THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JAKE BRIGANCE’S
CHARACTERISTICS IN HIS STRUGGLES AGAINST
THREATS OF RACISM REFLECTED IN GRISHAM’S
A TIME TO KILL
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
EFRA TANIA NAINGGOLAN
Student Number: 054214063
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2011
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
i
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JAKE BRIGANCE’S
CHARACTERISTICS IN HIS STRUGGLES AGAINST
THREATS OF RACISM REFLECTED IN GRISHAM’S
A TIME TO KILL
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
EFRA TANIA NAINGGOLAN
Student Number: 054214063
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ii
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
iv
You don’t write because
you want to say
something;
You write because you’ve
got something to say.
F. ScoTt Fitzgerald
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v
TO
MY FATHER AND MOTHER
BROTHER AND SISTER
AS THE WAY TO REACH
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Efra Tania Nainggolan
NIM : 054214063
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JAKE BRIGANCE’S CHARACTERISTICS IN HIS STRUGGLES AGAINST THREATS OF RACISM REFLECTED IN GRISHAM’S A TIME TO KILL
Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan ini saya memberikan kepada kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk lain, mengelola dalam bentuk pangkalan data. Mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun royalitas kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini , saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Yogyakarta, 30 November 2011.
Yang menyatakan,
Efra Tania Nainggolan
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This undergraduate thesis has been improved by the help and comment of many people who are kind enough to get involved during the writing of this undergraduate thesis. I would not be able to complete this thesis without the help of others, both direct and indirect. First of all, I thank you to God, for the blessing, love, and power which are given to me. My gratitude goes to Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M.Hum., Harris Hermansyah Setiajid S.S., M.Hum., and Elisa Dwi Wardani S.S., M.Hum. for the valuable assistance and patience in reading and correcting this thesis. I also thank you to the administrative staff of Department of English Letters of Sanata Dharma, Mbak Ninik, who has been so kind to help me. I thank you to the members of lecturing staff of Department of English Letters, Sanata Dharma, for the pricelesss education that has been given.
I express my special thanks to my parents, R. Nainggolan and Maria S., my brother and sister, Christian Nainggolan and Shinta K.P.N., for the love, praise and the financial support. I thank you to the member of Sastra 2007: Rohman N., Harry S., Martinus B.R. and Risang H., for the supports and cares. My gratitude is also dedicated to my friends Reksiana S. and Deva B.P.H., for supports during the process of finishing this undergraduate thesis. I also thank you to the most amazing and adorable boy of my life, Gest Antitank, for the care, opinion, and support. The last, I thank you to Mb. Marni and Lusi, the member of KOPMA, for the pray.
viii
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vii
B. The Threats of Racism that Happen to Jake Brigance ... 31
ix ABSTRACT
Efra Tania Nainggolan (2005), The Significance of Jake Brigance’s Characteristics in His Struggles Against Threats of Racism Reflected in Grisham’s A Time to Kill, Yogyakarta: English Letters Study Programme, Sanata Dharma University.
The backgrounds of this undergraduate thesis were first, practice of racism existed in American society and it was suffered not only by blacks but also whites. The second, practice of racism is suffered by whites indirectly, most of racism that happen to them were threats as the effect of racism. The third, whites, as the individuals could react upon certain condition that was threatening them.Those three backgrounds were found when the writer read a novel entitled A Time to Kill by John Grisham.
The objectives of this undergraduate thesis are to describe Jake Brigance’s characteristics, to observe the threats of racism to Jake Brigance, and to find the significance of those characteristics in Jake’s struggles against threats of racism.
This undergraduate thesis was conducted with a library research. It was done with searching the supporting data and source. The writer used theories of characterization to describe the characterirtics of Jake Brigance, the theory of racism to know the threats of racism to him, the brief reviews on racism in United States and the sociocultural-historical approach as the framework of understanding the socio-cultural historical context of society in the analysis of this undergraduate thesis.
x ABSTRAK
Efra Tania Nainggolan (2005), The Significance of Jake Brigance’s Characteristics in His Struggles Against Threats of Racism Reflected in Grisham’s A Time to Kill, Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Beberapa latar belakang dari penulisan skripsi ini adalah pertama, tindakan rasisme ada di dalam masyarakat Amerika dan tindakan ini dialami oleh tidak hanya kaum kulit hitam namun juga kulit putih. Kedua, tindakan rasisme secara tidak langsung dialami oleh kaum kulit putih, kebanyakan dari tindakan rasisme yang dialami oleh mereka merupakan ancaman-ancaman yang merupakan dampak dari rasisme. Ketiga, kaum kulit putih, sebagai individu-individu, sanggup bereaksi terhadap kondisi tertentu yang mengancam mereka. Ketiga latar belakang tersebut ditemukan ketika penulis membaca sebuah novel karya John Grisham yang berjudul A Time to Kill.
Adapun tujuan penulisan skiripsi ini yaitu untuk mendeskripsikan sifat-sifat dari Jake Brigance, meneliti ancaman-ancaman dari rasisme yang dialami oleh Jake Brigance, dan menemukan pentingnya sifat-sifat Jake Brigance tersebut dalam usahanya melawan ancaman-ancaman dari rasisme.
Skripsi ini disusun dengan metode studi pustaka. Studi pustaka dilakukan dengan mencari data dan sumber yang mendukung. Dalam analisa di skripsi ini, penulis menggunakan teori-teori tentang characterization untuk mendeskripsikan sifat-sifat dari Jake Brigance, teori tentang rasisme untuk mengetahui ancaman-ancaman dari rasisme yang terjadi padanya, ulasan singkat tentang rasisme di Amerika Serikat dan pendekatan sosial budaya dan sejarah sebagai batasan dalam memahami konteks sosial budaya dan sejarah dari masyarakat.
Hasil- hasil yang ditemukan oleh penulis dalam skripsi ini adalah pertama, sifat-sifat dari Jake Brigance. Jake Brigance adalah orang yang menghargai waktu, sangat teratur, seorang ayah dan suami yang penuh kasih sayang, dan orang yang ramah. Hasil kedua, Jake Brigance mengalami ancaman-ancaman dari rasisme. Ancaman-ancaman-ancaman tersebut berupa telepon-telepon gelap yang terjadi baik di ruimah maupun kantor, pembakaran salib, peledakan dinamit, pembunuhan, pembakaran rumah, dan prasangka. Ketiga, sifat-sifat Jake Brigance mempunyai peranan penting dalam usahanya melawan ancaman-ancaman dari rasisme. Penulis mengharap agar para pembaca dapat memahami tujuan dari penyusunan skripsi ini dan mendapatkan beberapa nilai moral untuk kehidupan mereka setelah membaca skripsi ini.
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1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A.Background of the Study
The study of literature is different from other studies like math or science. Literature itself is a tool for authors to share about things or life phenomenon and also their expression on them. The authors create their works based on the ideas of what they see, hear, know, and feel about anything such as politics, social-life, love, life-philosophy, etc. The authors can share an idea of life phenomenon and their expression on life phenomenon with the readers through their works.
Based on the wide ideas or things that the authors try to share through their works, the field of the study on literature itself can be various. It also can be said that readers who interpret and analyze literary works also have various interpretation or analysis. M.H. Abrams in The Orientation of Critical Theories, states that the work of art or literature has relation with universe, the audience, the artist, and the work of literature itself (Abrams, 1979: 6). In other words, the study of literature can be influenced by four aspects such as universe, the audience or readers, the artist or the author of work of literature, and the work of literature itself.
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This topic is interesting to study because racism that happens in the world influences the development of literary works in the world. Racism influences the elements that build the work of literature, such as the authors, the assumption of the readers, the characters inside the story, and so many others. In addition, the topic on racism is interesting to study in order to show that all the people in the world are equal and not different although they are physically different. In other words, the undergraduate thesis is truly hoped can open and even can change the environment’s point of view about the different physical characteristics that exist in the world.
There are so many kinds of people in the world. They are created as human being with many special characteristics. Those characteristics make people physically different one to another. Language, culture, physical appearances, and places to where they live are the factors that make people physically different each other. People are created with great differences physically. These differences include height, weight, skin-color, hair-color, and many other physical differences.
The special characteristics that people have in the world are different one to another. However, those special characteristics that make they look different one to another do not have meaning that they are also different on their status, values, dignity/prestige as human being. The special characteristics that people have in the world are varied but they are basically same one to another as human being. In other words, people who have different and special characteristics are equal no matter who he is or she, where they are come from, and what language
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
they speak, what skin colors they have, etc. The different and special characteristics that people have do not make them unequal one to another.
The different physical characteristics sometimes cause a group of people to think that they are better than other groups of people, and they even call themself as the superior. In 18th century, people who claimed themself as whites, thought that they were better than Africans and they who are colored people. The Africans claimed to be uneducated, uncivilized, rough, and they do not work using brain but only with muscles. On the contrary, whites claimed to be more educated and better than African in social aspect, life, quality, etc. Whites called themselves as the superior compared to the Africans. This assumption comes because some reasons that mostly on physical differences. These differences include height, weight, skin-color, hair-color, and many other physical differences. Africans who mostly have dark-skin, black and curly hair, wide mouth and thick lips are physically different from whites who have the contrary physical characteristics from Africans.
Amiram Goren in his book The Encyclopedia of the Peoples of the World says that the people of The United States of America constitute of a heterogeneous population of almost 250 million, live in a federation of fifty states extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans (and include the States of Alaska and Hawaii). Alongside the small indigenous population of native Americans, many ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups are represented, while several uniquely American cultural group have also emerge (Goren, 1993 :36).
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are heterogeneous. United States of America, which is famous for its heterogeneous citizens, also underestimates the Africans who live in America in some aspects of life in 18th century. They underestimate the Africans in America not only by their skin-color and physical differences but also because of the Africans’ life-background history in America. The underestimation happens to the Africans in America because at the beginning the Africans came to America, they were the slaves of white people. This condition influences the whole life aspects of Africans who live in America, and this condition continues year to year. One of the most pressing-problem facing Americans in 19th century was the act of slavery.
The act of slavery toward Africans that was done by whites causes the Africans experience the practice of racism. Racism toward Africans in America inspires not only colored but also white people who care and pay attention to the act of racism in America to write literary work. The suffering which was felt by Africans, inspires the artist of literature to write the story about them. John Grisham is one example of white who cares and pays attention to the act of racism that happens in America. He writes many novels related to racism and justice in America. John Grisham shares and expresses what he knows, feels, hears, and sees about racism in America. His famous novel that tells about racism and justice in America entitled A Time to Kill, is one example of his care and attention to the practice of racism in America.
A Time to Kill becomes an interesting novel to analyze the practice of racism that happens in America society because this novel shows and reflects
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racism happens in America society. The story shows that racism is not only oppressed the Africans but also whites who are not racist. The interesting character in the story is Jake Brigance who is known as white and does not racist. He even shows his struggle against threats racism in the story. Since the practice of racism that happens in America society from the novel is too abroad to analyze, the writer narrows the topic of this undergraduate thesis into the threats of racism that happen to Jake Brigance as the main character of the story, and his struggles against threats of racism.
The finding analysis in this undergraduate thesis hopefully can stimulate readers to change their point of view about people who do not have same physical characteristics, and make they believe that all the people in the world are created equal.
B. Problem Formulation
The writer finds some interesting problems to analyze in this undergraduate thesis. The problems are:
1. How are the characteristics of Jake Brigance described in the story? 2. What are the threats of racism that happen to Jake Brigance in the story? 3. What is the significance of Jake Brigance’s characteristics in his struggle
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C. Objectives of the Study
This undergraduate thesis is aimed to answer the three problems stated previously. The first is to find how Jake Brigance’s characteristics are described. Second is to find the threats of racism that happen to Jake Brigance. The last is to find the significance of Jake Brigance’s characteristics in his struggles against threats of racism.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to avoid a misunderstanding on some terms which are used in this undergraduate thesis, the writer gives some definitions of the related terms. The first term is racism. According to The New Encyclopedia Britannica, racism, also called as racialism, is a belief that some races are inherently superior to or different from others, based on the idea that inherited physical traits are accompanied by certain traits of personality, intellect, or culture. The phenomena of prejudice and discrimination between human groups are similar whether they result from racial or ethnic differences (1983:360).
The second term is struggle. The definition of struggle according to The Consolidated-Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary, struggle means to use great efforts; to labour hard; to strive (1958:717).
The third term is significance. According to Culler in Structualist Politics, Structuralism Linguistics and the Study of Literature, significance is the word used by the readers to look deeper at the meaning laid behind a work of art. It means that the word ‘significance’ completely appears from the readers in
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8 CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
According to Vinnet, the novel entitled A Time to Kill is about Jake Brigance, the white lawyer who struggles to look after Carl Lee Hailey, the black murderer. Carl Lee Hailey kills the whites who raped his young daughter. Both Jake Brigance and Carl Lee Hailey must overcome the stigmas of the times centering on race, fight attacks from the KKK, and other such personal attacks. Jake Brigance as a white lawyer does his best to take after Carl Lee.
Grisham's first novel centers around a white lawyer fresh out of law school and struggling to pay the bills comes to be council for Carl Lee, the father of a young girl, Tonya, who was sexually assaulted, raped, beaten, and left for dead by two backwoods hicks. Carl Lee decides to take the "law into his own hands" and eradicate the two criminals who are white and will most likely be let out with a small tap on the wrist. Throughout the novel, Jake and Carl Lee must overcome the stigmas of the times centering around race, fight attacks from the KKK, and other such personal attacks. (www.allreaders.com, 2011)
According to Erica Jobman in her Literary analysis: Comparing To Kill a Mockingbird with A Time to Kill, states that Jake Brigance is the southern lawyer who fight against racism in his hometown and as the professional lawyer who take on his respective case, he and his family get the impact of racism.
The two characters are both southern lawyers and loving fathers who fight against racism in their hometowns. They are both driven by an inner strength, and both are deathly loyal to their families and principles. For example, when the lawyers took on their respective cases, their families became targeted by those that disagreed with what the lawyers were attempting to do. (www.helium.com, 2011)
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In her Literary Analysis, Jobman also states that Jake Brigance tries to make the juries sure that Carl Lee Hailey is not guilty in the eyes of the court, because what he does to the two men is the act of a father who love his daughter and will do everything to them who hurt his daughter.
Jake also has his own version of “walking in someone else’s shoes” theory. In his summation he had the jury imagine a horrendous crime that caused Carl Lee Haley to do what he did. He hoped that he could show the jury that Carl Lee Haley was not the only person that would have taken the law into his own hands after that act.
In his summation he also highlights on the importance of finding the truth with the heart. Jake wants the truth to come from the heart because in the eyes of the court, reason will not win the case because Carl Lee Haley shot two men and killed them. However, Jake knows the exact reason why Carl Lee did what he did. He feels that Carl Lee Haley should not die because he felt that he would have done the same thing: kill the two men that had hurt his daughter.(www.helium.com, 2011) In addition, C, Nick in his book review on A Time to Kill, states that Jake Brigance, as the white lawyer of Carl Lee Hailey, faces huge odds because defending a black murderer who killed two white men. It can be said that Jake Brigance suffers racism because he defends his black client in the eye of court. Jake’s struggle against racism is shown in defending Carl Lee Hailey, as a result, Carl Lee Hailey is proven innocent and not guilty because Jake can persuade the juries by his amazing speech about Carl Lee Hailey as an ordinary father.
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Those reviews show how Jake Brigance suffers the practice of racism and how he helps his client. Those reviews have an important role in this undergraduate thesis because they help the writer to show the position of this undergraduate thesis and also highlight the topic of this undergraduate thesis to the reader that this undergraduate thesis is different from other studies that have ever been discussed before. This undergraduate thesis is different from those related studies because this undergraduate thesis studies about the significance of Jake Brigance’s characteristics in his struggles against the threats of racism.
B. Review of Related Theories
Some theories are needed to support the analysis and to show this undergraduate thesis is relevant to read and study. Since the undergraduate thesis studies about the significance of character in his struggles against threats of racism as seen in Grisham’s A Time to Kill, the first theory to be reviewed is the theory of characterization, the second is the theory of racism, and the latest is the brief review on African-American in United States.
1. Theory of Characterization
The creation of imagination person that exist the reader as a lifelike is called characterization. According to Rohrberger and Woods (1971:20), characterization is a process by which an author creates character.
There are two principle ways that an author can characterize. The first is through a direct way. It describes the physical appearance. The second, he uses a dramatic event. It means that he places in situation where he should react in a particular way. His action must be motive in term that a reader can accept. (1971:20-21)
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Based on Holman and Hormon (1986: 81), characterization is divided into three fundamental methods, they are:
1. The explicit presentation by the author of character through direct exposition. They can be placed in the introductory block or in the action throughout the work.
2. The presentation of the character in action, with little or no explicit comment by the author, in the expectation that the reader will be able to deduce the attribute of the actor from the action.
3. The presentation from within the character, without comment on the character by the author of the impacts of actions and emotions of the character’s inner self, with the expectation that the reader will come to a clear understanding of the attributes of the character.
However, based on Henkle, characterization is:
Characterization therefore is central to the factional experience, and the principle objective of the creation of characters in novels is to enable us to understand and to experience people. Characterization also appears to loose sight of fact. (Henkle, 1977: 86-87).
Characterization is a helpful element of literary work for reader, besides; it also supports the literary work itself to become alive and a good work of literature.
Characterization, according to Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods Jr. in Reading and Writing about Literature, is the process by which an author creates a character. There are two principal ways an author can characterize.
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appearance, intellectual, moral attributes, and the degree of sensitivity of the character. Second way is he or she can use dramatic means and place the character in situations to show what the character is by the way he behaves or speaks (Rohrberger and Woods Jr., 1971:20).
Murphy in Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English Poetry and The English Novel for Overseas Student also has classification that differ the representation of the character. There are nine ways in which the author presents the character. Those are:
1. Personal Description, we can find out the nature of the character/s from the author's description about her/his character appearance.
2. Speech, the character can give us the clue to his/her nature through his/her speaking, conversation with other people opinion.
3. Conversation as seen by another. We know the character's nature through the other eyes and also comments on is/her nature.
4. Reaction, the person's nature can be known by his/her reactions to different occasions.
5. Direct Comments, the author can give comments on the person's character directly.
6. Thought, the nature of the character can be known from what she/he is thinking.
7. Conversation of others, the conversation of other people can be the way of the author to tell the reader on the person's character by showing the dialogue among other characters and other utterance on that person.
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8. The past life, the author uses to tell the character's past life, by commenting out directly, describing the person's mind, person's dialogue, and the medium among another person.
9. Mannerism, we can understand the character through the way he/she behaves, attitudes, and talks with the other people (1972: 161-173).
2. Theory of Racism
The United Nations uses a definition of racist discrimination, and it is stated in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and adopted in 1965:
Any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field public of life. (http://www.unhcr.ch.html, 2011)
According to The New Encyclopedia Britannica, racism is closely related with race prejudice and racial discrimination (1983:360). Assuming that every individual’s character can be adequately determined by racial or ethnic stereotypes is called as race prejudice, and giving or withholding privileges based on such stereotypes is called as racial discrimination. Race and prejudice is the root of racism. It happens as the impact of social relation between different races that is influenced by economic, belief and political factors. Racism is a very controversial issue.
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A simple (and simple-minded) phenomenon, while the problem of human “races” is considerably more complex. Stripped down to its unsavory essence, racism is the attribution of behavioral or cultural characteristics-usually negative ones-to people on the basis of what people look like. (Oliver, 1981:10)
Racism exists while the elements are fulfilled:
a. The differences between group-differences in body and in mind are full due to hereditary biology, and nothing can change them. For example, Negroes are not as intelligent as whites, this is due to their heredity and can no more be charged than skin color.
b. Habits, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and all the things we learn are determined for us before we are born. For example, Jews are born to be sharp businessmen and Japanese are born to act in an insincere manner.
c. All differences between minority and the majority group are thought to be signs of inferiority.
d. If there should be biological crossing of the groups, the children will be more degenerate than either of the parents’ groups (Rose, 1981:223).
C. Brief Review of Racism in America
Since the first blacks who came to America were slaves; the white Americans underestimate the blacks and threat them unfairly. The White Americans threat them based on their biological appearance.
One of the forms of racism is showed by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is one of several white-supremacist organizations in the Southern United States, which are dedicated to opposing civil rights for blacks,
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Jews, and other ethnic, racial, social or religious groups. They also formerly opposed Roman Catholic Church and its adherents and hierarchy as well as all foreign-born persons whether or not they had yet attained United States citizenship. The KKK was also prominent in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan in the 1920s and 1930s as an anti-Catholic, anti-French-Canadian, anti immigrant organization. The Ku Klux Klan has committed many acts of violence such as lynching and the burning of homes (http://en.wikipedia.org, 2011).
Boyer in his book, The Enduring Vision, A History of the American People says that rural and urban blacks alike endured extreme hardships. Not only did Southern black tenant farmers and sharecroppers frequently face eviction, but the jobless rate among black industrial workers far exceeded the rate for the whites largely because of deep-seated patterns of racism and discriminatory policies of unions intensified by fierce job competition in a depressed labor market. A 1936 study of employment patterns in Chicago reported “a prevailing sentiment that Negroes should not be hired as long as white men without work” (Boyer, 1990:908).
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Turner says that during the depression, black migration to urban areas was stopped, while both those in rural and urban areas were suffered enormously from unemployment and hunger. In the mid 1930s great masses of blacks received some form of public assistance, but even so, welfare allocations were differentially bestowed on blacks and whites (Turner, 1976:190).
Economically, black, this minority group also experience racism. Blacks are still over represented in menial, farm, and service occupations; they are underrepresented in professional and managerial positions; black unemployment has remained at twice that of white unemployment, blacks tend to be unemployed longer than whites in equivalent job categories; they earn less in the same job as whites; college-educated blacks earn about the same amount of money as high-school-educated whites (Turner, 1976:191).
State and private employment agencies still discriminate against black eligible (in terms o education) for white-collar work. Blacks are or assigned occupational classifications not commensurate with their skills, they tend to receive fewer referrals than whites to employers; they are rarely referred to openings in banks, loan firms, and other businesses. Blacks have been excluded from blue-collar occupations because of discriminatory policies of trade unions, including those of plumbers, carpenters, electricians, printers, metal workers, and machinists (Turner, 1976: 191).
The lack of skill among black workers is a result of a historical legacy of discrimination by many unions; this lack of skill has been used by some unions to justify exclusion of black (1976: 192).
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Educationally, blacks also suffer from educational abuses at college and university level. Thus, in terms of quantity and quality of education, blacks still lag behind whites, despite some educational gains-reflected by the fact that blacks are better than Chicanos and Indians in term of their educational attainment, but the incomes of blacks are lower than that of less-educated whites and Chicanos (Turner, 1976: 196).
Housing discrimination has greatly contributed to racial segregation in the United States. Blacks have typically had to pay high rents for deteriorated housing. Given the large differences in family income for blacks and whites, blacks must devote a much larger proportion of their total income to secure housing, even substandard housing. Black families, then, must sacrifice such things as quality food, health care, and recreation to secure housing that on the whole is of poorer quality than that whites who can earn comparable incomes (Turner, 1976: 238).
In the field of law and criminal cases, police discrimination and abuse, as well as disproportionally strong indictments and long jail sentences for crimes against whites, are typically imposed upon blacks by a legal system staffed predominantly by whites (Turner, 1976: 198).
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poverty and inability to afford legal defense, they are more likely to be forced to “cop a plea” (even when innocent) and plead guilty to a lesser charge than are whites; and they can expect larger jail sentences than whites when they commit a crime against and Anglo (Turner,1976: 200).
In sum, the history of black Americans’ treatment under the laws is one of the inequities. Unlike most minorities, blacks have experienced formally sanctioned discrimination. As a result, blacks have been segregated and excluded from all major social, spheres-a situation that forced them to the bottom rungs of the stratification system (1976:198).
D. Theoretical Framework
The writer has mentioned two theories in theoretical review. Both theory of characterization and theory of racism are used to analyze the problem formulations that have been formulated in the previous chapter.
Theory of characterization is used to analyze Jake Brigance’s characteristics as the first question. Theory of racism is used to analyze the second question about the threats of racism that happening to Jake Brigance as seen in the story. Theory of characterization is used again to analyze the third question about Jake Brigance’s struggles against threats of racism as the significance of his charateristics.
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19 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
A Time to Kill is a novel about racism which is written by John Grisham in 1989. The setting of place is on Clanton, Southern America. The setting time of the story is about 1980’s. It is published by Dell Publishing a division of Bantam Doubleday, Dell Publishing Group, Inc. New York. The novel consists of 515 pages and it is divided into 44 chapters.
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B. Approach of the Study
In conducting the analysis, the writer will use the sociocultural-historial approach. Based on Reading and Writing about Literature by Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods, Jr.:
Critics whose major interest is the sociocultural-historial approach insist that the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilization that produced it. They defined civilization as the attitudes and actions of specific group of people and point out that literature takes these attitudes and reactions as subject matter. (1971: 9)
The quotation above shows that both Rohrberger and Woods are aware on the phenomena that society cannot be separated from literature, because literature basically is the product of civilization that happen in society.
The writer chooses the sociocultural-historical approach because the writer needs to know racism in United States as the general background of the society in the novel and how the racism influences not only blacks but also whites at that time.
The sociocultural-historical approach would be applied in the analysis as the way to understand the sociocultural-historical context of the society in the novel and how racism influenced the society at that time. This approach is used to find out the threats of racism that happened to Jake Brigance as the result of understanding the sociocultural-historical context of the society in this undergraduate thesis.
C. Method of the Study
The method that was used by the writer in this study was library research.
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Library research was the primary source that done by reading and collecting data and information as much as possible from certain books and other writing or findings which were supports the research in this study. In addition, collecting data or information from internet about the work which was related to the study was also done as the secondary source by browsing many websites which contents were relevance, valid, accurate and appropriate to the study.
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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This chapter is the analysis in this undergraduate thesis. This chapter’s contents are the answers of questions that have been formulated in the Chapter I. The ways of answering three questions are done by quoting the supporting statements from the novel and those supporting statements are analyzed with the appropriate theories. This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part is the analysis on the racism that happen to Jake Brigance using the theories of racism. The second part is the analysis on the Jake Brigance’s characteristics and this part applies the theories of characterization. The third part is the analysis on Jake Brigance’s struggles against racism as the significance of his characteristics.
A. The Characteristics of Jake Brigance
This is the analysis on the characteristics of Jake Brigance. In reading the story entitled A Time to Kill, the writer finds some interesting quotations that show the characteristics of Jake Brigance. The characterization of Jake Brigance is started with the short description of his personal life. Jake Brigance is a white lawyer who married to Carla and has a fourth years old daughter named Hanna. Hanna is the only child of Jake. Jake comes from the Southern named Karaway, a small town of twenty-five hundred, eighteen miles west of Clanton. Jake lives with his wife and daughter in Clanton.
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1. An Early Bird Person
The first characteristic of Jake Brigance is that he is an early bird person. The term “an early bird” has the meaning that he is a person who gets up, arrives and does everything in very early time. This characteristic is showed in the quotation below,
Jake Brigance rolled across his wife and staggered to the small bathroom a few feet from his bed, where he searched and groped in the dark for the screaming alarm clock. He found it where he had left it, and killed it with a quick and violent slap. It was 5:30 A.M., Wednesday, May 15. (p.18) He wakes up in very early time, in 5:30 A.M., and walks to the bathroom to kill the clock with the quick and violent slap to avoid disturbing Carla. The fact that Jake is an early bird, is also supported by Carla’s response on Jake’s habit. Carla thinks that her husband is crazy because of getting up at such an hour. This idea is showed in the quotation below,
Most of the time, however, she was not symphatetic. She thought he crazy for getting up at such an hour. (p.18)
The two quotations above show Grisham’s way creates the characteristics of Jake Brigance as the character in A Time to Kill. Grisham uses the dramatic event to describe Jake Brigance’s characteristic as an early bird. It means that Grisham places Jake Brigance in certain situation and shows Jake’s reaction to that situation. This condition helps readers to get the idea on the characteristic of Jake. This analysis is based on Rohrberger theory of characterization that is stated below,
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2. A Very Organized Person
Jake Brigance is a very organized person. It means that Jake is able to plan his work, schedule, and life very well and in a very efficient way. This characteristic is supported by the fact that he has some rules in his life. Jake’s rules are mentioned in the quotations below,
Once up, Jake would not permit himself to crawl back under the covers. It was one of his rules. (p.18)
The quotation above is Jake’s first rule that he does not allow himself to go to bed again when he already wakes up. Jake’s second rule is that he has to be in his office at seven o’clock because he does not want to ruin his work-schedule in his office. This rule is reflected in the quotation below,
At one time the alarm was on the nightstand, and the volume was reduced. Carla would reach and turn it off before Jake heard anything. Then he would sleep until seven or eight and ruin his entire day. He would miss being in the office by seven, which was another rule.(p.18) Jake’s third rule is he has to take a shower, to shave, and to dress quickly because he has to be at The Coffee Shop at 6:00 A.M. This situation is described in the quotation below,
Jake pondered these things in the shower. He took quick showers, and he shaved and dressed quickly. He had to be at The Coffee Shop at 6:00 A.M.-another rule. (p.19)
Jake Brigance’s characteristic as a very organized person is also supported not only by his rules that are already mentioned above, but also by his habits in his office from seven until the mid-day. He loves his quiet time in the office that is started from seven to eight thirty. During that time he can plan his his day and makes Ethel, his secretary, busy when she arrives at eight thirty. Jake
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also ignores the phone call from seven to eleven. He will return the phone call and never delay it. The way he will return the phone call and never delay it is another rule of Jake. This condition is supported by the quotation below,
Jake’s quiet time was from seven until Ethel arrives at eight-thirty. He was jealous with this time. He locked the front door, ignored the phone, and refused to make appointments. He meticulously planned his day. By eight-thirty he would have enough work dictated to keep Ethel busy and quiet until noon. By nine he was either in court or seeing clients. He would not take calls until eleven, when he methodically returned the morning’s messages-all of them. He never delayed returning a phone call-another rule. Jake worked systematically and efficiently with little wasted time. (p.33)
The fact from the quotation above shows Jake’s way to organize his time of work systematically and efficiently because he does not want to waste his time to work. This condition supports the idea that he is a very organized person.
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Grisham fulfills the three fundamental methods above because first, he can present Jake Brigance through the direct exposition to inform his activity in order to make the readers know what kind of person he is. The second, Grisham can present Jake in several actions in order to make the readers know about his characteristics. The third, Grisham can present Jake Brigance through his inner self on his actions and emotions. It means that Grisham can present Jake through his actions and emotions when he does or feels something.
3. A Loving Husband and Father
Jake is a loving husband and father. The term a loving husband and father here has a meaning that Jake is a father and also a husband who has strong feeling or showing love and affection for his daughter, Hanna, and his wife, Carla. The idea that he is a loving husband and father is supported by quotations that are stated below. The first quotation is,
... He covered his wife, kissed her gently, and turned out the lights. She breathed easier, and fall asleep. (p.19)
The quotation above shows the way Jake behaves Carla. He kisses his wife as the morning ritual before he goes to work. Jake’s morning ritual to Carla shows that he loves his wife very much. The way Jake kisses Carla gently and turns off the lights expresses his strong feeling of love and affection to Carla because he does not want to disturb Carla while sleeping. The quotation below is the second quotation as the expression of love as the father of Hanna,
Down the hall he quietly opened Hanna’s door and knelt beside her. She was four, the only child, and there would be no others. She lay in her bed surrounded by dolls and stuffed animals. He kissed her lightly on the cheek.(p.19)
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This quotation shows Jake’s feeling of love to Hanna. Jake shows his love to Hanna through the way he opens her only daughter’s door quietly and kisses his daughter lightly on her cheek because he wants to behave Hanna, the only little girl of his, as smooth as possible. He does not want to disturb Hanna while she is sleeping. The quotation below is the additional statement, which shows Jake’s characteristic that he is a loving father and husband.
Jake adored the two women in his life. He kissed the second one goodbye and went to the kitchen to make coffee for Carla. (p.20)
The quotation above explains Jake’s love to both Carla and Hanna, the very adorable women in his life. The way Jake adores those women shows that he loves both of them very much. The way Jake makes the coffee for Carla is also the evidence of his love to Carla. He wants to make Carla feels warm enough and comfortable when she wakes up from her bed and sees a coffee that has been made for her. These conditions give the evidence that Jake is a loving husband and father.
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Murphy statement in his theory of characterization that the way of characterizing the charater is by mannerism, we can understand the character through the way he/she behaves, attitudes, and talks with the other people (1972: 161-173). This theory is also reflected in the way Grisham describing the Jake’s behaviour and attitude upon the certain occasion of Carla and Hanna while sleeping.
4. A Close Friend
Jake Brigance is a close friend. The term of “close friend” here has a meaning that he is very involved in the work or activities of somebody else, usually seeing and talking to them regularly. This characteristic is showed in the quotation below,
Jake was one of the few white collars allowed to frequent the Coffee Shop. He was well liked and accepted by the blue collars, most of whom at one time or another had found their way to his office for a will, a deed, a divorce, a defense, or any one of thousand other problems. They picked at him and told croocked lawyer jokes, but he had a thick skin. They asked him to explain Supreme Court rulings and other legal oddities during breakfast, and he gave a lot of free legal advice at the Coffee Shop. Jake had a way of cutting through the excess and discussing the meat of any issue. They appreciate that. They didn’t always agree with him, but they always got honest answers. They argued at times, but there were never hard feelings. (p.22)
The quotation above tells about the condition that although Jake is a white collar, he is accepted by the blue collar people in the Coffee Shop. He is accepted because he is a close friend. This characteristic is showed by some facts that most of people at the Coffee Shop ask him for help for a will, a deed, a divorce, a defense, and any other problems related to the law. In addition, the fact that people at the Coffee Shop can make a joke with Jake shows that Jake and
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people at the Coffee Shop have close relationship because of they are regularly see and talk each other. Although Jake and people at the Coffee Shop discussing and arguing something regularly and sometimes find the different perception, both Jake and people at the Coffee Shop do not have hard feelings. This condition shows that Jake is a close friend.
Another fact that can prove characteristic of Jake as the close friend is also stated in the quotation below,
He made his entrance at six, and it took five minutes to greet everyone, shake hands, slap backs, and say smart things to the waitresses. By the time he sat at his table his favorite girl, Dell, had his coffee and regular breakfast of toast, jelly, and grits. She patted him on the hand and called him honey and sweetheart and generally made a fuss over him. She griped and snapped at the others, but had a different routine to Jake. (p.22)
The quotation above shows the way Jake behaves the people when he enters the Coffee Shop. He greets everyone, shaking their hands, slapping backs and says smart things to the waitresses at the Coffee Shop. He also does the close conversation to the waitresses, especially his special waitress named Dell, and even Dell calls him honey and sweetheart because of their close relationship. This condition supports the idea that Jake is a close friend. All those kind of behaviours cannot be created if they do not have any close relation.
The quotation below is still the supporting fact that Jake has a characteristic as a close friend,
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The quotation above tells about the condition when Jake eats one table with three blue collar people in the Coffee Shop and discusses the simple thing with them about how the crappie were biting. This kind of conversation reflects the idea that Jake is a close friend.
The conversation below is another fact that Jake is a close friend. His conversation with Carl Lee Hailey shows the close relation between Jake and Hailey. The way Jake calls Hailey’s wife with her girl name and the way Jake asks the recent condition of Hailey’s daughter shows that Jake has close relationship to Hailey’s family. This condition is reflected in the conversation below,
“I’m trully sorry, Carl Lee,” Jake said. “Yeah, me too.”
“She’ll make it.” “How’s Gwen?” “Okay, I guess.”
“How about you?”(p. 46)
The quotation below is also another fact that supports the idea that Jake is a close friend,
Don’t do it, Carl Lee. It’s not worth it. What if you’re convicted and get the gas chamber? What about the kids? Who’ll raise them? Those punks aren’t worth it. (p.47)
The quotation above shows how Jake cares of the condition of Hailey’s family. Jake is anxious about Hailey’s children if Carl Lee Hailey is jailed. Jake’s care on the children future and life, shows his close relation with Carl Lee Hailey and his family.
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The five quotations above are the supporting facts which support that
Jake is a close friend. The way Grisham describes Jake’s characteristic through the conversation inside the novel and the direct exposition of Jake, reflects the theory of characterization by Holman and Hormon. The way Grisham describes the characteristics of Jake through the way he behaves and speaks to people at the Coffee Shop fulfills the theory of characterization by Rohrberger and Woods.
B. Threats of Racism that Happen to Jake Brigance
In reading the story entitled A Time to Kill, the writer finds some threats of racism that happen to Jake Brigance. Most threats of racim that happen to Jake Brigance in the story are the oppressions and intimidations from Ku Klux Klan because he is a white who helps black. These threats of racism reflect the real Ku Klux Klan in United States. The existance of Ku Klux Klan, its movements, oppressions, and discriminations in the story shows the socio-cultural context of the real society in United States. This condition shows that the story is the product of civilization that happen in society. In addition, this condition also shows the relation of the story to the real society. Ku Klux Klan in the story reflect the real Ku Klux Klan in United States.
The analysis on threats of racism to Jake Brigance is started with the sketch of his condition while helping Carl Lee Hailey in the quotation below,
I’ll have no wife, no daughter, no house, no practice, no clients, no money, nothing. (p.464)
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clients, no money, nothing. This condition is supported by some quotations below. The first quotation is:
My beautiful home that everyone took picture of and the old ladies from the Garden Club tried to get written up in Southern Living has been reduced to rubble. My wife has left me, and when she hears about the house, she’ll divorce me. No question about that. So I’ll loose my wife. And once my daughter learns that her damned dog died in the fire, she’ll hate me forever. (p. 463)
The quotation above shows that Jake is not only losing his house but also will be left by Carla and Hanna as the result from being Carl Lee Hailey’s lawyer.
The second quotation is stated below,
There’s a contract on my head. I’ve got Klan goons looking for me. Snipers shooting at me. There’s a soldier lying up in the hospital with my bullet in his spine. He’ll be a vegetable, and I’ll think about him every hour of every day for the rest of my life. My secretary’s husband was killed because of me. My last employee is in the hospital with a punk haircut and concussion because she worked for me. (p. 463)
From the quotation above, Jake gets many threats from Ku Klux Klan, starting from anonymous phone calls, the dynamite, and the shot from the snipper. In addition, people who help Jake to win the case also get mistreatment from KKK.
The third quotation is showed below,
I deserve it. I’ve earned it. I’m two weeks away from bankruptcy. I’m about to loose the biggest case of my career, for which I have been paid nine hundred dollars. My client wants to fire me. When he’s convicted, every body will blame me. He’ll hire another lawyer for the appeal, one of course ACLU types, and they’ll sue me claiming ineffective trial counsel. And they’ll be right. So I’ll get my ass sued for malpractices (p.463)
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The quotation above states that he is about to loose his job, has no money and will lose his cliens. However, Jake, in his opinion, deserves to get these all things because helping Carl Lee Hailey is what he wants.
Those three quotations above are Jake Brigance’s condition as the result of the threats of racism to him. This sketchy condition is analyzed further in detailed analysis below,
1. Anonymous Phone Calls
The first threat of racism to Jake is when he receives his first death threat by an anonymous phone call in his house. Jake is called as the nigger-loving son of bitch because he is the attorney of Carl Lee Hailey, the black murderer. He is also threatened that he will die if Carl Lee Hailey is free. The quotation below shows this condition,
At eleven-fifteen it rang again, and Jake received his first death threat, anonymous of course. He was called a nigger-loving son of a bitch, one who would not live if the nigger walked. (p.85)
The condition that Jake’s life is threatened by an anonymous phone-call for helping Carl Lee Hailey is supported by the quotation below. The quotation below is the conversation between Jake and his wife, Carla. It shows Carla’s fear on the anonymous phone call that threats Jake’s life. However, Jake does not care about it.
“Would you like some breakfast?” she asked. “No, I’m not hungry. Thanks.”
“Look on the bright side,” she said. “We won’t be afraid to answer the phone.”
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Another anonymous phone call is also received in his office. It is answered by Harry Rex, Jake’s friend. It says that Jake is a shame to the white race for being the black murderer’s lawyer. The voice also says that the Klan will do something for Jake, and if the Klan do not do it, the bar association will take Jake’s license as a lawyer away. This is the quotation below that shows this condition,
“What’d he want?”
“Said you was a shame to the white race for being that nigger’s lawyer, and that he didn’t see how any lawyer could represent a nigger such as Hailey. And that he hoped the Klan got ahold you, and if they didn’t he hoped the bar association looked into it and took away your license for helping niggers. Said he knew you were no ‘count because you were trained by Lucien Wilbanks who lives with a nigger woman.” (p.372) The quotation above shows that Jake as a white is discriminated for being Carl Lee Hailey’s lawyer. Jake as the white lawyer for black murderer is minor in society. This condition shows the racism to Jake because it fulfills the elements of racism that all differences between minority and the majority group are thought to be signs of inferiority (Rose, 1981:223). It can be said that Jake as the minority white who helps black, has a difference to the majority white who are not help black. As a result Jake is differed and signed as inferior, a white who is not as good as somebody white else.
The way Jake is called as “the nigger-loving son of bitch” in the first quotation and “a shame to the white race for being the black murderer’s lawyer” in the third quotation are the facts that the anonymous caller is prejudiced to Jake. In other words, the anonymous caller has an unreasonable dislike or preference for Jake because Jake is a white who helps a black murderer. This condition is a kind
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of racism because according to The New Encyclopedia Britannica, racism is closely related with race prejudice and racial discrimination (1983:360). Assuming that every individual’s character can be adequately determined by racial or ethnic stereotypes is called as race prejudice, and giving or withholding privileges based on such stereotypes is called as racial discrimination. Race and prejudice is the root of racism. It happens as the impact of social relation between different races that is influenced by economic, belief and political factors.
2. The Burning of Cross
The second threat of racism to Jake Brigance is also shown when the cross is brought and burned by an anonymous person in the dark night when people are sleeping. It is placed quietly and quickly in the front yard of his house. After it is burned, the cross carrier disappears then calls and tells the dispatcher that the cross is already burned in the front yard of Jake’s house. The quotation below is the supporting statement that reflects this condition.
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to Jake, Jake does not only mesmerize by the burning cross, but also by its purpose.
Moments later, Deputy Marshall Prather turned down Adams and instantly saw the blazing cross in Jake’s front yard. He turned into the drive way and parked behind the Saab. He punched the doorbell and stood on the porch watching the flames. It was almost three-thirty. He punched it again. Adams dark and silent except for the glow of the cross and the snapping and crackling of the wood burning fifty feet away. Finally, Jake stumbled through the front door and froze, wild-eyed and stunned, next to the deputy. The two stood side by side on the porch, mesmerized not only by the burning cross, but by its purpose. (p.181) The fact that the burning cross is the threat to Jake is also supported when Carla is shocked to see the burning cross is placed in the front yard of their house. She asks to the Deputy about the person who does it whether it is Ku Klux Klan or not. The deputy does not know and he says to them that the possibility of the person who does it, is the member of Ku Klux Klan. This condition is showed in the conversation between Jake, Carla, and the Deputy below,
He returned with his wife behind him. “My God, Jake! Who did it?”
“Who knows.”
“Is it KKK?” She asked.
“Must be,” answered the deputy. “I don’t know anybody else who burns crosses, do you, Jake?”
Jake shook his head. (p.182)
The quotation below is the conversation between Carla and the Deputy which shows the burning-cross threat. In this conversation, Carla asks to the deputy about the meaning of burning cross that is placed in the front yard of their house. The Deputy gives the explanation to both of Carla and Jake that the meaning of burning cross is the warning to stop what Jake is doing. In addition, the Deputy also explains that the burning cross is used for years to intimidate
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white who are sympathetic to black. If the white do not stop their loving to black, the bomb, dynamite, beatings, and even murder will follow those white. The deputy also suggests Jake to stay away from Hailey’s case because the burning cross has a meaning that Jake is threatened because helping Carl Lee Hailey.
“What does it mean, the cross?” Carla asked the deputy.
“It’s a warnin’. Means stop what you’re doin’, or the next time we’ll do more than burn a little wood. They used these things for years to intimidate whites who were sympathetic to niggers and all that civil rights crap. If the whites didn’t stop their nigger lovin’, then violence followed. Bombs, dynamite, beatings, even murder. But that was a long time ago, I thought. In your case, it’s their way of tellin’ Jake to stay away from Hailey.” (p.183)
Knowing the meaning of the burning cross, Carla tries to stop Jake to help Hailey. She is afraid because Hailey’s case is not as worth as their safety. Carla’s fright knowing the meaning of the burning cross shows Jake’s condition who suffers racism from KKK. This condition is reflected in the quotation below, You know I’m scared. I’m terrified. If they can burn a cross in our front yard, what’s to stop them from burning the house? It’s not worth it, Jake. I want you to be happy and successful and all that wonderful stuff, but not at the expense of your safety. No case is worth this. (p.184)
Carla does not ever agree when Jake is always enthusiastic on Hailey’s case. Carla always ask Jake to stop helping Hailey because she is afraid that their safety will always be threatened by people who do not like toward white who help black. Carla’s anxiety to KKK is reflected in her statement to Jake below,
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Carla’s feeling on the threats such as burning cross and the anonymous phone calls, supports the condition of racism that is suffered by Jake. Carla does not want their safety is threatened by Hailey’s case because it is worthless.
The six quotations above show that Jake is threatened by the burning cross from KKK. This condition shows that Jake experiences racism because he helps Carl Lee Hailey. The possibility that Jake will get more threats if he does not stop to help Hailey, also shows racism to him. Jake as the white lawyer for black murderer is minor in society. This condition shows the racism to Jake because it fulfills the elements of racism that all differences between minority and the majority group are thought to be signs of inferiority (Rose, 1981:223). It can be said that Jake as the minority white who helps black, has a difference to the majority white who are not help black. Jake as the minority group faces KKK as the majority group. As a result Jake is differed and signed as inferior, a person who is not as good as somebody else. In other words, Jake is not as good white as KKK.
3. Dynamite
The third threat of racism to Jake Brigance is showed when an anonymous call comes to the Sheriff office. It tells the Deputy that Jake’s house is going to be blowed up in next some minutes. The Deputy asks who will blow Jake’s house up, however, the voice does not want to answer it. This condition is showed in the quotation below,
Pirtle poured some coffee and relaxed in Ozzie’s big chair. The phone rang. “It’s for you,” yelled the dispatcher.
“Hello,” answered Pirtle.
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“Who’s this?” Asked the voice. “Deputy Joe Pirtle. Who’s this?” “Where’s the sheriff?”
“Asleep, I reckon.”
“Okay listen, and listen real good because this is important and I ain’t callin’ again. You know that Hailey nigger?”
“Yeah.”
“You know his lawyer, Brigance?” “Yeah.”
“Then listen. Sometime between now and three A.M., they’re gonna blow up his house.”
“Who?” “Brigance.”
“No, I mean who’s gonna blow up his house?”
“Don’t worry about that, Deputy, just listen to me. This ain’t no joke, and if you think it’s a joke, just sit there and wait for his house to go up. It may happen any minute.”(p.372)
After the anonymous phone call, the Deputy goes to Jake’s house and hides his patrol car. He keeps his eyes upon Jake’s house from the strange things that threat Jake and his family such as the dynamite or something else that can blow Jake’s house up. After some minutes, the Deputy sees the red pickup which moves suspiciously toward Jake’s house but it does not stop and disappear down the street.
Pirtle hid his patrol car in driveway on Monroe Street and walked across the front lawns to Jake’s house. ... Headlights appeared at the end of the street. Pirtle slumped lower in the chair, certain he could not be seen. A red pickup moved suspiciously toward the Brigance house but did not stop. He sat up and watched it disappear down the street. (p.273)
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They didn’t wait long. From his vantage point somewhere deep in the shrubs in front of the house, Ozzie saw he first: a lone figure walking casually down the street from the direction opposite the square. He had in his hand a small box or case of some sort. When he was two houses away, he left the street and cut through the front lawns of the neighbors. Ozzie pulled his revolver and nightstick and watched the man walk directly toward him. Jake had him in the scope of his deer rifle. Pirtle crawled like a snake across the porch and into the shrubs, redy to strike. Suddenly, the figure darted across the front lawn next door and to the side of Jake’s house. He carefully laid the small suitcase under Jake’s bedroom window. As he turned to run, a huge black nightstick crashed across the side of his head, ripping his right ear in two places, each barely hanging to his head. He screamed and fell to the ground.(p.276)
The box content is a neat pile of a dozen stocks of dynamite. It is going to be used to blow up Jake’s house.
They froze. Seconds later the suspect yelled again. They ran back across the front yard, then slowly turned the corner. The empty suitcase had been tossed a few feet away. Next to the man was a neat pile of a dozen sticks of dynamite. Between his legs was a large, round-faced clock and the wires bound together with silver silver electrical tape.(p.278)
The four quotations above show that Jake is threatened by the dynamite which is used to blow up his house by the stranger. This condition shows Jake’s experience on racism. The stranger who tries to blow Jake’s house up has the same reason with the stranger who burns the cross in the front yard of Jake’s house. Both of them are come from the side that do not like Jake for helping Carl Lee Hailey. The burning cross and the dynamite turn out to be the threats come from Ku Klux Klan. This idea is supported by the quotation below. The quotation below is the conversation between Jake and Ozzie Walls, the Sheriff.
“Any suspects?”
“Gotta be the Klan. With the white robes and all. It all adds up. First there was the burnin’ cross in your yard, then the dynamite, and now Bud. Plus all the death threats. I figure it’s them. And we got an informant.” (p.320)
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The quotation below is also the supporting statement that proves the mastermind of the dynamite and bomb threats to Jake is the Ku Klux Klan. They threatens Jake because he is a white who becomes the black’s lawyer. In addition, Ku Klux Klan do not like white who helps black, like what Jake does to Carl Lee Hailey.
You heard me. Calls himself Mickey Mouse. He called me at home Sunday and told me that he saved your life. “that nigger’s lawyer” is what he called you. Said the Klan has officially arrived in Ford County. They’ve set up the klavern, whatever that is. (p.320)
Ku Klux Klan is said as the mastermind who plans and directs the activity of threatening Jake because he helps Carl Lee Hailey. This condition is supported while Jake sees the Klansmen who wear the ominous masks from the window in Jean Gillespie’s second floor. The Klansmen are the whitehood who are the symbol of hatred and violence in the South toward black and everybody who help black. When he sees the Klansmen, Jake is wondering which person who burns the cross and plans the bombing of his house.
Jake watched intently from the window in Jean Gillespie’s second floor office. The sight of the Klansmen, in full regalia, their cowardly faces hidden behind the ominous masks, gave him a sick feeling. The white hood, for decades a symbol of hatred and violence in the South, was black. Which one of those men had burned the cross in his yard? Were they all active in planning the bombing of his home? Which one would try something next? From the second floor, he could see the blacks inch closer. (p.337)
