Racism in John Grisham’s Novel A

Time to Kill (1989)

 Outline
I. Introduction
II. About the Author
III. The Historical context of the Novel
IV.The plot
V. The theme of Racism in A Time to
Kill
VI.Conclusion
 Introduction
• After the emancipation of black people and abolitionism, other
measures have been taken to control black people to keep them
under the authority of white people. One of them was the Jim
Crew laws which segregated black and white people
institutionally.

• Secret organizations such as Ku Klux Klan played a significant role

in spreading hatred among white and black people.

• John Grisham’s novel A Time to Kill addresses the issue of justice

system and how it functions in a society where slavery prevails

• A deeper analysis also demonstrates that the author posits that

the residue of the tradition of slavery, especially racism in the
South is still recurring despite the many changes that the
American society has undergone after the abolition of slavery,
the civil rights movements and after the American Civil War.
• The issue of racism in post American civil
rights movement novel, A Time to Kill.

• Racism is still haunting the American South,

especially the Ford County despite the
tremendous changes that the American
society has experienced after desegregation
and civil rights movements.
 About the Author
• Born in 1955 in Arkansas city, United states.
• He belonged to a poor family, yet he managed
to go the Mississippi State University.
• Attended Mississippi University School of Law
in 1981
• Started his writing career in 1984, and his first
novel, A time to Kill, was published 1989.
• His works have been translated into 42
languages.
• He is also an attorney, politician, and activist
best known for his popular legal thrillers, and
he shaped the legal thriller into a separate and
very special genre and many of his novels
have been adapted into movies.
• His other famous works notably The Firm, The
Chamber, The Pelican Field, The Client, and
The Runaway Jury.
 The Historical Context
• John Grisham’s novel A Time to Kill depicts ethnic and
racial tensions between African Americans and the
white supremacists after the civil rights movement
specifically the 1980’s. Despite the fact that one
hundred years have passed after the Civil War in
America and despite the civil rights movement in the
1960, racial discrimination and ethnic tensions are still
prevalent in the United States. The fictional Ford
County that is depicted in John Grisham’s novel, A Time
to Kill, is replete with the effects of old tradition of
slavery, and African Americans still experience the
indignities of inequality and the white supremacy is still
present even after the civil rights of movement.
 The Plot
• A Time to Kill takes place in the Southern States where the
white supremacist organization, Ku Klux Klan, is still in
action and where racial injustice is still haunting the
community. The novel starts with a vicious rape of a ten-
year-old black girl by two white men, Cobb and Pete
Willard. Carl Lee, the father of Tanya, the little girl, is
determined to retaliate. The criminals are caught by Sheriff
Ozzie, an African American, yet Carl Lee murders the
rapists of his daughter in the town courthouse. Carl, as a
consequence, is sentenced to death. Jake Brigance, an
ambitious white young lawyer, offers to help his close black
friend Carl Lee in the court, and made Carl Lee plead “not
guilty for the reason of insanity. Jake’s adjuvant in the case
include his friend Harry Rex, Ellen Roark, law student who is
experienced in death penalty cases, and his previous
supervisor Lucien Wilbanks.
• Rufus Buckley is the prosecuting attorney and
Omar Noose is a white judge who will perform
the trial. Buckley defends death penalty and
hopes to win the case and strives to gain fame
that would ensue after the win of the case. He
also hopes to be elected as a governor.
Meanwhile, Billy Ray, Cobb’s brother and Freddy
Lee Cobb, wants to take revenge for the killing of
his brother by Carl Lee. For this purpose, he calls
for the help of KKK which subsequently
perpetrates many destructive acts against all
parties in favour of Carl Lee’s freedom.
• The task of Jake seems tough and his life is being under
threat, his family, and all the people who work with
him are targeted by the Kkk. Jake, however, insists on
going on defending his fellow, Carl Lee. The case of Carl
Lee brought the community together and the rape of
the little girl affects both the white community and the
black community who stand together, against the kkk
claims and the Buckley Rufus’s, demanding freedom for
Carl Lee. The outcry of the community brings it into
conflict with the Klan, and clashes and protests
increase each day and consequently the American
National Guard intervenes to keep peace. Under these
intense clashes and protests, the judges in the court
are in a dilemma. Which way will they go? Sentence
Carl Lee to death of set him free.
• Jake Brigance, defends Carl Lee and made him
plead ‘’ not guilty’’ for the reason of insanity.
Doctors(white doctors) from the the Ford
county, defy the claims of Carl Lee insanity.
Jake asks the jurors to imagine that the girl
were white, only then that the jurors decide to
free Carl Lee.
 Racism in A Time to Kill
• The first event in the novel draws our attention to
the issues of racism and hatred in deep South.
The abuse of the little black girl signals the sharp
divide between African Americans and the
whites. This divide is further compounded when
Carl Lee Hailey retaliates and murders the two
white men who brutally abused his daughter, and
as a consequence he is charged with murder and
is trapped into a judicial system that is to a great
extent influenced by racism. Carl Lee should
stand before an all White or almost all-White jury.
• Many questions come up to the surface: if the
little girl were white and abused by a black man
and the father of the little white girl killed the
black man, what would have happened? Will the
judges use the same scale in prosecuting the
white men? What will a white father do in case
his daughter is abused viciously by a black man?
Is Carl Lee killing f the white men justified? The
latter question is the guiding question in the
novel as it stimulate a controversy that and
opposing opinions, some of which are driven by
racial prejudices and others are driven by what
people really believe is the true.
• The white supremacist secret group, Ku Klux
Klan, prevails through the novel, A Time to kill.
The presence of this group further ignites the
racial tensions between the white people and
the African American. The KKK members think
that black people have got much protection
and enjoy far more rights than the whites do,
and they plot to regain the supremacy of the
white people over the black people. This is
better illustrated in the quote below:
• The niggers have plenty of protection
nowadays-the NAACP, ACLU, a thousand other
civil rights groups, plus the courts and the
government. Hell, white folks ain’t got a
chance, except for the Klan. Who else would
march and stand up for white people. All the
laws favor the niggers, and the liberal nigger-
loving politicians keep making more laws
against white people. Somebody’s got to stand
up for them (A Time to Kill 6)
• After the killing of the two white men, the KKK
gets involved and starts its activity and is
determined to take revenge and to “raise so
much hell in Ford County this summer that no
juror with any common sense would consider
voting to acquit the nigger”(A Time to Kill 12),
Carl Lee Hailey. The Klan takes action against
anybody, black or white, who is involved in
helping Carl Lee Hailey and Jake during the trial.
Hence, the acts of the Klan are basically
motivated by racist drives. Hatred towards
African Americans generates even violence
against white people who back up the cause of
Carl Lee in particular and the cause of African
Americans in general.
• A Time to Kill seems at the very first sight to
deal solely with the issue of justice; however,
the focal point of the novel seems to be more
related to the issue of racism. Besides the
blatant racist acts by the white rapists, and the
destructive activities of the Klan, the novel
also testifies that the issue goes beyond the
matter of justice and equality to cover racism
as the main drive behind the prosecution of
Carl Lee Hailey. In his novel, Grisham states,
underscoring that Carl Lee Hailey’s trial is not
simply about justice, but it’s about racism.
• To his people he (Carl Lee) was on trial for one
reason only. Sure he killed those boys, but
that wasn’t the issue. If he was white, he
would receive civic awards for what he did.
They would half-heartedly prosecute him, but
with a white jury the trial would be a joke.
Carl Lee was on trial because he was black.
And if they convicted him, it would be because
he was black. No other reason. They believed
that (A time to Kill 336)
• Despite the existence of hostile forces that
perpetuate racism and hatred, Grisham’s
novel also features some positive relationships
which echo the change that is taking place in
the Ford County in the South. One of the
remarkable relationships is that existing
between Carl Lee, a black African American,
and Jake Brigance, a white American. Despite
the difference, both characters seem to
transcend the racial and social difference and
grow up into a coherent entity working for the
same cause, equality between African
Americans and the white.
• The prosecution of Carl Lee also generates sympathy
from the African American community as well as the
White community. The plead “not guilty” for the
reason of insanity that Carl made is supported by both
black and white people since the brutal abuse
influences any human being who has strong
convictions and a sense of humanity. Thus, the
prosecution effects in a public outcry which influences
the jurors’ decision. Deputy Looney, despite the fact
that Carl Lee shot him when he shot the white rapists,
acknowledges that he holds no scorn towards Carl Lee
and that he would have done the same if his daughter
is raped. He states “I mean I don’t blame him for what
he did. Those boys raped his little girl. I gotta little girl.
Somebody rapes her and he’s a dead dog. I’ll blow him
away, just like Carl Lee did. We oughtta give him a
trophy.”
 Conclusion
• A Time to Kill tackles the issue of racism and
justice in the American South, and interrogates
the validity of the established laws.
• Racism is an iherent issue that exists in the
community despite desegeregation and civil
rights movements.
• The white and the black people in the United
States can get together and live in harmony.
• The established as a law that governs a
community is a mere a convention and is subject
to revision according to the circumstances.
 Works Cited

• Jones, Terry. "Institutional Racism in the United

States." Oxford University Press OXFORD
JOURNALS 19.2 (1974): 218-25. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/23712909>.

• Pringle, Mary Beth. Revisiting John Grisham: A Critical

Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2007. PDF.
Webliography
• John Grisham." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d.
Web. 20 Jan. 2017.

• "A Time to Kill Summary & Study Guide." BookRags.

BookRags, n.d. Web. 01 Jan. 2017.