48 pages • 1 hour read
John GrishamA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
There are many levels of Southern racism on display in A Time to Kill. At its worst, racism takes the form of the Ku Klux Klan’s murderous intentions. But even Jake, who is friends with Ozzie and many other black community members, casually uses the word “nigger.” Southern racism is old and persistent, at times a family tradition. Jake’s frequent requests for a change of venue for his case highlight the issue: He does not believe that Carl Lee can get a fair trial in a place where the jury is likely to be majority white. In theory, jurors deliver impartial verdicts based solely on the facts presented at trial. But skin color matters in the jury box in Clanton—and, as is also intimated, everywhere. When Jake receives an all-white jury, he worries that the case is already lost.
Despite the happy ending for Carl Lee and Jake, the novel does leave open one important note about race: When Wanda Womack asks her fellow white jurors whether they would want to kill the men who raped their own daughters, it is implied that they are all imagining, not Tonya, but white children. The idea of a white girl being raped is so intolerable that the jurors are swayed.
By John Grisham
A Painted House
John Grisham
A Time For Mercy
John Grisham
Bleachers
John Grisham
Calico Joe
John Grisham
Camino Island
John Grisham
Gray Mountain
John Grisham
Playing For Pizza
John Grisham
Skipping Christmas
John Grisham
Sooley
John Grisham
Sparring Partners
John Grisham
Sycamore Row
John Grisham
The Appeal
John Grisham
The Boys from Biloxi
John Grisham
The Brethren
John Grisham
The Chamber
John Grisham
The Client
John Grisham
The Confession
John Grisham
The Firm
John Grisham
The Guardians
John Grisham
The Innocent Man
John Grisham