Grant Wiggins is the protagonist in this story. He is the local schoolteacher who reluctantly agrees to visit regularly with a young man on death row. Grant is originally from the town in which he now teaches, but he is one of the few who managed to go away to college. Raised by his aunt, Grant knew his parents, but they were not interested in raising him. It was his aunt who insisted he study hard and get to college to better himself and his circumstances. Grant feels trapped by the conditions of his life, and he often talks of running away with his girlfriend Vivian, but something always holds him back. He is frustrated that white men do not give him any respect, despite his formal education. He has studied enough to know the racist patterns of history, but he has not learned enough to know how to change them or live despite them. Often cynical and sometimes sarcastic, Grant works to become the man Jefferson needs so that Jefferson can die the man everyone needs.

When Jefferson’s godmother, Miss Emma, asks Grant to teach Jefferson how to die like a man, he wonders how he will do this when he has yet to figure out how to live like a man.