How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Do I know how a man is supposed to die? I'm still trying to find out how a man should live." (4.105)
One important part of growing up is facing the fact that one day life is going to end. Grant still hasn't even figured out the right way to act like a grown-up, and what his responsibilities are to his community. He knows he'll have to figure those questions out before he can ever know how he's supposed to die well.
Quote #5
"The public defender called him a hog, and she wants me to make him a man. Within the next few weeks, maybe a month, whatever the law allows—make him a man." (5.47)
The fact that Miss Emma chooses Grant to be the one to turn Jefferson, bibbidi-bobbidi-boo style, into a man, shows the power she believes a teacher has. She raised Jefferson and didn't manage to turn him into a man, but she is sure that the professor can do so.
Quote #6
"What she wants is for him, Jefferson, and me to change everything that has been going on for three hundred years. She wants it to happen so in case she ever gets out of her bed again, she can go to that little church there in the quarter and say proudly, 'You see, I told you—I told you he was a man.'" (21.86)
In this quote we see that coming of age isn't just something that an individual does. A whole society has to mature and grow. And when one race in particular has been at a disadvantage in that society through lack of education and enslavement, it is hard to expect a sudden change.