THE REFLECTION OF THE PRACTICE OF RACISM IN
AMERICA IN JOHN GRISHAM’S
A TIME TO KILL
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degee of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
REKSIANA SEPTI NINGRUM
Student Number: 044214123
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2011
THE REFLECTION OF THE PRACTICE OF RACISM IN
AMERICA IN JOHN GRISHAM’S
A TIME TO KILL
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degee of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
REKSIANA SEPTI NINGRUM
Student Number: 044214123
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2011
You are never too old to set another goal or to
dream a new dream.
(C.S. Lewis)
I dedicated this undergraduate thesis to
V
My beloved father and Mother and
V
All my big family in Kaliwungu
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : ReksianaSeptiNingrum
Nomor Mahasiswa : 044214123
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengeetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
“THE REFLECTION OF THE PRACTICE OF RACISM IN AMERICA IN
JOHN GRISHAM’S A TIME TO KILL”
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Univesitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublkasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya menulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal : 30 September 2011 Yang menyatakan,
Reksiana Septi Ningrum
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I thank Allah SWT for guiding me through the hardest time during the work of my thesis. I believe that I could not accomplish this thesis without His blessing. I will never doubt for what He has planned for me. My gratitude goes to all the lecturers in Faculty of Letters who thought me during my study. I am indebted to my advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum, Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum, and also Tatang Iskarna S.S., M. Hum for the patience, guidance and
suggestion during the work of my thesis.
This thesis is dedicated to my wonderful family for encouraging and forcing me to finish this thesis. Thanks to my beloved father, Supardi who always support me and gives his trust on me. Thanks to my dear mother, Hartati for her never ending love, prayer and patience. And then, thanks to my only, little brother, Renhat Roa Tatindo for his support, care and especially for the fight. My special thanks go to my
beloved boyfriend Deva Bharata Probo Handoyo for his tender heart, hug, love and laugh. I also thank to my best friend Efra for the idea, support and also for the beautiful friendship that she gives to me. The last but not least, I would like to give my big appreciation to Deon, Shanti, Dhita, Atik, Bendot, mas Hoho, mas Arif, Hari, Martin and Rohman for their friendship that they give to me to pass the hard
time.
Reksiana Septi Ningrum
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vii
2. Theory of Characterization ... 12
3. Theory of Discrimination ... 14
4. Theory of Racism ... 15
5. Theory of Setting ... 16
C. Review of the Practice of Racism in the United States in 20th Century. 17 D. Theoretical Framework ... 21
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... 23
A. Object of the Study ... 23
B. Approach of the Study ... 24
C. Method of the Study ... 25
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ... 27
A. The Experiences of the Characters’ on the Practice of Racism ... 27
B. The Character’s Reaction Upon the Practice of Racism ... 42
C. The Reflection of the Real Condition on American Society through the Experience and Reaction of the Character ... 52
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 57
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 60
APPENDICES
Summary of A Time to Kill ... 62
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ABSTRACT
Reksiana Septi Ningrum (2011). The Reflection of the Practice of Racism in America in John Grisham’s A Time To Kill. Yogyakarta: English Letters Department, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
This thesis deals with the work of John Grisham, A Time to Kill. In this novel, Grisham exposes the issue of racism where the blacks have to fight against discrimination, the pressure from the society, the threats and also personal attacks.
This thesis proposes three problems to be analyzed. The first question is intended to portray how the practice of racism is revealed through the characters in the novel. The second one discloses the characters’ reaction upon the practice racism that happens on them. The last one is to find out how those experiences and reactions reflect the real condition on American society.
The research method used in this thesis is a library research. To analyze the topic, the writer uses theory of character, theory of characterization and theory of racism. Analyzing the problems, the writer conducts the sociocultural-historical approach. This approach can be used to analyze the racism that happens in American society. It can help the writer to see a literary work from its relation with social history in America, in 1990s.
From the analysis, the writer finds out that Jake Brigance, Carl Lee Hailey, Tonya, Ellen Roark, and Ethel Twitty are the characters who experience practice of racism. They are experiencing intimidations, pressures, personal attacks, burning cross and burning house that are done by their society especially the Klan. The reactions of every character being analyzed are different one from another. Reaction of Jake Brigance and Ellen Roark is quite different from other characters. They keep on their decision to help Carl Lee although they get oppression, and threats. They keep trying to reach their dreams to win the case by fighting against the practice of racism. Carl Lee and Tonya as the victims could not much react due to their restrictiveness. The reaction of Ethel Twitty is much different from others. She tries to escape from the case that makes the death of her husband. The writer also finds that those practices of racism and the reaction of the characters is the reflection of the real condition in American society. From the story can be seen that in America racism is still exist nowadays. The blacks in America experience intimidations and discrimination not only in the economic field, but also in the field of law. In the story, Ku Klux Klan is the most active group in giving the intimidation and discrimination as forms of practice of racism. It shows that although American Government is trying to make the blacks to be equal in American society, in fact racism still happens there.
ABSTRAK
Reksiana Septi Ningrum (2011). The Reflection of the Practice of Racism in America in John Grisham’s A Time To Kill. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Thesis ini membahas tentang karya John Grisham yang berjudul A Time to Kill. Di dalam novel ini, Grisham membahas tentang isu rasisme dimana orang-orang kulit hitam harus melawan diskriminasi, tekanan dari lingkungan, ancaman dan juga serangan secara personal.
Thesis ini mengemukakan tiga masalah untuk dianalisis. Pertanyaan pertama ditujukan untuk melihat bagaimana praktek rasisme diungkapkan melalui karakter-karakter yang ada di dalam novel. Yang kedua memperlihatkan reaksi dari setiap karakter dalam menghadapi praktek rasisme yang mereka alami. Yang terakhir adalah untuk menemukan bagaimana praktek rasisme dan reaksi tersebut merefleksikan keadaan di Amerika yang sebenarnya.
Metode penelitian yang digunakan di dalam thesis ini adalah studi pustaka. Untuk menganalisa topic di atas, penulis menggunakan teori karakter, teori karakteristik, dan teori rasisme. Dalam menganalisa masalah, penulis menggunakan pendekatan socialcultural-historical. Pendekatan ini dapat digunakan untuk menganalisa rasisme yang terjadi di masyarakat Amerika. Hal ini dapat membantu penulis untuk melihat karya sastra dari sisi hubungan karya sastra tersebut dengan sejarah yang ada di Amerika pada tahun 1990an.
Dari analisis, penulis menemukan bahwa Jake Brigance, Carl Lee Hailey, Tonya, Ellen Roark, and Ethel Twitty adalah karakter yang mengalami praktek rasisme. Mereka mengalami intimidasi, tekanan, serangan personal, salib yang dibakar, dan rumah yang dibakar yang dilakukan oleh masyarakat khususnya Klan. Reaksi setiap karakter yang dianalisis berbeda satu dengan yang lainnya. Reaksi Jake Brigance dan Ellen Roark berbeda dari karakter lain. Mereka tetap pada pendirian mereka untuk membantu Carl Lee walaupun mereka mendapat tekanan dan ancaman. Mereka tetap mencoba untuk memenangkan kasus tersebut dengan cara melawan rasisme. Carl Lee dan Tonya sebagai korban tidak dapat banyak bereaksi sehubungan dengan keterbatasannya. Reaksi Ethel Twitty sangat berbeda dari yang lain. Dia mencoba untuk menghindari kasus yang menyebabkan kematian suaminya. Penulis juga melihat bahwa praktek rasisme dan reaksi dari karakter merupakan refleksi dari keadaan yang sebenarnya di Amerika. Dari cerita tersebut terlihat bahwa di Amerika rasisme masih ada. Orang kulit hitam di Amerika mengalami intimidasi dan diskriminasi tidak hanya dalam bidang ekonomi, namun juga di dalam hokum. Di dalam cerita, Klan Ku Klux adalah grup yang paling aktif dalam melakukan intimidasi dan diskriminasi sebagai bentuk praktek rasisme. Hal ini memperlihatkan bahwa bahwa walaupun pemerintah Amerika mencoba untuk menciptakan persamaan bagi orang kulit hitam di Amerika, namun faktanya rasisme masih terjadi.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
There are many ways for human beings to enrich their knowledge, to
express their ideas, and also their thoughts. Two of them are in reading and
writing works of literature. Works of literature helps the audience to
understand and to learn about what has happened in the past and in the certain
society. Literature is imaginative and creative writing which has some certain
qualities, and represents human experience. Literature can help readers grow
their personality and intellectuality. It helps connect their readers to the
cultural context and helps recognize and learn about human dreams and
struggles in different societies and conditions.
Literary works are interesting to read because they do not only give
one pleasure, but also a deep knowledge of human life and social condition in
a certain area and certain time. The readers of literary works may learn about
what kind of human behavior and values exist in the certain society. It helps
the reader to learn about human dreams, and struggles in different societies
and condition. According to Wellek & Warren in their book The Theory of
Literature (1956: 102), literary works can play a role as a historical document
that recorded social realities, which are artistically portrayed by the author.
More over, they stated that literature must stand in recognizable relation to life
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those who believe that literature is an imaginative, fictional piece of work;
whereas when we concern ourselves with life, we deal with something real
and factual. Therefore, the readers should make a judgment to literary works,
particularly for those who agree that it is considered as a true life.
It is also said by William H. Hudson that literature is a vital record of
what men have seen in life, what they have experienced in life and what they
have thought and have felt in life. They stated as follows:
But furthermore, literature ‘represents’ ‘life’ and ‘life’ is in large measure, a social reality, eventhough the natural world and the inner or subjective of the individual have also been objects of literary ‘imitation’ (1958 : 94).
In other words, literature is an expression of human life or expression of the
life itself. Therefore, through reading a novel, we can find some values of
human life by revealing its content.
Due to the discussion about literature above, this thesis would analyze
the novel of John Grisham, who is one of the best selling novelists in the
world. At the beginning of his writing career, he is famous with the form of
legal thriller. He has a great interest and much influenced by some cases he
found in his ten years time working with a variety of criminal and civil cases
in a small firm. He tries to wrapped politics and social issues into a novel. He
also writes works of fiction which is mostly dealing with aspects of life in
rural South.
Through the characters, the author creates a condition which is exist in
the real life, a complicated life of black family and white people behind them
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describes how the whites treats blacks and how the blacks’ reaction upon
those treats.
The title of the novel being analyzed is A Time to Kill (1992). This
novel is chosen because it is his first novel which story is about the struggle of
a black man in gaining his freedom from the practice of racism that exists in
his society at that time. It has ever since fought for white supremacy, and they
have tried to reach this goal by any possible means including threats and even
murder.
The novel which will be discussed contains of the issues of racism.
However, racism makes someone judges others by their appearance, not by
their deeds. Racism can be defined as the hatred of one person by another or
the belief that another person is less than human because of skin color,
language, customs, place of birth or any factor. It has influenced by wars,
slavery, and the formation of nations. In basic of human traits, the fact is that
blacks are in the same position as whites as well. Racism is an unreasonable
believe that a race is destined to be a better than the others, but what most
people do not know is that it only bring injustice, hatred, and misery.
The practice of racism makes someone have a tendency to be assumed
as a criminal, and hardly gain his right in many fields such as economy, work,
and also law. In fact, people have the same rights. The human rights are not
allowing people to do the practice of any discrimination including racism.
The story illustrates that even after many decades of equal rights in the
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this novel are shown how the black family is treated. They have to fight with
the discrimination, the pressure from their society, the terrors and also
personal attacks. From the story the readers can see the big interference of the
Ku Klux Klan who tries to show their existence.
Character is person in dramatic or narrative work that will be
interpreted by the readers to have certain attitude or quality through his
conversation or action (Abrams, 1981: 20). Related to this fact, the writer is
interested to analyze how John Grisham reflects the real condition in America
through the experiences and reaction of the characters upon the practice of
racism in his novel A Time to Kill.
B. Problem Formulation
In order to make the discussion systematic and more focused, the
writer sets two problem formulations based on the discussion above. The two
problems are:
1. How do the characters experience the practice of racism?
2. How do the characters react upon the practice of racism?
3. How do the experience and the reaction of the characters reflect the
real condition on American society?
C. Objectives of the Study
The problem formulations above are designed to explore the topic of
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racism is experienced by the characters in the story. The writer starts with
choosing the characters that experience racism. There are five characters
which will be analyzed here. This problem is a tool to show the practice of
racism experienced by those characters. This problem will also help the
second problem that is related to the intrinsic element.
For the next problem, the writer will continue to find the reaction of
the characters upon the practice of racism. This problem enriches the
description of the reactions from each character which is different one from
another.
The last problem will discuss about the real condition on American
society reflected by those characters’ experiences and reactions. It shows that
practice of racism still exist in American life although the government tries to
make equality between the whites and blacks.
B. Definition of Terms
The clarification of some terms used in this thesis is necessary to
evading misinterpretation and misunderstanding:
1. Practice
According to The Penguin English Dictionary, practice is a
repeated or customary action. Racism is also the usual way something is
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2. Racism
According to Miles in A Dictionary of Cultural & Critical Theory, a
racism is a process of racialization in which social relation between people are
differentiated based on their race and culture (1996: 449).
3. Characters
Abrams stated that “character are person presented in dramatic
interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral and depositional
qualities that are expressed in what they say – in dialogue and what they do –
in action” (1981: 21).
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
A Time to Kill is the first John Grisham’s novel. It was written in 1984 and finished three years later. Many people do not realize that this is his first novel that he wrote. A Time to Kill was rejected by several publishers before being accepted and published in 1988.
As stated in the first chapter, John Grisham is a writer who is famous with the form of legal thriller. His novel was much influenced by the cases that he found in his real life. One of them is dealing with the issue of racism. He shows that justice is something that really hard to come by when someone is simply black. John Grisham in his novel A Time to Kill describes the difficulty of being an African American family who lives in white society.
Marta Liddiard in Book Reviews: A Time to Kill, by John Grisham argues that the story illustrates that even after many decades of equal rights in the country, certain equal rights do not qualify or seem to be important in this particular region. We see how a father must choose, take a gamble, a risk. A father protecting his family is like a cornered animal, he will strike if provoked, or if there is even a slight chance that more harm will come to his family. (http://www.helium.com, 201l).
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In the same page, Regina W stated that Jake and Carl Lee mount one of the most incredible legal defenses that she has ever witnessed. These two go through so much together fighting the system, the prosecution's years of experience not to mention the treats and destruction brought on by the KKK. In the end good triumphs over evil and we get a look at how much life in the south has truly changed in the last forty years. (http://www.helium.com, 2011).
This thesis also gives other quote to improve the thesis itself and in order to give the additional knowledge about the situation in the story. Bridget stated that Grisham’s writing style involved the reader in the moral dilemmas presented in the story. Each character came with their own prejudices, issues and opinions. Grisham’s style in this was to give each character their voice and allow the reader to take a side. Grisham allowed the characters to tell the story which worked beautifully and gave a sense of emotions. When the KKK get involved, Jake’s life is being threatened, his family and all the people he works with. The national guard are called into the small town to keep the peace, and clashes with protesters and the KKK are heightening by day. (http://www.illiterarty.com, 2011).
This thesis is a further development of those review in related studies above, this study is analyzing the reaction of the characters in the novel against the practice of racism. Not just the reaction of Car Lee Hailey, but also the reaction of his friends who share the same struggle. Moreover, this thesis will analyze the author’s criticism toward American racism.
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The story is beginning with the murder case executed by Carl Lee Hailey. Together with Jake Brigance, his lawyer and team, they are successful to achieve his freedom after struggle hard in a long journey and also some oppression from many sides especially from the Ku Klux Klan that attempt to show their existences.
B. Review of Related Theories
Some theories are applied in this study. They are interconnected in order to answer and give a profound analysis of the problems that are formulated above. In this study, the writer analyzes to find how the practice of racism revealed through the characters, how the characters reacts upon the racism and finally the writer find out how the author criticism toward the American racism.
1. Theory of Character
Abrams in his book A Glossary of Literary Terms (1981: 20) categorizes the characters as the main or major characters. The major character can be the center of the story. He or she is the most important character in the story and the acts of the story are focused on the character from the beginning to the ending parts of the story.
“Characters are the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities through their dialogue and the action” (1981: 20) From the definition, we know that characters are important because of their dialogues and actions. Then, we can analyze the character through the way
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she or he acts and speaks. A character may remain stable or essentially unchanged in his outlook and dispositions from beginning to end of work, or he may undergo a radical change, either through a gradual development or as the result of an extreme crisis.
This thesis is analyzing the reaction of the characters in A Time to Kill. There are five characters that must be well studied, they are the character of Jake Brigance, Carl Lee Hailey, Tonya, Ellen Roark, and Ethel Twitty. To do so, the writer will use the theory of character. By analyzing the characters deeply, the writer hopes it will help her to understand what they feel and then understand for every reaction upon the practice of racism in helping Carl Lee Hailey’s freedom.
Character is constructed through many ways in order to make the readers understand. M.J Murphy in Understanding Unseen writes various ways to creates character. Those are:
a. Personal description
This is an author who expresses the character. Usually, the author will use person’s appearance and clothes in detail. He/she explains further about character’s face, eyes, build, skin-color, hair, castaway’s extraordinary clothing, and etc.
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b. Character as seen by another
Character’s perspective and point of view are the media that the author used to present the character. The character’s perspective and point of view can be found in some words and phrases.
c. Speech
The author provides information about the characters through the speech of characters themselves or even with others. It is a kind of clue, which in a form of what the character says, conversation with the others, and opinion.
d. Past life
Past life can help the readers to understand and recognize the character’s characteristic. It is connected to present life. By opening the history of character’s life, the author tries to help the readers to shape character’s characteristic and personality. It is known from direct by the author, the person’s thoughts through his/her conversation or the medium of another’s person.
e. Conversation of others
The author conveys some indications characteristic of character through the conversation of people and the things they talk about him.
f. Reactions
Reactions of the character in every events and situation that described by the author can signify character’s characteristic.
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g. Direct comment
The author does not use any others medium to build a clue for recognizing the character, but he/she gives description or comment on character’s characteristic directly. The other characters also may do this process.
h. Thoughts
Not only through the speech, the author depicts the character, but also through what the character thinks about. The author may use all his/her imagination. He/she can write anything reflect on life, even anything that is impossible to happen in this life, but acceptable in a novel. The readers are invited to learn the character’s development mentally and who really he/she is.
i. Mannerisms
The author tells the character’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies as a device to introduce the character entirely. It is a way of the author to disclose character in detail piece in order to create readers’ imagination that the character in the novel is as like real people.
2. Theory of Characterization
Perrine says characterization must also observe three other principles. First, the character must be consistent in their behavior. They are not allowed to behave differently unless there is a clear reason for change. Second, the character must be clearly motivated in all their actions. The readers have to understand the reason of their actions. Third, the character must be plausible, a life like figures.
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The readers have to understand that all the characters are, they could appear in the real life (1974: 69).
Rohrberger and Wood say that the prosess by which an author creates a character is called characterization.
“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 particular way. His action must be motive in term that a reader can accept.” (1971: 20-21)
It means that the way to show about characterization can be direct or indirect. In direct ways the author describes the physical appearance. Secondly is through indirect ways, where the author describes the character by how the character behaves and speaks. We can see the character implicitly.
According to Holman in A Handbook of Literature there are some fundamental methods of characterization in fiction. The first one is there should be explicit presentation by the author about the character though direct exposition. They can be placed in the introductory block or in the action through out the words. The second one is the presentation of the characters in action that can provide a possibility for the reader to deduce the attributes of the actor from the actions. The third one is the presentation from within a character without comment by the author about the impact of the action and emotions on the characters’ inner self that can drive the reader to a clear understanding of significance of the character (1986: 61).
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The conclusion of the difference between character and characterization is that character is a figure or individual that always appears in a story and has an importance role to develop the story. Character should be plausible or life like in a story; meaning to say character should represent a person in a real life. Then, characterization is related to characters’ disposition (characteristic) in a story. The readers can see their disposition through characters’ speech, feeling, behavior, thought and reactions in a story. Moreover, the readers will understand and imagine what kind of person the character is in a story.
3. Theory of Discrimination
Discrimination is differential treatment based on physical and social affiliation. As stated on the International Encyclopedia of Ethics it has negative impact on the human’s moral behavior (Roth, 1995: 231). There are several races that experienced discrimination such as racial, sexual, and religious discrimination. Beside that, there is also discrimination against certain cultural groups, and against the disabled.
There are two types of discrimination; those are legal discrimination and institutional discrimination. Legal discrimination is the treatment of the law which is unequal, while the institutional discrimination (racism) is the unequal treatment based on the race in social custom. The institutional discrimination includes segregation between race, redlining by financial institutions, and continuous practice of low paying job experienced by the minority group
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member. The minority itself means any group whose positions is disadvantage (Roth, 1995: 232). A group of people is considered as the minority usually because they were treated unequally.
From the theory above, it can be known that a group of people that are discriminated can be known from several characteristics, such as segregated from the society, forced to do whatever the majority class wants from them. Besides, the people who were discriminated usually live in poverty. They also usually get punished if they did not do what the majority class wants.
4. Theory of Racism
There are many people with different customs, culture, and physical appearance living together, but not always in good condition. The different condition makes them have different attitudes and life style. It is, then to be the beginning of discrimination of race.
According to The New Encyclopedia Britannica, racism is the theory or idea that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits of personality, intellect, or culture and combined with it, the notion that some races are inherently superior to others. The term racism has no necessary relation to biological or anthropological definition of race, a subdivision of species. Racist ideas are often indiscriminately extended to apply to such non biological and non racial grouping as religious sects, nations, linguistic groups, and ethnics or cultural groups (The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1983: 360).
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Karenga in his book Introduction to Black Studies says that racism is essentially a system of denial and deformation of the history and humanity of colored people and their right to freedom based exclusively or primarily on the specious concept of race(1993: 275)
Donnelan states that racism is treating one group of people less favorable than another because of color, religious belief, or ethnic origin. It was once widely held that human beings belonged to different ‘races’ of people, which were defined according to physical characteristics. Racism is rooted in the belief that some ‘races’ are superior to others. Feeling of racial superiority led Europeans to colonize countries in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean, and exploit their economies (1956: 1).
Racism leads to moral conclusions that contradict many of the most generally accepted civilized standards and have notoriously to what on ordinary grounds are inconceivable crimes. It might be claimed that ordinary standards are mistaken (The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1967: 58).
5. Theory of Setting
One of the important elements in a story is setting. It is the intrinsic elements, which provides the background where a story takes place. Setting helps the readers to understand the story because indirectly setting creates a description of the place and the time of the character’s activities. Setting also supports the character’s role in explaining the structure of the story.
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Setting is used to enrich the meaning of a story. In a limited sense, setting refers to “the general locale and historical time”; it is when and where the action occurs. In a large sense, setting refers to the “social circumstances in which its action occurs.” It takes the social conditional or total environment in which the characters live (Abrams, 1981:175).
C. A Brief Review of the Practice of Racism in the United States in 20th
Century.
In the early 20th century, urban mob violence against black increased, as white surged into Negro district, beating and shooting at random. The greatest loss of life occurred in the 25 riots of what National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) official James Weldon Johnson called “The Red Summer” of 1919. The riots came after more than 200.000 blacks had served overseas in World War I, earning the praise of French.
Racism has existed since the beginning of history. Between 1700s and early 1900s the United States gained control of large parts of Asia and Africa. This colonialists justified domination on the ground that the black-, brown-, yellow-skinned “race” had to be “civilized” by the “superior” Whites in the United States held blacks in slavery. Slavery was a major cause of the American Civil War (1861-1865). The slaves were freed during the 1860, but segregation and discrimination against Blacks continue in early 20th century, the United States
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government passed laws designed to give equal opportunities to Blacks. Even so, racial problems, which began with slavery and were fostered by discrimination and segregation, continue to plague the United States.
The consequences of great immigration of black brought racial, violence, discrimination, and abuse in the South and North. The Ku Klux Klan rose again in the 20th century. This time organized in 1915 by Colonel William J. Simmons, a preacher and promoter of fraternal orders. Ku Klux Klan is the name given to several secrete organizations in the United States, mostly in the South, that are known for believing and fighting for white supremacy. The first KKK appeared after the Civil War. It used terrorism, violence, and lynching to intimidate and persecuted African.
The “Ku Klux Klan”, the “White Citizen Council” and many other racist organizations were founded to keep the black man “in his place” using threats, burnings and lynchings to reach this aim. But there were also new laws made in the South – the Black Codes were introduced, which limited to the movement and rights of freedmen and tried to establish the old master- and slave relationship. To keep blacks from registering to vote, poll taxes were raised, comprehension tests were held and the grandfather-clause was put into practice. (http://www.studenshelp.com, 2011).
America experienced great economic prosperity during the 1920's but not much of it filtered to the South. Racism mixed with anger at their economic plight formed a potent cocktail.
Racist activity in the South often took the form of riots that targeted blacks and Republicans. In 1866, a quarrel between whites and black ex-soldiers erupted into a full-fledged riot in Memphis, Tennessee. White policemen assisted the mobs in their violent rampage through the black sections of town. By the time the violence ended, 46 people were dead, 70 more were
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wounded, and numerous churches and schools had been burned. Just two months later, on July 30, a similar outbreak of violence erupted in New Orleans. This time, a white mob attacked the attendees of a black suffrage convention, killing 37 blacks and three whites who allied with them. (http//:www.pbs.org, 2011)
Lynching and miscarriages of justice as part of the reality of American life for blacks as well, especially in the South. Twenty-four blacks died by lynching in 1933, and before that in 1931 eight black youths were sentenced to death by an all white jury in Scottsboro, Alabama, on highly suspect charges that they had raped two white women in a freight car (Boyer, 1990: 908).
John Grisham’s A Time to Kill told us about the condition of the black people who life in America, especially in Southern. The great immigrations happened to the Northern and Southern Cities in between 1900-1910. The great urbanization in this time came from Kentucky and Mississippi to Chicago almost 80% of Chicago from both of the countries. Du Bois noted that the most significant economic change among (Black) in the last ten or twenty years had been their influx into Northern City (Karenga, 1993: 147-148). Whites migrated to the cities with low skill and education, while the Progressive is sadly infected by the prevailing racism in American life. By 1900 cooperation and combination of business controlled whole industries dominated the economic. From the time million people, many of them immigrants living mostly in big cities, worked for low wages and skills. The problems in that era were attended to by corrupt
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political organization led by ‘bosses’, who were seldom concerned with the workers.
Stikoff wrote in his The Struggle for Black Equality that by 1980, in fact, the black improvement comes because of an expanding economy. The United States makes a bigger economic pie, but black people have to compete with white people on reaching the job opportunity (1981: 236). Thus, black have to struggle for their future in order to make an improvement in their finance.
Related to the inequality of job opportunity, business job and consumer markets in the United States have been divided by race. Racist attitudes in the part of whites and literacy rate among blacks lower than that among whites kept African Americans out of most white-controlled office work. In other words, black people rarely get a good position at work because they do not have better education than white. That is why people hardly get the equality of job opportunities among white. Blacks are still over represented in menial, farm, and service occupations; they are underrepresented in professional and managerial position; 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: 190). A 1936 study of unemployment patters in Chicago reported “a prevailing sentiment that Negroes should not be hired as long as there are whites men without work” (Boyer, 1990: 908).
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In terms of family, law and public opinion supported the patriarchal system in which the husband or father was the only person who is responsible to the family. Many men went alone and sacrifice himself to make fortunes in the competitive circumstances. Boyer says that “Men, the producer of food created specialized and highly rewarded occupation to control the distribution of food and related resources. It means that as the head of the family, a man must reside with his child and make a good parental relationship with the mother of his child.
D. Theoretical Framework
In order to answer the problems formulated in the previous chapter, it is necessary for the writer to explain the contribution of the theories and reviews that is used in the thesis.
The theory of character and characterization are needed in this thesis since it analyzes the characters in the novel. Theory of character is used to identify and to understand what kind of behaviors that characters have. Moreover, theories of characters and characterization are used to investigate the characteristics of Jake Brigance, Carl Lee Hailey, Tonya, Ellen Roark, Ethel Twitty. In analyzing the characteristics, the writer deeply pays attention on the way the characters behaves as well as how he gives his acts and reaction. All theories will be very helpful to answer the first problem. The other theory is theory of discrimination. Theory of discrimination is used to help the writer explaining about the white characters being analyzed that they are seen and treat as a black because the other whites call
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them as black lovers who help the black to get what they want. The theory of racism is used to know the meaning, the history, the practice and the consequences of racism that revealed in the characters in the novel. Through the theory the writer can see whether discrimination happens individually or institutionally. The last theory is theory of setting; this theory is used to explain the last problem formulation. Since this study analyzes about the real condition in America in certain time, this theory is needed to help the writer to give a clear view about the role structure of the story being analyzed. Moreover, to get some ideas about the practice of racism experienced by black American in the twentieth century, the writer has provided a slight review on its history. Knowing the social condition of black people in United States on 20th century will help the writer to know the situation of society which is struggling for their dreams.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
John Grisham was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas on 8th February, 1955. His father was a cotton farmer and a construction worker. His family settled in Southaven, Mississippi in 1967. His mother encouraged him to read variously and discouraged television watching, that is why he was deeply influenced by many authors.
Grisham graduated from Southaven High School and then graduated from Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in accounting, in 1977. He decided to study tax law at the University of Mississippi School Of Law, but then he switched his interests to criminal law and civil litigation. He graduated in 1981 and spent ten years working a variety of criminal and civil cases for a small firm in Southaven. In 1983, Grisham was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives.
In 1984, Grisham was inspired by a case he witnessed in court and began working on his first novel A Time to Kill. This novel is going to be analyzed in this study, which was written by John Grisham, a writer of many well known fictitious of legal thrillers. This novel was rejected by several publishers before being accepted for a tiny print run. Several of his books have been made into
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published in 1995 by Dell Publishing and was printed in United States of America. This novel consists of 515 pages and divided into 44 chapters.
The novel has complex issues but much more about the issue of race and racism that are still being dealt with in small-town America every day. Set in Canton, Mississippi in 1990s, A Time to Kill explores the struggle of a black father and his lawyer who lives in white society in gaining freedom. The novel is written in the third person with different perspectives, but mainly Jake Brigance.
B. Approach of the Study
Wilfred L. Guerin says in A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature in order to produce a good analysis of literary work the writer needs to use one or more approaches, for examples historical-biographical approach, moral-philosophical approach, formalistic approach, psychological approach, etc. (1979: 25-155)
In conducting the analysis, the writer will use the sociocultural-historical approach. According to Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods, Jr. in their book Reading and Writing about Literature:
“Critics whose major interest is the sociocultural-historical 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 a specific group of people and point out that literature takes these attitudes and actions as subject matter”. (1971: 9)
It means that the writers are aware that the society cannot be separated from literature, because the literature itself is the product of civilization. The point
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of sociocultural-historical approach is seeing a literary work from its relation with social history of certain time and place, it also means that it concerns to the society including the condition of the society and the historical background of the story.
The reason why the writer chooses this approach is because the writer needs to study racism in America in 1990s as the background of the description of the society in the novel and how the racism influences the blacks at that time. The approach would be applied in the analysis as a means to understand sociocultural-historical context of the society in the novel and how racism influenced the society.
C. Method of the Study
In this study, the writer conducted library research as primary sources and internet research as a secondary source. It means that all data were taken from any written sources such as books on literature, criticisms, and encyclopedias which are available in the library. It was necessary to take notes or quote any relevant and supportive information related to the problem formulation. The theories which are found in the books, which had been mentioned, are rewritten and paraphrased in order to support the discussion. The support data were taken from the internet.
In conducting this thesis the writer took some steps. First the writer
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to know whole story. It helps the writer to get a deeper understanding. The following step was choosing the topic and stating the problem formulations. The problem formulations helped to narrow and to focus the discussion. The next step was finding the theories and criticisms on A Time to Kill related to the problem formulations.
After the theories and criticism were collected, they were used to answer the problem formulations in the analysis. The last step to take was drawing a conclusion.
CHAPTER IV
ANALYIS
Based on the problems stated previously in the problem formulation, this chapter is divided into three parts. The first part is dedicated to find the revelation of the practice of racism through the characters. The second part is the depiction of the way the characters react upon the practice of racism. The last part is the depiction of the author’s criticism toward the American racism.
A. The Experiences of the Characters’ on the Practice of Racism
To understand the characters, the writer uses the theory of character by M.S Murphy. He says that the readers will understand the characters from the personal description, character’s perspective or point of view, speech, past life, conversation of others, reaction, direct comment, thoughts, and mannerism. Related to the statement above, the writer tries to identify how the practice of racism is revealed through the characters in the story. decides that Jack Brigance is the major (main) character in the story. The writer also decides the minor characters who are less important than the main character. They are necessary to become the background for the major character and their roles in the story are to support the development of the major character(s) (Abrams, 1981: 20). From the theory above, there are some minor characters, but the writer makes a limitation on the minor characters to be analyzed. Since the study is related to the practice of racism, the writer chooses the minor characters who
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experience the practice of racism to be analyzed. The characters who experience the practice of racism are Jake Brigance, Carl Lee Hailey, Tonya, Ellen Roark, and Ethel Twitty.
1. Jake Brigance
Jake Brigance is a white lawyer who works for the freedom of a black man who kills the two whites. It becomes the starting point of the hates of the white in his county. It also becomes the reason he experiences the discrimination. He gets oppressions, intimidations and also many threats from his society. As a white, he is isolated by his own race, the white especially the klan treat him as black because his efforts to set Car Lee free.
Jake is one of the view whites who accepted in the black’s community. The blacks appreciated his way in discussing any issue although sometime they are not in the same voice.
“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 a thousand other problems. They picked at him and told crooked lawyer jokes, but he had a thick skin. They asked him to explain Supreme Court rulings and other legal advice at the Coffee Shop. Jake had a way of cutting through the excess and discussing the meat of any issue. They appreciated that” (p.22)
From the quotation above, it can be seen that Jake is one of whites who is accepted by blacks’ society. As the white, Jake is different from other whites in his town. He has good relationship with the blacks. They are respected each other
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without any hard feeling when they argued at times. He sees and treats the blacks as well as he sees and treats the whites.
There is a time when Carl Lee tells Jake about his plan to takes revenge toward the men who rape his daughter. Jake is asked to represents Carl Lee Hailey in the trial if the plan is realized. He ever helped this family before in the case of murder of a black and he won the trial. His sympathies lie with Carl Lee, he is ambitious and believes that the Carl Lee case will prove to be the biggest case of his career and also a chance to make or break for the young-white lawyer.
“One more thing, Jake. Will you meet me at the jail when they arrest me?” “Jake nodded before he thought.” (p.48)
At nine Ethel called Jake. Bullard was holding. “Hello, judge. How are you?”
“Terrible. You represent Carl Lee Hailey?” “Yes, sir.” (p.86)
Since he declares as Carl Lee’s lawyer, Jake has received many threats. The first call is received by his secretary in the office. The caller said that he will harm him and his family.
“They weren’t really obscene. They were threatening. They threatened me because I work for you. Said I’d be sorry because I worked for a nigger lover. The ones here threaten to harm you and your family. I’m just scared.” (p. 103)
Another threat that Jake receive is a burning cross in front of his house sent by Klan members in the early morning. The cross was founded by Deputy Marshall Prather who was immediately awakes Jake. The cross was a small one, nine feet long and four feet wide. It is always used for the rituals. The Deputy and Jake deeply thought about the burning cross’s purpose.
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“Moments later, Deputy Marshall Prather turned down Adams and instantly saw the blazing cross in Jake’s front yard. He turned into the driveway 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 was dark and silent except for the glow of the cross and the snapping and crackling of the wood burning fifty feet away.” (p.181)
It had been many years since one had been used in Ford Country. The last one was happened in the yard of a nigger accused of raping a white woman in Karaway, nineteen sixty seven. This burning cross is believed as the sign of the awakening of the Ku Klux Klan.
After that night, the threats are rise and the Klan plans to show their existence in the town. Fortunately, Ozzie the sheriff always gets information from someone who calls himself as Mickey Mouse if something bad will happen related to the Klan’s activities.
“Then listen. Sometime between now and three A.M., they’re gonna blow up his house.”
“Who?”
“Brigance.” (p.272)
Three minutes after midnight, Friday morning, there was a call from Mickey Mouse for the sheriff. He informed that someone is going to blow up Jake’s house. Then, the sheriff went to inform Jake about an anonymous call from someone who said that someone planned to blow up his house at that early morning.
The sheriff caught the suspect who sent a suspicious box to Jake’s house. He broke the suspect’s ankle. From the suspect they know that inside of the box are dynamites.
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“Next to the man was a neat pile of dozen sticks of dynamite. Between his legs was a large, round-faced clock with wires bound together with silver electrical tape. (p.278)
They sent Jake a dozen of dynamite, it shows that they seriously hate Jake related to his action taking part in black’s case. They try to stop Jake’s effort to freed his client. This accident makes Jake realize that his family is in danger and then, taking this threat seriously.
Early Monday before the trial, Harry Rex picked up the ringing phone in Jake’s office. The one on the phone reveals his disappointment of Jake’s decision to help Carl Lee in the trial.
“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 of you, and if they didn’t he hoped the bar association looked into it and took away your license for helping niggers.” (p.372)
On the day of the trial, there is a riot outside the court building between KKK and the area’s black residents, and Stump Sisson is killed by a Molotov cocktail. Believing that the black people were at fault, the Klan increase their attacks. The man who calls himself as Mickey Mouse much help Jake by giving information about what the Klan’s plans in the way they threat Jake. He calls the sheriff and shares information that he knows. One more call from him says that the Klan is going to kill Jake as the revenge of the death of Stump Sisson, one of Klan’s members.
“They’re gonna kill you today,” Ozzie said.
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“He called yesterday and said something was up. He called back two hours ago and said you’re the lucky man. Today is the big day. Time for some excitement. They bury Stump Sisson this morning in Loydsville, and it’s time for the eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth routine.” (p.424)
Soon after that, Jake ready to go to the courthouse squeezed between Ozzie and Nesbit, and the three of them crouched in the center tight formation. In the other place, in an abandon silo, a man crouched in the darkness and aimed through a small opening. He waited for a good time to pull the trigger.
“The rifle shot was clear and unmistakable.”
“Half the soldiers hit the ground rolling and the other half grabbed Jake and threw him violently under the veranda.” (p.425)
Although Jake was warned by Mickey Mouse and protected by the sheriff, that accident cannot be prevented. The target was fail to shoot, but the bullet hit a soldier’s throat. The soldier was right next to Jake, and caught the bullet that was aimed for him. Jake was successfully run out from his death once more times. He fell onto the floor of the rear entrance and covered his head with his hands. The gunman disappeared with his comrade into the countryside. All of this accident was caught by cameras; no wonder the news was spread quickly. Because of this accident, the judge was postponed to hold court and planned to hold it the next morning.
The Klan’s threats were not stop after that accident. Jake’s house, a Victorian house at Adams Street that spent three years to paid off, house that Carla had wanted since before they married, and the house where the people stopped and took picture
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of it was burned with his dog and Carla’s Cutlass. Jake was in the Wilbanks house when his bodyguard aroused him who sprawled on the couch in the front room.
“The fire engines were parked haphazardly in front of the house. The firemen and volunteers worked frantically lying lines and getting organized, responding occasionally to the commands of the chief.”
“The fire was brilliant. Flames roared from every window across the front of the house, upstairs and down. The carport was completely engulfed. Carla’s Cutlass burned inside and out—the four tires emitting a darker glow of their own. Curiously, another, smaller car, not the Saab, burned next to the Cutlass.” (p.454)
Someone burned his house. From the investigation, the sheriff found that someone loaded a VW with gasoline, parked it in the carport and ran away. They was amazed how the floor of the carport is burning, and they thought that someone used gasoline to burn his house. Nothing can be saved from that good fire.
Jake received many intimidating things that all of those intimidations threaten his life and also his family’s life. The best thing from Jake is that he never surrenders to represent his client in the court although his life is in danger.
2. Carl Lee Hailey
He is a thirty-seven years old father of a girl who was raped by two whites. He is a good man who has four kids. Works at the paper mill and always go to the church every Sunday.
He takes revenge by his own hands and kills those whites. Since he caught as the suspect, he hires Jake Brigance as his lawyer to represents him in the court.
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white County, it is hard to win an acquittal in the court. As stated by Donnelan, colored people are treating as a group of people that inferior to the whites (1995: 1).
“He’s thirty-seven years old. Married to the same woman for twenty years. Four kids—three boys and a girl. Nice guy with clean record. Never been in trouble before. Decorated in Vietnam. Works fifty hours a week at the paper mill in Coleman. Pay his bills and owns a little land. Goes to church every Sunday with his family. Minds his own business and expects to be left alone.” (p. 89)
The news about the murder is widely spread in the country. Many reporters, cameras, and stranger knock around the small town of Clanton. Televisions, news papers and magazines write about this case in their head line. All of the publications affect so many things happen in the town; the most shocking thing is the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan. Blacks are the minority in the county, their percentage just twenty-six of the whole population. Carl Lee experiences practice of racism during his court process because he is a black. To gets his freedom, Carl Lee needs black potential jurors to help him, but it seems impossible because he lives in white county and he is the murderer of two whites men.
“If you get it moved, you have a better change for blacks in the jury box. If it’s tried here, you run the risk of an all-white jury, and believe me, I’ve seen enough all-white juries in this county.” (p. 105)
Racial problems which began with slavery continue to plague the United State. Even the government design laws to give equal rights, the practice of racism that Carl Lee experiences is happened through the intimidations of the juries that will give him the sentence in court.
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Carl Lee’s family is not rich. He is a worker at paper mill who has not much money to pay his lawyer. His wife does not work. She is an ordinary housewife. When he is arrested, the family faces some problems in their economic because the only one who earns money for them cannot work for them anymore. Carl Lee has not enough money to pay his lawyer; his family also needs more money to live their life. His brother tries to get money from the bank, but he fails. There is a time when his rich friend offers him a good lawyer for free and then he decides to discharge Jake as his lawyer.
Rufus Buckley, the prosecutor at Carl Lee’s case is ambitious to win the case for the sake of his publicity. He asks Will Tierce to convince and explain justice to the jury so that they are ready to sentence that Carl Lee is guilty.
“He sat at his kitchen table with a cup of coffee and reviewed the jury list. His friend Rufus would be proud. Six names had been circled on Will’s list, and he had talked to all six. He put an okay by each name.” (p. 323)
Carl Lee also experiences racism in the field of law discrimination. Boyer in his book “The Enduring Vision, A History of the American People” stated that miscarriage of justice is a part of the reality of American life for blacks (1990: 908). As seen in the story, justice for blacks seems impossible. Jake as a lawyer believes that it is hard for Carl Lee to get his freedom because he is not white. Jake has told him that it is different case, if he was a white, he could probably get off.
“I’m white, and this is a white county. With a little luck I could get an all-white jury, which will naturally be sympathetic. This is not New York or California. A man’s supposed to protect his family. A jury would eat it up.”
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What Jake said to Carl Lee about the jury is really happen. Rufus Buckley persuades most of juries to convicted Carl Lee. Moreover, the existence of the Ku Klux Klan affects the jury’s decision. The Klan will harm the jury and their family if they make Carl Lee free. Although the Klan does not threat Carl Lee directly, but by threatening the jury they hope they reach their goals.
As the jurors arriving to the courthouse, there are two groups of people that are yelling and shouting to each other. They are the blacks group who strive for Carl Lee’s freedom and the other group are the group of the Klansmen who shouting to hang the murderer.
“As expected, the sight of the white robes aroused the blacks who were some two hundred feet away. They began shouting: “Free Carl Lee! Free Carl Lee! Free Carl Lee!” The Klansmen shook their fists and shouted back:
“Fry Carl Lee!” “Fry Carl Lee!”
“Fry Carl Lee!” (p.376)
Carl Lee’s first trial is held in Clanton. The town is crowded with the people who want to know about the continuance of the biggest case that ever happened on their town, it is also crowded with the group of people who want to give their support to Carl Lee. The most attracting is the marching of Klansmen. They arrived in groups of two and three and came from all over the state. A group of blacks also gather nearby under the massive oak. The sheriff threatened them with jail if trouble started and then he stationed his men at various points around the courthouse. This situation
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is enough to intimidate Carl Lee. He is afraid of the Klan, the symbols of hatred and violence in the South is come back.
Barry Acker, a white jury for Carl Lee is threatened by the Klan. He is on the hotel where all of the juries live in during the trial. The Klan knows much about his family; it shows that their words are serious. Their seriousness can be seen when they knocked Acker to the floor, kick him and pinned him in a dark corner. (p. 488)
“He used the other hand to unsheathe a shiny hunting knife, which he placed next to Acker’s nose. The wiggling stopped.”
“Listen to me,” he demanded in a loud whisper,”And listen good. We know you’re married and you live at 1161 Forrest Drive. We know you got three kids, and we know where they play and go to school. Your wife works at the bank.” (p.488)
“If that nigger walks free, you’ll be sorry. Your family will be sorry. It may take years, but you’ll be awfully sorry.” (p. 489)
3. Tonya
This story is begun with Tonya’s raping case. She is the only daughter of Hailey family. She is ten years old but she is small for her age. At the day she was raped, her mother asked her to go to the store and went by herself. The store is only a mile away, but after two hours she did not come home. The mother sent the boys to look for their little sister, but they did not find her.
At the very beginning of the novel, Tonya is bound with yellow nylon rope. Two whites man are with her.
“She did not look at the man on top of her. He was breathing hard and sweating and cursing. He was hurting her.”
“When he finished, he slapped her and laughed, and the other man laugh in return…”
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“She had been slapped earlier for crying and screaming. They promised to kill her if she didn’t keep quite.” (p. 2)
The two men are recognizing as Billy Ray Cobb and Willard were drunk and frustrated when they met Tonya who was walking along a gravel road with a sack of groceries. Willard nailed her in the back of the head with a beer can. Willard thought that she was dead because she did not move, but Cobb explained that blacks are hard to kill.
“Cobb opened another beer and explained that she was not dead because niggers generally could not be killed by kicking and beating, and rapping. It took much more, something like a knife or a gun or a rope to dispose of a nigger.” (p. 2)
Tonya was raped brutally and she could do nothing except cried softly. She was tortured with the rope around her body.
“Cobb pulled the rope tight, then gave a vicious yank, bouncing the little nude body along the ground and stopping it directly under the limb. She gagged and coughed, so he kindly loosened the rope to spare her a few more minutes. He tied the rope to the bumper and opened another beer.” (p. 4)
There are times when they are trying to kill Tonya. They plan to throw her off a bridge because they are afraid her blood will get all over the truck. Unfortunately, they both did not find any bridge unoccupied by blacks who are fishing. They were desperate for not finding the best place to throw Tonya away.
“He lowered the tailgate, dragged her out, and threw her in a small ravine lined with kudzu.” (p. 7)
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Some people who were fishing down by Foggy Creek saw Tonya lying in the middle of the road. She told them her father’s name and then they brought her home.
4. Ellen Roark
This character is one of the minor characters who experiences racism. Her decision to takes part in the black’s case becomes the gates of the Klan’s hate. She never gets serious threats until some Klansmen kidnap her.
She is a daughter of Sheldon Roark, a notorious criminal lawyer in Boston. She is a student of law school at Ole Miss and almost finishes his study in a couple of month. As a student, she has enough experience in the law field. She has perfect life of a women, full of confidence, smart, has a rich father. She knows much about some big cases and she dreams to work in Carl Lee’s case with Jake.
“I want to be in the courtroom. I love criminal trials, big trials where there’s a life on the line and pressure so thick you can see it in the air. Where the courtroom’s packed and security is tight. Where half the people hate the defendant and his lawyers and the other half pray he gets off. I love it.” (p.297)
Ellen Roark awakes at 9:30 P.M in the office. She can stay at Lucien’s house but she thinks that she needs to change her clothes. She decides to come back to Oxford, she refuses Nesbit’s offer to drive her to Oxford. When she almost makes it to her destination, two plainsclothesmen approache and attack her.
“Suddenly, she was knocked to the ground. A heavy quilt was thrown over her and both men held her down. A rope was wrapped around her chest and waist. She kicked and cursed, but could offer little resistance. The quilt covered her head and trapped her arms underneath. They pulled the rope
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She was knocked to the ground, gagged, kidnapped and dragged to a large pole. Surrounded by people wearing white robes and pointed hats, she knows that she was kidnapped by the Kluxers. She thought that they would either kill or rape her, so she banged her head against the pole she was tied to because they pulled her skirt off. She realized that this punishment is related to her job.
“A hooded figure left the others and approached her. She could hear him walking and breathing. “You nigger-loving bitch,” he said in a crisp Midwestern voice.”
“He removed a bowie knife from under the robe, and began cutting the remainder of the blouse from her body. “You nigger-loving bitch.” (p. 432)
Ellen Roark experiences racism because she has a hand in black case. She gets serious injury all over her body. They yanked her hair with a dull knife that the doctor gives eleven stitches in her head and twenty-eight in her ear. They called her as nigger-loving bitch after every mistreatment they did to her. It seems that they did it because she helps and has relation with the black. She feels that by calling her with that name, they want to destroy her.
5. Ethel Twitty
Ethel is also a minor character, she is Jake’s secretary. She is a tough, hard woman. She is a white, but the Klan also gives her mistreatment because of her status as Jake’s secretary who works for the black’s freedom. First threat is about the call she received at her house and then another call at the office.
