| “ | Get them off their lazy butts, they can make enough for a dozen toothbrushes in one evening. | „ |
| ~ Dr. Joseph suggesting that Grant has the children pick pecans to make money instead of teaching them. |
Dr. Joseph Morgan is a minor antagonist in Ernest J. Gaines' novel A Lesson Before Dying. The district's superintendent, Dr. Joseph is a racist man who rather blatantly looks down on colored people.
What Makes Him Pathetic?[]
- He's a horrid racist who only visits the colored schools once a year while he visits all-white schools twice a year, as he deems the latter more important.
- Upon entering the church/school, he scans the area to see if anyone's acting poorly in order to have an excuse to punish them.
- He calls up a series of kids he thinks look "half-bright", and kids he thinks look the opposite, hardly bothering to get actual results for his inspection.
- The way he examines the children is eerily similar to the way a slave master did it to a slave back in the day, and the way a cattleman examined a cow or horse.
- The best thing Grant can say about him is he isn't actively prying the children's mouths open and letting them do it on their own.
- As Dr. Joseph and Grant walk out, Dr. Joseph tries to salute the flag, but was either too tired or too lazy to raise his hand.
- When Grant informs him that their school is criminally underfunded, Dr. Joseph dismisses it and tries to proclaim they're separate but equal. When Grant tries to argue, Dr. Joseph furiously asks if he's questioning him, and when Grant tries to explain himself, Dr. Joseph walks back to his car.
- He refers to the children as if they're livestock, demanding Grant drill them harder on dental hygiene despite that not being his job, and when Grant says some of the kids are too poor to even own toothbrushes, Dr. Joseph tells him to put the children to work picking pecans from trees to make enough money to buy them. Grant explains any money they earn usually go to helping their families, and Dr. Joseph responds with telling Grant to tell their families about health.
What Makes Him a Pinhead?[]
- He fails to remotely accomplish his job. He spends the entire chapter he appears in examining the children's hands, teeth, and Biblical knowledge, caring more about cleanliness and faith instead of actual learning.
- He gives an entire ten-minute speech about nutrition, where he apparently states beans are very good one hundred times, before going onto exercise and saying picking cotton, gathering potatoes, and pulling onions is helpful for exercise, all while neglecting his actual job of teaching children.
- He fails to get Grant's name right despite seeing him once a year, calling him "Higgins", and apparently once in the past called him "Washington".
Trivia[]
- He's the only PP in A Lesson Before Dying. While many hateable racists exist, most are at least intelligent. Dr. Joseph is the only one to notably flunk that.