Quote 4
"'Cause I'm go'n die soon? That make me a man, Mr. Wiggins?" (28.96)
Jefferson brings up a good, but difficult point. Mr. Wiggins wouldn't have paid any attention to Jefferson if he hadn't been sentenced to death. He would just end up like all of the other kids that graduated from Wiggins' classes. But his circumstances are extraordinary, so that requires Jefferson to mature extraordinarily.
Quote 5
"Me, Mr. Wiggins. Me. Me to take the cross. Your cross, nannan's cross, my own cross. Me, Mr. Wiggins. This old stumbling n*****. Y'all axe a lot, Mr. Wiggins." (28.86)
Jefferson has become a symbol, not just a person anymore, and that puts a lot of unfair pressure on him. He's just a kid who has been wrongly convicted of murder and will soon be executed for it. Why should that mean that he has to give hope to everyone he knows as well? It's unfair, just like any sacrifice, but he finds the strength to do it anyway.