A Lesson before Dying, one of Ernest J. Gaines later works, was written in 1993. Some of his earlier works include A Gathering of Old Men and In My Father's House. The novel covers a time period when blacks were still treated unfairly and looked down upon. Jefferson, a main character, has been wrongly...
Today, soaps are made from fats and oils that react with lye (sodium hydroxide). Solid fats like coconut oil, palm oil, tallow (rendered beef fat), or lard (rendered pork fat), are used to form bars of soap that stay hard and resist dissolving in the water left in the soap dish.
Soap is a combination of animal fat or plant oil and caustic soda. When dissolved in water, it breaks dirt away from surfaces. Through the ages soap has been used to cleanse, to cure skin sores, to dye hair, and as a salve or skin ointment. But today we generally use soap as a cleanser or perfume.