Examine the symbol of a hog as it is used in the novel

 All the characters in A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines are motivated by a single word: "hog." Jefferson's attorney has compared him to a hog because he thinks that Jefferson is stupid for go with the Brothers to rob the store; Miss Emma wants Grant to prove that her godson is not a hog; and Jefferson at first eats the food she has sent him on his knees, because "that's how a old hog eat."
Grant's task is to affirm that Jefferson is not a hog, but a man. The mission is doubly difficult because Grant isn't sure he knows what a man is.