A Lesson Before Dying (Gaines, Ernest J.) 1993

I'm conflicted about this one.  It's well written, and I like the style, but I just don't understand Grant's motivations.  Why can't he ever be civil to his aunt, Tante Lou?  And if he can't, why does he live with her?  Why is it so difficult to perform Miss Emma's request to go talk to Jefferson?  I feel like it's assumed that I should intuitively understand Grant's feelings on these issues, but nothing in the text gives me a hold on it.  Certainly his relationship with his aunt is complex, and perhaps the brevity of the book prevents us from seeing any scenes in which they aren't at war with one another, but it all ends up feeling overly simplified in the telling because we are never shown anything else.  All in all, I'm not exactly overwhelmed.