Characteristics of Jefferson?

Jefferson twenty-one-years-old, slightly retarded, and naive. When Jefferson is accused of robbing and killing a storeowner, his attorney tries to use Jefferson's mental disability as a defense, claiming he has no more intelligence than a hog. The white jury, however, finds him guilty. When Grant first meets Jefferson, he is greeted with silence. Over the course of their meetings, however, Jefferson replaces his silence with talk full of self-disgust and hopelessness. Later, he starts to pose questions about God and heaven, his nannan, and life.

When Grany brings Jefferson a radio, they listen together. When he gives Jefferson a notebook, he writes in the notebook until the day of his death. From their conversations during Jefferson's last days, in addition to Jefferson's journal, Grant learns that to be a teacher, one has to believe. In the end, he concludes that Jefferson is the true teacher.