for their rights. The Black community is portrayed as learned and empowered by the whites, but the real liberation is yet to be found by the Blacks. The Blacks are educated but they are not accorded equality. The present generation had to struggle with the whites, poor life style, agonized past, and disillusioned youth community. They try to find solace in the religion they adopted. The religiosity of the Black community is subtly ridiculed by the author who feels that the education of the mind is more indispensable than the practices of the church.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.


Mrs. J. M. SHOBA
HOD, Department of English
Ph.D., Research Scholar (P/T)
Adhiyaman Arts and Science College for Women
Uthangarai 635306
Tamilnadu
India
jmshoba@gmail.com

Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.