A time to kill
written by John Grisham
Theme:
When a black father kills the two white boys who raped his daughter, the whole town is divided, whether he should be punished for that, or not.
Plot summary:
On her way to the grocery store, the little, 10-year old, black Tonya is abducted by two white boys who rape her. When she isn't home two hours later her mother gets worried. She calls her husband at work and when he comes home he finds his little girl on the couch in the living room with a crowd of relatives huddled around her. Covered in blood and totally beaten up. Tonya told her mother what happened and when Carl Lee hears it he is shocked and determined to take revenge. Tonya is transported to the hospital and her condition is critical.
Meanwhile the two boys, Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard are caught, and they have confessed. During the preliminary hearing there is determined that there is enough evidence to bind the defendants over to the grand jury. Carl Lee is in the audience and decides to take revenge on the two bastards who hurt his daughter so much. After the hearing he goes to see Jake Brigance, a local lawyer who helped his brother, Lester Hailey, before. He asks Jake what he would do if his little girl was raped and Jake tells him he would kill the rapists. From that moment on Carl Lee's mind is made up. When the Ford County Courthouse is closed on Friday Carl Lee is hiding in a restroom when they lock the courthouse. He studies the building and when he's done he leaves through a window into the darkness.
The next day, Saturday, around noon he goes to the lounge with his brother, owned by an old friend of him, Cat Bruster. They fought together in Vietnam and Carl Lee saved his life. That's why Cat owes Carl Lee a favour. Carl Lee needs a gun, a M-16. Cat gives it to him.
The next Monday, 20 May, Carl Lee isn't in the courtroom during the hearing about the bail of Cobb and Willard. He's hiding in a closet in the hall and when Cobb and Willard come out the courtroom, Carl Lee jumps forward and starts shooting. He accidentally shoots a deputy in the leg, but the rapists scream when they are hit and fall down the stairs, while Carl Lee continues shooting. When he's absolutely sure Cobb and Willard are dead, he drops the gun and goes home. A couple of hours later, the sheriff, Ozzie Walls, comes there to pick him up and take him to the police station.
From that moment on the city is divided between people who think Carl Lee shouldn't be convicted for this act, because the rapists deserved it, and people who think that murder is murder and Carl Lee should be sent to the gas chamber. Black people also think Carl Lee wouldn't be convicted if he was a white man who killed two black men. So this murder case becomes a racial case as well. Carl Lee hires Jake to defend him. The press is also on top of it and Clanton, once so calm and quiet, is flooded with journalists. Jake is interviewed and now known by everybody. The next morning he receives his first threatening call and that isn't the last one. His secretary also receives threatening calls.
The day after the preliminary hearing Lucien comes to Jake's office. Lucien is a lawyer and he transferred his office to Jake and now enjoys his free time. He advises Jake to ask for a change of venue to a county with more black citizens to try to get a more black jury and he also gives him hints for his defence, for example to plead insanity to get Carl Lee off.
Prison doesn't bother Carl Lee that much. He plays cards with Ozzie and gets a lot of visitors.
Outside the prison Jake is working real hard with Lucien and Harry Rex, a friend of his, who gets information on everything. He heard that with the indictment the votes were even, which meant Carl Lee almost got off.
The next day the judge of Carl Lee's case, Omar Noose, decides together with Buckley, the public prosecutor, and Jake, when the case will go to court, July 22. Cat also heard of the case and he comes to visit Carl Lee in jail with a proposal. Cat will give him a lot of money if he takes his lawyer, Bo Marsharfsky, to defend him. Marsharfky is well known as a good lawyer who gets off the toughest criminals. Carl Lee hesitates, but eventually he does it. Jake is disappointed, but after a couple of days Carl Lee asks him to defend him again, because Marsharfsky doesn't help him.
Meanwhile Clanton gets more and more unquiet, Freddie Cobb, Billy Ray's brother, organised a meeting of the Ku Kux Klan and the Klan becomes active again in Clanton. At the same time the black people organise a meeting of The Council of Ministers, a group of black preachers formed to co-ordinate political activities in the black communities of Ford County. They agree that they have to give help to Carl Lee in the form of demonstrations and they have to collect money to pay for a good lawyer of the NAACP, an organisation with the best lawyers who fight to keep black people from death row, to get Carl Lee off.
Then the threatening calls become actions. After a phone call from an informant in the Ku Kux Klan, Mickey Mouse, deputy Marshall Prather wakes Jake in the middle of the night to tell him there is a burning cross in his garden. Now Jake gets worried about his family. He wants his wife Carla and daughter Hanna to go to Carla's parents for six weeks, till the trial is over. Carla doesn't want to go although Jake hasn't much time for her. He is busy now trying to find a psychiatrist who is willing to plead insanity for Carl Lee, to win his case. Eventually he finds Dr.W.T.Boss who is prepared to do so. But this man isn't so reliable. He drinks very much and has no good past. Carl Lee is also examined by the state's psychiatrists who say he is healthy. Things get more and more difficult for Jake. To make things worse a lawyer of the NAACP, Norman Reinfeld, shows up who wants to take over Jake's job, but fortunately Carl Lee doesn't want that to happen. So this ends well, but that same night an anonymous phone call comes in at the police station which warns for a bomb in Jake's house. The sheriff goes to the house immediately and wakes Jake and his family. Carla and Hanna leave quickly and Carl Lee and Ozzie wait until somebody shows up to blow up the house. When the suspect comes they surprise him and they make him defuse the bomb. After that it still isn't over. The next day Noose calls Jake into his office to tell him he denies a change of venue.
Meanwhile the trial is only two weeks away. After the incident with the bomb Carla and Hanna did leave to Carla's parents, because she thought it got too dangerous. Jake lets the case slip off more and more till, ten days before the trial, a last year law student introduces herself to him, Ellen Roark. She tells Jake she heard a lot about the case and wants to help him with it for free. Jake likes that idea and hires her. She is a really big help to him.
One week before the trial a list is made of all the potential members of the jury. It is secret and nobody is supposed to know the names, to protect the members. But that same day Harry Rex has got a list of the jury members and he also made notes to the names. About the people Harry Rex didn't know Jake asks information from other people and this is how he gets a lead on Buckley. While Jake is gathering information he gets a phone call that Bud, Ethel's husband, is beaten up by the KKK. They also put burning crosses in the gardens of twenty people to discourage them to become members of the jury.
Little by little Clanton is becoming a madhouse. All hotels are booked full in the week of the trial by journalists. Buses full of thousands of black people gather around the courthouse and they demonstrate with plates which say "Free Carl Lee". When the Ku Kux Klan finds out about this they start their own demonstration march. The black people don't tolerate this and the groups start to fight.
One day before the trial extra troops from the National Guard come to Clanton to keep the expected riots under control. The morning of the trial the trouble already starts. The black people are still gathered around the courthouse when the Klans-men come, yelling "Fry Carl Lee". The troops have to stand between the two groups to prevent them from fighting. In the courtroom the picking of members of the jury starts. Jake and Buckley are allowed to interrogate them to pick the best jury. After two days the jury is picked. It is an all white jury, which isn't so good for Carl Lee. Because it is such a big trial the members of the jury aren't allowed to go home, but they have to stay in a motel during the trial, so they can't give information about the case to outsiders and can't be influenced. At first the members of the jury thought it was a great civic duty to be on the jury, but now they are put away in some motel far away from civilisation and not allowed to have contact with other people, they don't like it anymore.
That same day Stump Sisson, the Klan's Imperial Wizard, dies in the hospital of his burns caught during the fight between the black people and the Klan.
When the jury is picked, the trial starts. At first the lawyers introduce themselves and then the witnesses are heard. Jake tries to use the rape as an important element in the murder case, Buckley doesn't like this.
At the fifth day of the trial, Friday, things get really dangerous. That morning a Klansman shoots at Jake, on his way to the courthouse, from an old, abandoned feed mill, just outside the town, but fortunately he is pulled down to the ground just in time by a group of guardsmen, but one of them is hit. He later dies in the hospital. Because of all the commotion that day the trial is in recess and Noose decides the trial will continue on Saturday. That night, when Ellen is on her way to Oxford to change clothes, she is pulled over by Klans-men. They mistreat her and scare the hell out of her. When the Klan is gone, Mickey Mouse comes out of the bushes and tells the police where they can find Ellen. This is his last favour for the people in Clanton, because after this the Klan finds out he is an informant and they kill him.
The next morning Dr.W.T.Boss is the first witness. Everything goes well until Buckley starts about his past. He finds out Boss was once convicted for statutory rape. Jake didn't know about this and is really mixed up when he hears about it, because Boss was his star witness and now he absolutely sees no way at all to win this case. He requests a recess. During that recess Ozzie tells him what happened to Ellen and now Jake gets so confused he wants to quit the case. Lucien convinces him eventually he can't do that, because Carl Lee depends on him. When Noose hears about Ellen he decides to take this day off and continue the trial at Monday. But it isn't over yet. Nesbit, the deputy who has to protect Jake, hears on the car radio that Jake's house is on fire. He drives him over there right away, but the fire can't be stopped. The house burns down completely and the dog dies in the sea of flames.
On Sunday Jake goes to the hospital to visit Ellen. She is going to be all right, her wounds aren't so serious. In the hospital Jake meets Ellen's father, Sheldon Roark, a famous lawyer, who gives him some hints about the case.
At Monday morning the trial starts again. The first witness is the state's psychiatrist who testifies Carl Lee was in good mental health during the shooting, but Jake enfeebles his testimony by proving this psychiatrist has never testified a person was insane although he had had 46 cases, and some of those people weren't in good mental health. That afternoon Buckley and Jake have their closing arguments and then it's time for the jury to reach a verdict. That day they aren't able to do so, so the trial is decided to continue the next day. That night two important things happen. Lucien bribed one of the members of the jury, Clyde Sisco, to make sure Carl Lee won't be sent to the gas chamber. And another member of the jury, Barry Acker, is intimidated in the motel by a member of the Klan who tells him his family will die if Carl Lee gets acquitted.
Tuesday the jury continues trying to reach a verdict, while outside a crowd of black people is having a demonstration for Carl Lee. At the end of the day they still don't know what to do. Five people plead not guilty, five guilty and two haven't decided yet.
Wednesday the jury finally reaches a verdict. Because of the help of one woman in the jury, Wanda Womack, who said to the members of the jury to imagine what they would do if their child would have been raped. And that's how the jury decides to acquit Carl Lee. Now he can finally return to his family.
Main characters:
Carl Lee Hailey: When two boys rape his daughter he takes justice into his own hands and shoots them. He doesn't regret what he has done, not even when he faces the gas chamber, because he thought those boys had to be punished.
Jake Brigance: A young lawyer, just graduated from law school. To get his career going, he needs a big case. One with national attention, like this one.
Tonya Hailey: The little girl who is raped. After the rape she still has nightmares.
Ozzie Wells: The sheriff of Clanton. He understands why Carl Lee did it. He is one of the few black sheriffs and loved by the black people.
Lester Hailey: Carl Lee's brother. He supports his brother in everything and takes care of his family while he is in prison.
Rufus Buckley: The public prosecutor, logically against Carl Lee. He wants to become a governor and that's why he likes this case, because of all the attention. But he will need a conviction to show what he is worth, so he is really fanatical.
Harry Rex Vonner: A lawyer specialised in divorce cases and a friend of Jake. He has got a lot of ways to get his information and helps Jake with his case.
Carla Brigance: Jake's wife. On the one hand she is very proud of Jake, because of his case with all the publicity, but on the other hand she finds it too dangerous and she wants him to stop.
Hanna Brigance: Jake's five-year old daughter.
Gwen Hailey: Carl Lee's wife. She is a bit oversensitive, but she knows what she wants and she takes care of the family while Carl Lee is in jail.
Omar Noose: The judge in Carl Lee's case. Before he became a judge, he was a lawyer with meagre talent and few clients, but he was a politician of formidable skills.
Ethel Twitty: Jake's secretary. She and Jake absolutely don't get along, but she was also Lucien's secretary and that's why she is still around.
Stump Sisson: The Klan's Imperial Wizard for Mississippi and the leader of the action in Clanton against Carl Lee.
Cat Bruster: An old friend of Carl Lee. He owns some night-clubs and is active in the underworld. He and Carl Lee fought together in Vietnam and Cat admires Carl Lee in some way.
Bo Marsharfsky: A sharp lawyer who defends the biggest criminals and wants to have Carl Lee's case for the publicity.
Dr.W.T.Boss: The psychiatrist who is going to testify that Carl Lee was unaccountable when he shot Cobb and Willard. He isn't so reliable and almost always drunk, but he was the only one Jack could find.
Lucien Willbanks: The man from whom Jake took over the office and he helps Jake now with his case. He is very intelligent, but always drunk.
Billy Ray Cobb: One of the guys who raped Tonya. He was proud of his action and was bragging about it to his friends until he got caught.
Peter Willard: Together with Billy Ray he raped Tonya. He isn't so bad, but Billy Ray persuaded him to do it too.
Deputy DeWayne Looney: When Carl Lee shot Cobb and Willard he accidentally hit Looney's leg. However he doesn't blame Carl Lee for what he has done, because he understands why he did it.
Reverend Agee: The reverend who collects the money for Carl Lee. His intentions however aren't completely honourable, because he keeps some of the money.
Willie Hastings: A deputy and Gwen's cousin. A very friendly boy. After the rape Tonya is having many nightmares and that's why he sleeps there often to comfort her.
Atcavage: The bank manager of the bank in Clanton. He is prepared to help everybody as much as possible as long as it doesn't get in the way of his own interests.
Norman Reinfeld: A really intelligent lawyer who works for the NAACP and who wants to defend Carl Lee.
Ellen Roark: A very intelligent and bright last year student of laws. She wants to help Jake with his case, because she finds it interesting.
Carl Lee jr.: Carl Lee's oldest son.
Jarvis: Tonya's brother.
Sheldon Roark: Ellen's father. He is a really famous lawyer and gives Jake some hints for the trial.
Bud Twitty: Ethel's husband. Because the Klan doesn't want Jake to defend Carl Lee, they attack Bud. They hope this will change Jake's mind. Later he dies of his injuries.
Musgrove: The secretary of Buckley. He helps him with the case. He gets to do all the dirty jobs and Buckley gets the credit for them.
Mickey Mouse: The informant in the Klan who tells the police all kind of secret information.
Nesbit: A deputy who has to protect Jake from all his enemies.
Clyde Sisco: A member of the jury. He is bribed by Lucien to make sure Carl Lee isn't sent to death row. If he doesn't get him off, he has to hang the jury.
Barry Acker: A member of the jury. In the motel where the jury stays, he's intimidated by somebody who wants Carl Lee to be convicted.
Wanda Womack: A member of the jury. At the end of the trial, when nobody knows how they have to reach a verdict, because they can't agree with each other, she convinces every one to acquit Carl Lee.
Genre:
A time to kill is a psychological novel.
Setting as to place and time:
This story takes place in a small southern town, Clanton in Mississippi in the 1980's. The book starts with the day that Tonya is raped, 17 May, and it goes on till the beginning of August when the case is brought up for the grand jury. So the whole book covers about three months. The most of the story was enacted in Clanton. That is where the lawyer Jake Brigance lives and Carl Lee is in jail. Some parts of the book are also enacted in other places, for example the house of Lucien Wilbanks, just outside the city, but these places aren't important for the story line. In Clanton there are some places many events happen. In the café of Claude Jake talks to a lot of people. Carl Lee is in prison, so that is another important place. The last place which is important for the story is Jake's office. He studies there and has press conferences there.
Style of writing:
A time to kill wasn't hard to read. Grisham doesn't use hard words. There were many dialogues in the book and that's why many words and sentences were written in the way you say them, for example ain't instead of aren't and in some sentences the subject isn't written. The writing style was short and direct. There were many short sentences and not so many descriptions, but more dialogues. It is a real realistic book. Everything in it could really have happened.
Structure:
The story is divided into 44 chapters without titles and is told in chronological order. There are no flashbacks. In the ± first twenty chapters, a new person is introduced to the reader at the beginning of the chapter. Then the most important persons have been introduced to you and it doesn't happen in every chapter anymore.
Point of view:
The story is told through the eyes of an omniscient writer. However he doesn't give any foresights or hints about what is coming, but he switches to another person all the time and that's why you, as a reader, know more than the main characters. The person I could identify most with in A time to kill was Jake Brigance. He could understand why Carl Lee did what he did and tried to help him as most as possible, although he lost a lot of things because of that. He used his brains all the time and did the best he could for what he thought was good.
Author:
A time to kill is written by John Grisham in 1984. John Grisham was born on February 8, 1995. After having taken his diploma in law in 1981 at the University of Mississippi, he worked as a lawyer for ten years, specialised in criminal defence and jury litigation. In 1984 he started to write and in 1989 his first book was published, A time to kill. He got the idea for this novel when one day he stumbled upon a trial in which a young girl testified against the man who brutally raped her. He was only a spectator, but he was shocked. He wondered what he would do if she were his daughter and he wanted to personally shoot the rapist. There was a story there. He became obsessed with the idea of a father's retribution. For three months he couldn't think of anything else and then he started to write.
Evaluation:
I found this book really well written and very believable. John Grisham creates in this book vivid characters and a good story line. I saw the movie before I read this book, and after seeing the movie, I thought I just had to read it. Both the film and the book were amazing. It brings to life the true racial hatred in the south of America. Especially the first chapter really got to me, the description of the attack of the girl is so emotional.
A time to kill comes from the heart. I can recommend this book to everybody.
written by John Grisham
Theme:
When a black father kills the two white boys who raped his daughter, the whole town is divided, whether he should be punished for that, or not.
Plot summary:
On her way to the grocery store, the little, 10-year old, black Tonya is abducted by two white boys who rape her. When she isn't home two hours later her mother gets worried. She calls her husband at work and when he comes home he finds his little girl on the couch in the living room with a crowd of relatives huddled around her. Covered in blood and totally beaten up. Tonya told her mother what happened and when Carl Lee hears it he is shocked and determined to take revenge. Tonya is transported to the hospital and her condition is critical.
Meanwhile the two boys, Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard are caught, and they have confessed. During the preliminary hearing there is determined that there is enough evidence to bind the defendants over to the grand jury. Carl Lee is in the audience and decides to take revenge on the two bastards who hurt his daughter so much. After the hearing he goes to see Jake Brigance, a local lawyer who helped his brother, Lester Hailey, before. He asks Jake what he would do if his little girl was raped and Jake tells him he would kill the rapists. From that moment on Carl Lee's mind is made up. When the Ford County Courthouse is closed on Friday Carl Lee is hiding in a restroom when they lock the courthouse. He studies the building and when he's done he leaves through a window into the darkness.
The next Monday, 20 May, Carl Lee isn't in the courtroom during the hearing about the bail of Cobb and Willard. He's hiding in a closet in the hall and when Cobb and Willard come out the courtroom, Carl Lee jumps forward and starts shooting. He accidentally shoots a deputy in the leg, but the rapists scream when they are hit and fall down the stairs, while Carl Lee continues shooting. When he's absolutely sure Cobb and Willard are dead, he drops the gun and goes home. A couple of hours later, the sheriff, Ozzie Walls, comes there to pick him up and take him to the police station.
From that moment on the city is divided between people who think Carl Lee shouldn't be convicted for this act, because the rapists deserved it, and people who think that murder is murder and Carl Lee should be sent to the gas chamber. Black people also think Carl Lee wouldn't be convicted if he was a white man who killed two black men. So this murder case becomes a racial case as well. Carl Lee hires Jake to defend him. The press is also on top of it and Clanton, once so calm and quiet, is flooded with journalists. Jake is interviewed and now known by everybody. The next morning he receives his first threatening call and that isn't the last one. His secretary also receives threatening calls.
The day after the preliminary hearing Lucien comes to Jake's office. Lucien is a lawyer and he transferred his office to Jake and now enjoys his free time. He advises Jake to ask for a change of venue to a county with more black citizens to try to get a more black jury and he also gives him hints for his defence, for example to plead insanity to get Carl Lee off.
Prison doesn't bother Carl Lee that much. He plays cards with Ozzie and gets a lot of visitors.
Outside the prison Jake is working real hard with Lucien and Harry Rex, a friend of his, who gets information on everything. He heard that with the indictment the votes were even, which meant Carl Lee almost got off.
The next day the judge of Carl Lee's case, Omar Noose, decides together with Buckley, the public prosecutor, and Jake, when the case will go to court, July 22. Cat also heard of the case and he comes to visit Carl Lee in jail with a proposal. Cat will give him a lot of money if he takes his lawyer, Bo Marsharfsky, to defend him. Marsharfky is well known as a good lawyer who gets off the toughest criminals. Carl Lee hesitates, but eventually he does it. Jake is disappointed, but after a couple of days Carl Lee asks him to defend him again, because Marsharfsky doesn't help him.
Meanwhile Clanton gets more and more unquiet, Freddie Cobb, Billy Ray's brother, organised a meeting of the Ku Kux Klan and the Klan becomes active again in Clanton. At the same time the black people organise a meeting of The Council of Ministers, a group of black preachers formed to co-ordinate political activities in the black communities of Ford County. They agree that they have to give help to Carl Lee in the form of demonstrations and they have to collect money to pay for a good lawyer of the NAACP, an organisation with the best lawyers who fight to keep black people from death row, to get Carl Lee off.
Then the threatening calls become actions. After a phone call from an informant in the Ku Kux Klan, Mickey Mouse, deputy Marshall Prather wakes Jake in the middle of the night to tell him there is a burning cross in his garden. Now Jake gets worried about his family. He wants his wife Carla and daughter Hanna to go to Carla's parents for six weeks, till the trial is over. Carla doesn't want to go although Jake hasn't much time for her. He is busy now trying to find a psychiatrist who is willing to plead insanity for Carl Lee, to win his case. Eventually he finds Dr.W.T.Boss who is prepared to do so. But this man isn't so reliable. He drinks very much and has no good past. Carl Lee is also examined by the state's psychiatrists who say he is healthy. Things get more and more difficult for Jake. To make things worse a lawyer of the NAACP, Norman Reinfeld, shows up who wants to take over Jake's job, but fortunately Carl Lee doesn't want that to happen. So this ends well, but that same night an anonymous phone call comes in at the police station which warns for a bomb in Jake's house. The sheriff goes to the house immediately and wakes Jake and his family. Carla and Hanna leave quickly and Carl Lee and Ozzie wait until somebody shows up to blow up the house. When the suspect comes they surprise him and they make him defuse the bomb. After that it still isn't over. The next day Noose calls Jake into his office to tell him he denies a change of venue.
One week before the trial a list is made of all the potential members of the jury. It is secret and nobody is supposed to know the names, to protect the members. But that same day Harry Rex has got a list of the jury members and he also made notes to the names. About the people Harry Rex didn't know Jake asks information from other people and this is how he gets a lead on Buckley. While Jake is gathering information he gets a phone call that Bud, Ethel's husband, is beaten up by the KKK. They also put burning crosses in the gardens of twenty people to discourage them to become members of the jury.
Little by little Clanton is becoming a madhouse. All hotels are booked full in the week of the trial by journalists. Buses full of thousands of black people gather around the courthouse and they demonstrate with plates which say "Free Carl Lee". When the Ku Kux Klan finds out about this they start their own demonstration march. The black people don't tolerate this and the groups start to fight.
One day before the trial extra troops from the National Guard come to Clanton to keep the expected riots under control. The morning of the trial the trouble already starts. The black people are still gathered around the courthouse when the Klans-men come, yelling "Fry Carl Lee". The troops have to stand between the two groups to prevent them from fighting. In the courtroom the picking of members of the jury starts. Jake and Buckley are allowed to interrogate them to pick the best jury. After two days the jury is picked. It is an all white jury, which isn't so good for Carl Lee. Because it is such a big trial the members of the jury aren't allowed to go home, but they have to stay in a motel during the trial, so they can't give information about the case to outsiders and can't be influenced. At first the members of the jury thought it was a great civic duty to be on the jury, but now they are put away in some motel far away from civilisation and not allowed to have contact with other people, they don't like it anymore.
That same day Stump Sisson, the Klan's Imperial Wizard, dies in the hospital of his burns caught during the fight between the black people and the Klan.
When the jury is picked, the trial starts. At first the lawyers introduce themselves and then the witnesses are heard. Jake tries to use the rape as an important element in the murder case, Buckley doesn't like this.
At the fifth day of the trial, Friday, things get really dangerous. That morning a Klansman shoots at Jake, on his way to the courthouse, from an old, abandoned feed mill, just outside the town, but fortunately he is pulled down to the ground just in time by a group of guardsmen, but one of them is hit. He later dies in the hospital. Because of all the commotion that day the trial is in recess and Noose decides the trial will continue on Saturday. That night, when Ellen is on her way to Oxford to change clothes, she is pulled over by Klans-men. They mistreat her and scare the hell out of her. When the Klan is gone, Mickey Mouse comes out of the bushes and tells the police where they can find Ellen. This is his last favour for the people in Clanton, because after this the Klan finds out he is an informant and they kill him.
The next morning Dr.W.T.Boss is the first witness. Everything goes well until Buckley starts about his past. He finds out Boss was once convicted for statutory rape. Jake didn't know about this and is really mixed up when he hears about it, because Boss was his star witness and now he absolutely sees no way at all to win this case. He requests a recess. During that recess Ozzie tells him what happened to Ellen and now Jake gets so confused he wants to quit the case. Lucien convinces him eventually he can't do that, because Carl Lee depends on him. When Noose hears about Ellen he decides to take this day off and continue the trial at Monday. But it isn't over yet. Nesbit, the deputy who has to protect Jake, hears on the car radio that Jake's house is on fire. He drives him over there right away, but the fire can't be stopped. The house burns down completely and the dog dies in the sea of flames.
On Sunday Jake goes to the hospital to visit Ellen. She is going to be all right, her wounds aren't so serious. In the hospital Jake meets Ellen's father, Sheldon Roark, a famous lawyer, who gives him some hints about the case.
Tuesday the jury continues trying to reach a verdict, while outside a crowd of black people is having a demonstration for Carl Lee. At the end of the day they still don't know what to do. Five people plead not guilty, five guilty and two haven't decided yet.
Wednesday the jury finally reaches a verdict. Because of the help of one woman in the jury, Wanda Womack, who said to the members of the jury to imagine what they would do if their child would have been raped. And that's how the jury decides to acquit Carl Lee. Now he can finally return to his family.
Main characters:
Carl Lee Hailey: When two boys rape his daughter he takes justice into his own hands and shoots them. He doesn't regret what he has done, not even when he faces the gas chamber, because he thought those boys had to be punished.
Jake Brigance: A young lawyer, just graduated from law school. To get his career going, he needs a big case. One with national attention, like this one.
Tonya Hailey: The little girl who is raped. After the rape she still has nightmares.
Ozzie Wells: The sheriff of Clanton. He understands why Carl Lee did it. He is one of the few black sheriffs and loved by the black people.
Lester Hailey: Carl Lee's brother. He supports his brother in everything and takes care of his family while he is in prison.
Rufus Buckley: The public prosecutor, logically against Carl Lee. He wants to become a governor and that's why he likes this case, because of all the attention. But he will need a conviction to show what he is worth, so he is really fanatical.
Carla Brigance: Jake's wife. On the one hand she is very proud of Jake, because of his case with all the publicity, but on the other hand she finds it too dangerous and she wants him to stop.
Hanna Brigance: Jake's five-year old daughter.
Gwen Hailey: Carl Lee's wife. She is a bit oversensitive, but she knows what she wants and she takes care of the family while Carl Lee is in jail.
Omar Noose: The judge in Carl Lee's case. Before he became a judge, he was a lawyer with meagre talent and few clients, but he was a politician of formidable skills.
Ethel Twitty: Jake's secretary. She and Jake absolutely don't get along, but she was also Lucien's secretary and that's why she is still around.
Stump Sisson: The Klan's Imperial Wizard for Mississippi and the leader of the action in Clanton against Carl Lee.
Bo Marsharfsky: A sharp lawyer who defends the biggest criminals and wants to have Carl Lee's case for the publicity.
Dr.W.T.Boss: The psychiatrist who is going to testify that Carl Lee was unaccountable when he shot Cobb and Willard. He isn't so reliable and almost always drunk, but he was the only one Jack could find.
Lucien Willbanks: The man from whom Jake took over the office and he helps Jake now with his case. He is very intelligent, but always drunk.
Billy Ray Cobb: One of the guys who raped Tonya. He was proud of his action and was bragging about it to his friends until he got caught.
Peter Willard: Together with Billy Ray he raped Tonya. He isn't so bad, but Billy Ray persuaded him to do it too.
Deputy DeWayne Looney: When Carl Lee shot Cobb and Willard he accidentally hit Looney's leg. However he doesn't blame Carl Lee for what he has done, because he understands why he did it.
Reverend Agee: The reverend who collects the money for Carl Lee. His intentions however aren't completely honourable, because he keeps some of the money.
Atcavage: The bank manager of the bank in Clanton. He is prepared to help everybody as much as possible as long as it doesn't get in the way of his own interests.
Norman Reinfeld: A really intelligent lawyer who works for the NAACP and who wants to defend Carl Lee.
Ellen Roark: A very intelligent and bright last year student of laws. She wants to help Jake with his case, because she finds it interesting.
Carl Lee jr.: Carl Lee's oldest son.
Jarvis: Tonya's brother.
Sheldon Roark: Ellen's father. He is a really famous lawyer and gives Jake some hints for the trial.
Bud Twitty: Ethel's husband. Because the Klan doesn't want Jake to defend Carl Lee, they attack Bud. They hope this will change Jake's mind. Later he dies of his injuries.
Musgrove: The secretary of Buckley. He helps him with the case. He gets to do all the dirty jobs and Buckley gets the credit for them.
Nesbit: A deputy who has to protect Jake from all his enemies.
Clyde Sisco: A member of the jury. He is bribed by Lucien to make sure Carl Lee isn't sent to death row. If he doesn't get him off, he has to hang the jury.
Barry Acker: A member of the jury. In the motel where the jury stays, he's intimidated by somebody who wants Carl Lee to be convicted.
Wanda Womack: A member of the jury. At the end of the trial, when nobody knows how they have to reach a verdict, because they can't agree with each other, she convinces every one to acquit Carl Lee.
Genre:
A time to kill is a psychological novel.
Setting as to place and time:
This story takes place in a small southern town, Clanton in Mississippi in the 1980's. The book starts with the day that Tonya is raped, 17 May, and it goes on till the beginning of August when the case is brought up for the grand jury. So the whole book covers about three months. The most of the story was enacted in Clanton. That is where the lawyer Jake Brigance lives and Carl Lee is in jail. Some parts of the book are also enacted in other places, for example the house of Lucien Wilbanks, just outside the city, but these places aren't important for the story line. In Clanton there are some places many events happen. In the café of Claude Jake talks to a lot of people. Carl Lee is in prison, so that is another important place. The last place which is important for the story is Jake's office. He studies there and has press conferences there.
Style of writing:
A time to kill wasn't hard to read. Grisham doesn't use hard words. There were many dialogues in the book and that's why many words and sentences were written in the way you say them, for example ain't instead of aren't and in some sentences the subject isn't written. The writing style was short and direct. There were many short sentences and not so many descriptions, but more dialogues. It is a real realistic book. Everything in it could really have happened.
The story is divided into 44 chapters without titles and is told in chronological order. There are no flashbacks. In the ± first twenty chapters, a new person is introduced to the reader at the beginning of the chapter. Then the most important persons have been introduced to you and it doesn't happen in every chapter anymore.
Point of view:
The story is told through the eyes of an omniscient writer. However he doesn't give any foresights or hints about what is coming, but he switches to another person all the time and that's why you, as a reader, know more than the main characters. The person I could identify most with in A time to kill was Jake Brigance. He could understand why Carl Lee did what he did and tried to help him as most as possible, although he lost a lot of things because of that. He used his brains all the time and did the best he could for what he thought was good.
Author:
A time to kill is written by John Grisham in 1984. John Grisham was born on February 8, 1995. After having taken his diploma in law in 1981 at the University of Mississippi, he worked as a lawyer for ten years, specialised in criminal defence and jury litigation. In 1984 he started to write and in 1989 his first book was published, A time to kill. He got the idea for this novel when one day he stumbled upon a trial in which a young girl testified against the man who brutally raped her. He was only a spectator, but he was shocked. He wondered what he would do if she were his daughter and he wanted to personally shoot the rapist. There was a story there. He became obsessed with the idea of a father's retribution. For three months he couldn't think of anything else and then he started to write.
Evaluation:
I found this book really well written and very believable. John Grisham creates in this book vivid characters and a good story line. I saw the movie before I read this book, and after seeing the movie, I thought I just had to read it. Both the film and the book were amazing. It brings to life the true racial hatred in the south of America. Especially the first chapter really got to me, the description of the attack of the girl is so emotional.
REACTIES
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1 seconde geleden
M.
M.
can you write it in Dutch please can you send it maby
thank plaesa mark
21 jaar geleden
AntwoordenA.
A.
It is to long !
13 jaar geleden
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