The Pelican Brief – John Grisham
Title
The title from the story is ‘The Pelican Brief’. I think it’s a good chosen title because in the book there is a letter very important and everyone calls that letter, the pelican brief.
Nederlandse vertaling:
De Pelikaan Brief
Author
John Grisham was born in February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. John is the second oldest from five children. His father, an itinerant construction worker moved the faimly a lot from town to town before they settled down in Southaven, Mississippi, when John was just twelve years old. Before he reached that age he moved five times to other city’s!
John loved to read and when he came living in a new town, the first thing he did was getting a library card. He also loves sports and his dream was to become a professional baseball player. In Southaven he discovered the work from John Steinbeck. He loved his work and at that point he got that idea to become a writer. John went into many baseball clubs but at one point he couldn’t hit a fastball anymore and became affraid from curveballs, so he quited with sports.
He began studying at the Mississippi State University. John didn’t been a good student before but from that time he began seriously studying. He first did study economics but he changed it into accounting, in the hope to be a tax lawyer. After graduating in 1977, he began a study criminal law. Also at that point he began to write his first book but after on chapter he gave up...
In 1981 he graduated from criminal law and begon a private practice. Bored with criminal law, he became a very succesfull civil lawyer. He did won one of the largest settlement in Mississippi’s De Soto County. After that he decided to enter politics and won a seat in the Mississippi State Legislature in 1983. A year later, inspired bij a real-life testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim, he began writing a third novel with one goal: to finish it.
For three years, John woke every morning before dawn, to write something on his book. He came with the book ‘The Firm’ and from that some producers made also a film. The payed John for that $600.000.
Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea. He is now a full-time writer, because he gave up his private practice. There came a lot of other books from him out and now he is one of the bestselling authors in the U.S..
Time
There isn’t accectly told in the story when it playes, so it could play always. So it could also play now. The story takes a few months. Time is really important in this story because if Darby doesn’t think forwards en rushes herself she now would be dead.
Place
New Orleans in the U.S. is a very important place in the book because Darby lives there and the people who are searching for her come into their to kill her. Also New York en Washington D.C. are important places because there she trys to hide. At the end she is somewhere in a hot island so nobody can find her.
Structure
It’s an adventurous story, because Darby everytime got to hide because someone wants to kill her.
Narrator
You see the story trought many eyed. First off all the one from Darby Shaw at most but also trought the eyes from:
1 Luke
2 Khamel
3 The President
4 Fletcher Coal
5 Voyles
6 Darby Shaw
7 Thomas Callahan
8 Gavin Verheek
9 Sarge
10 Gray Grantham
11 “Garcia” ((real name: Curtis D. Morgan)) 12 Victor Mattiece
13 Smith Keen
There are also a lot of person in this book who are telling also a little bit from the story, but I couldn’t call them all, because then you don’t get the point of the story. Characters Maincharacter: The maincharater is Darby Shaw. She is a student at a law school in New Orleans. The most man would say she looks beautifull. She had red hair, long legs and is very rich. She has a relationship with her teacher Thomas Callahan. She writes the pelican brief which later costs later Thomas live. Other Characters 1 Luke. He is the one who picks Khamel up from the boat and brings him to the hotel. He drives in a stolen car. 2 Khamel. He is the most famous and feared killer in the world. He is the best. 20 years ago he killed for political reasons but now he kills anyone if the money is right. Khamel has many names and faces and he speaks several languages. He kills Rosenberg and Jensen but in the story he is also killed. 3 Judge Rosenberg. Judge Rosenberg is an old man who founds it sometimes hard to stay awake, even during trials. He is a liberal. He defends the Indians, the homosexuals, the poor, the black, the Mexicans and the Puerto Ricans. He a judge in Supreme Court. He don’t wants any security in his house. He get killed by Khamel. 4 Judge Jensen. Is also a judge in the Supreme Court. He is gay. Also he doesn’t want any security into his house because he don’t want that the outside world get to know that he is gay. He is also kind of liberal. He also get killed by Khamel. 5 The president. This president is Republican. When he hears that Rosenberg and Jensen are killed he is happy because he wanted always a full Supreme Court with only Republican and all the other were Republicans. 6 Fletcher Coal. Coal is the chief of staff. He is just like the president Republican and hates the FBI-chief. 7 Voyles. Voyles is the FBI-chief. He also hates Coal very much, but he is affraid to lose his job so he stays at the background. 8 Thomas Callahan. He is the teacher and boyfriend from Darby Shaw. When Darby tries to find out what why Rosenberg and Jensen were killed he feels hisself very lonely. This is his first real relationship with someone. He get killed in the book by a carbomb. 8 Gavin Verheek. He is an old study friend from Thomas Callahan. He also get killed by Khamel when Khamel gets the job to kill Darby. 9 Gray Grantham. He writes story’s for the Washington Post. He is on top of the story and gets a lot of information from different people. He helps Darby and at the end of the sotry they began a relationship. This are the characters who are having a big role in the book but there are also some other persons who got a role. They aren’t really important but they must be their because else the story wouldn’t be completed. 1 Sarge. Cleaner in the White House. 2 “Garcia” ((real-name Curtis D. Morgan)) Lawyer for the firm White and Blazevich’s. He get also killed. 3 Victor Mattiece. The big brain after all this. He payed Khamel to kill all those people. 4 Smith Keen. He is the boss from the Washington Post and a good friend from Gray Grantham. 5 East. Helps Voyles with his work by the FBI. 6 Croft. Secret photographer from the FBI and gives also pictures to the Washington Post.
Theme
There are 3 theme’s I think:
hate
life and death
fear
The story is written to entertain the reader. Summary Two Supreme Courts justices, judge Rosenberg and judge Jensen were killed. Rosenberg was sleeping when he was killed and Jensen was killed when he was looking a gay movie in a gay theater. The President and his assistant don’t find it a problem because now they can make the Supreme Court, Republican. At that morning when Darby turns her t.v. on she sees the presidents speech and decideds to play detective by herself. She wants to try to figure out who killed the two judges. She is searching for 4 days and then writes a legal brief, which later became known as the pelican brief. She doesn’t believe the story by herself but she gives it to her boyfriend Thomas Callahan and he passes it on to his best friend Gavin Verheek. The brief passes along to Washington and finally reached the President. Many people did see the brief and a knowledge of the brief was leaked to Darby’s suspect. This man, Victor Mattiece, sends some men out to kill her. At one night when she still doesn’t know that there are people searching for her, her lover Thomes Callahan steps into the car, which she was supposed to be in, and blews up. After that she is getting to know what is going on and runs for her life fearin for her life. She decides to go to New York via O’Hare Airport in Chicago. When she is in the plain she gets in touch with a reporter for the Washington Post, Gray Grantham. For the first time she tells somebody about what is happening and Grau Grantham decides to help her, to risk his own life. He would publish her story but first he must have another source that confirmed the pelican brief. Then he remembers himself that there was a man ‘Garcia’, which did call everytime, but wouldn’t tell what he had to tell. Now he did almost didn’t call for a few weeks! They began a search to him but after a week they are hearing he is dead. Killed. They go to his widow, who gives them a key to a safe-deposit box. The safe contained an affidavit, a copy of a conspiring memo and a video with a testimony. At the film tells the man ‘Garcia’ or Curtis D. Morgan ((what his real name is)) what he knew about the conspiracy to kill the Supreme Court judges. Curtis D. Morgan was a lawyer for White & Blazevich, a law firm in Washington D.C. Victor Mattiece, was an important client to the firm... Then Darby and Gray go to the office from, the Washington Post director, Smith Keen and ask him if it would be possible to publish the story. They write the article in just 2 hours and the next morning the whole world would know what really happened. In the meantime a lot of unguilty people were killed. At the end some off the people who helped Victor Mattiece, doing suicide.
2 Khamel
3 The President
4 Fletcher Coal
5 Voyles
6 Darby Shaw
7 Thomas Callahan
8 Gavin Verheek
9 Sarge
10 Gray Grantham
11 “Garcia” ((real name: Curtis D. Morgan)) 12 Victor Mattiece
13 Smith Keen
There are also a lot of person in this book who are telling also a little bit from the story, but I couldn’t call them all, because then you don’t get the point of the story. Characters Maincharacter: The maincharater is Darby Shaw. She is a student at a law school in New Orleans. The most man would say she looks beautifull. She had red hair, long legs and is very rich. She has a relationship with her teacher Thomas Callahan. She writes the pelican brief which later costs later Thomas live. Other Characters 1 Luke. He is the one who picks Khamel up from the boat and brings him to the hotel. He drives in a stolen car. 2 Khamel. He is the most famous and feared killer in the world. He is the best. 20 years ago he killed for political reasons but now he kills anyone if the money is right. Khamel has many names and faces and he speaks several languages. He kills Rosenberg and Jensen but in the story he is also killed. 3 Judge Rosenberg. Judge Rosenberg is an old man who founds it sometimes hard to stay awake, even during trials. He is a liberal. He defends the Indians, the homosexuals, the poor, the black, the Mexicans and the Puerto Ricans. He a judge in Supreme Court. He don’t wants any security in his house. He get killed by Khamel. 4 Judge Jensen. Is also a judge in the Supreme Court. He is gay. Also he doesn’t want any security into his house because he don’t want that the outside world get to know that he is gay. He is also kind of liberal. He also get killed by Khamel. 5 The president. This president is Republican. When he hears that Rosenberg and Jensen are killed he is happy because he wanted always a full Supreme Court with only Republican and all the other were Republicans. 6 Fletcher Coal. Coal is the chief of staff. He is just like the president Republican and hates the FBI-chief. 7 Voyles. Voyles is the FBI-chief. He also hates Coal very much, but he is affraid to lose his job so he stays at the background. 8 Thomas Callahan. He is the teacher and boyfriend from Darby Shaw. When Darby tries to find out what why Rosenberg and Jensen were killed he feels hisself very lonely. This is his first real relationship with someone. He get killed in the book by a carbomb. 8 Gavin Verheek. He is an old study friend from Thomas Callahan. He also get killed by Khamel when Khamel gets the job to kill Darby. 9 Gray Grantham. He writes story’s for the Washington Post. He is on top of the story and gets a lot of information from different people. He helps Darby and at the end of the sotry they began a relationship. This are the characters who are having a big role in the book but there are also some other persons who got a role. They aren’t really important but they must be their because else the story wouldn’t be completed. 1 Sarge. Cleaner in the White House. 2 “Garcia” ((real-name Curtis D. Morgan)) Lawyer for the firm White and Blazevich’s. He get also killed. 3 Victor Mattiece. The big brain after all this. He payed Khamel to kill all those people. 4 Smith Keen. He is the boss from the Washington Post and a good friend from Gray Grantham. 5 East. Helps Voyles with his work by the FBI. 6 Croft. Secret photographer from the FBI and gives also pictures to the Washington Post.
life and death
fear
The story is written to entertain the reader. Summary Two Supreme Courts justices, judge Rosenberg and judge Jensen were killed. Rosenberg was sleeping when he was killed and Jensen was killed when he was looking a gay movie in a gay theater. The President and his assistant don’t find it a problem because now they can make the Supreme Court, Republican. At that morning when Darby turns her t.v. on she sees the presidents speech and decideds to play detective by herself. She wants to try to figure out who killed the two judges. She is searching for 4 days and then writes a legal brief, which later became known as the pelican brief. She doesn’t believe the story by herself but she gives it to her boyfriend Thomas Callahan and he passes it on to his best friend Gavin Verheek. The brief passes along to Washington and finally reached the President. Many people did see the brief and a knowledge of the brief was leaked to Darby’s suspect. This man, Victor Mattiece, sends some men out to kill her. At one night when she still doesn’t know that there are people searching for her, her lover Thomes Callahan steps into the car, which she was supposed to be in, and blews up. After that she is getting to know what is going on and runs for her life fearin for her life. She decides to go to New York via O’Hare Airport in Chicago. When she is in the plain she gets in touch with a reporter for the Washington Post, Gray Grantham. For the first time she tells somebody about what is happening and Grau Grantham decides to help her, to risk his own life. He would publish her story but first he must have another source that confirmed the pelican brief. Then he remembers himself that there was a man ‘Garcia’, which did call everytime, but wouldn’t tell what he had to tell. Now he did almost didn’t call for a few weeks! They began a search to him but after a week they are hearing he is dead. Killed. They go to his widow, who gives them a key to a safe-deposit box. The safe contained an affidavit, a copy of a conspiring memo and a video with a testimony. At the film tells the man ‘Garcia’ or Curtis D. Morgan ((what his real name is)) what he knew about the conspiracy to kill the Supreme Court judges. Curtis D. Morgan was a lawyer for White & Blazevich, a law firm in Washington D.C. Victor Mattiece, was an important client to the firm... Then Darby and Gray go to the office from, the Washington Post director, Smith Keen and ask him if it would be possible to publish the story. They write the article in just 2 hours and the next morning the whole world would know what really happened. In the meantime a lot of unguilty people were killed. At the end some off the people who helped Victor Mattiece, doing suicide.
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