“A TIME TO KILL Literary Analysis” PDF

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This is a literary analysis/summary on the book made by John Grisham, an American novelist and lawyer, called 'A Time to Kill.'...

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“A TIME TO KILL: LITERARY ANALYSIS” Cases about rape have always been a kryptonite of mine: it brings me to fear, disgust, sadness, and an immense feeling of wanting to close my ears and forget I ever hear of it, all the more if it is rape cases on children. Imagining the scenes or the experiences of the rape victim makes me want to forget everything that I thought. In application with the instruction, I recall way back in 2019 about a book inspired by a real rape case of two sisters, one of them being 13. The book’s name is A Time To Kill—written by John Ray Grishman (an American novelist and attorney) who, before the creation of this book, bore witness to a brutal rape trial—it was the case of Willie James HARRIS v. the STATE of Mississippi (1989). Hence, this essay will cover three key points: (1) the origins of the book, (2) the book and itself, and (3) my reflection concerning the violation of children's rights.

THE RAPE OF TWO GIRLS According to one of the interviews of Mitchell (2018), John Ray Grisham was inspired to create a book about a rape case he witnessed: On July 11, 1984, Julie Scott, 16 years old, and Marcie Scott, her twelve-year-old sister, were forcibly raped and badly beaten in their home in Southaven, DeSoto County, Mississippi. The young girls were the only ones at home on the afternoon of that day. About 2 p.m. Julie was in the bathroom, about to take a shower, and Marcie was in her bedroom. Julie heard a loud banging noise at the front door, and, wrapped only in a towel, she left the bathroom and went to determine the cause of the noise. She discovered a young black man, approximately six (6) feet in height, wearing a green shirt and cut-off tan pants climbing through the shattered front-door window. The trespasser had a silver pistol in his hand. Julie screamed and attempted to lock herself in the bathroom, but was overpowered by the man. Marcie, hearing Julie's scream, started for her bedroom door, but was met there by Julie and her assailant. At gunpoint, he forced the girls into Marcie's bedroom. Over the next thirty minutes to one hour, he raped and beat both girls. While he assaulted one girl, he kept the other locked in the bedroom closet. (Harris vs. State, 1989).

Now, John Grisham, a law student at that time, went to hear about the public trial about this rape case, but only to be met with gut-wrenching testimonies of young girls on how they were raped. After the trial, John

Grisham was in tears, in anger, and contemplating, “What would a jury do to a father who killed his daughter’s rapist[s]?” (Mitchell, 2018)

“A Time to Kill” The plot starts in Clanton, Mississippi where a black ten-year-old girl, Tonya Hailey, is on her way back home when two white men kidnapped her, Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard. Subsequently, after being kidnapped, she was “bound together with yellow nylon rope. Her legs were spread grotesquely with the right foot tied to an oak sapling and the left to a rotting, leaning post of a long-neglected fence...She did not look at the man on top of her. He was breathing hard and sweating and cursing. He was hurting her.” (Grisham, 1989, p. 2). Fortunately, however, Tonya manages to survive, despite being hospitalized near death and damaged to the point of being unable to bear children in the future. After being sent to court, Tonya’s father, unable to endure the guilt and anguish as a father, ambushes and kills them outside the courtroom with an M16 rifle. The story then proceeds to a lawyer, Jake Brigance, an ambitious lawyer that, in the story, experiences a plethora of different emotions and dangerous circumstances as he tries to convince the court to absolve the crime of Tonya’s father, Carl Lee Hailey. However, acquitting Tonya’s father is not as easy as it seems, for racism tore apart the country’s people and the legal system; hence making it difficult for Lawyer Jake Brigance to acquit a black father in a ‘white biased’ community and court.

The story ends with a heartbreaking closing remark of Jake Brigance, where he told the Jury, I cite, “I want you to picture this little girl. Suddenly a truck races up. Two men jump out and grab her. They drag her into a nearby field and they tie her up, and they rip her clothes from her body. Now they climb on, first one then the other, raping her, shattering everything innocent and pure -- vicious thrusts -- in a fog of drunken breath and sweat. And when they're done, after they killed her tiny womb, murdered any chance for her to bear children, to have life beyond her own, they decide to use her for target practice. So they start throwing full beer cans at her.

They throw 'em so hard that it tears the flesh all the way to her bones -- and they urinate on her. Now comes the hanging. They have a rope; they tie a noose. Imagine the noose pulling tight around her neck and a sudden blinding jerk. She's pulled into the air and her feet and legs go kicking and they don't find the ground. The hanging branch isn't strong enough. It snaps and she falls back to the earth. So they pick her up, throw her in the back of the truck, and drive out to Foggy Creek Bridge and pitch her over the edge. And she drops some 30 feet down to the creek bottom below. Can you see her? Her raped, beaten, broken body, soaked in their urine, soaked in their semen, soaked in her blood -- left to die. Can you see her? I want you to picture that little girl. Now Imagine She’s white.” (msl83db, 2010)

MY THOUGHTS After reading the book, I contemplated for a bit and understood that what I am reading right now are cases that happen in real life.While I was reading the origins of the book and the book itself, I cannot help but feel the livid rage that atrocious things like this are happening each day—maybe—and children are the most vulnerable to these nefarious activities. Up until today, albeit the book being a masterpiece, I cannot bring myself to read it once again—it scares me to the point of wanting to rip the book because of my frustrations and mind telling me that these things do happen in real life. Hence, I sincerely pray that someday there will be an era where children's rights are fully protected, and no child would ever face these wicked things—although naive, I hope it will happen.

References

Grisham, R. (1989). A Time To Kill. John Ray Grisham. Harris v. State, 537 So. 2d 1325 (1989) https://law.justia.com/cases/mississippi/supreme-court/1989/57653-1.html Mitchell, J. (2018, October 21). A “cold blooded” crime in Mississippi inspired “A Time To Kill,” John Grisham says. Clarion Ledger. https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2018/10/21/john-grisham-time-kill-inspired-rape-case-mis sissippi/1698877002/

msl83db. (2010, October 3). Best Closing statement ever (A Time to kill 1996) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKN1K2He8yg

msl83db. (2010, October 3). Best Closing Statement Ever (A Time to Kill 1996) [Video]. Youtube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKN1K2He8yg

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John Syril B. Siquijor BSE11 EDUC111: Enabling Assessment Ms. Relyn Atenor-Cruz

Cases about rape have always been a kryptonite of mine: it brings me to fear, disgust, sadness, and an immense feeling of wanting to close my ears and forget I ever hear of it, all the more if it is rape cases on children. Imagining the scenes or the experiences of the rape victim makes me want to forget everything that I thought. In application with the instruction, I recall way back in 2019 about a book inspired by a real rape case of two sisters, one of them being 13. The book’s name is A Time To Kill—written by John Ray Grishman (an American novelist and attorney) who, before the creation of this book, bore witness to a brutal rape trial—it was the case of Willie James HARRIS v. the STATE of Mississippi (1989). Hence, this essay will cover three key points: (1) the origins of the book, (2) the book and itself, and (3) my reflection concerning the violation of children's rights.

THE RAPE OF TWO GIRLS According to one of the interviews of Mitchell (2018), John Ray Grisham was inspired to create a book about a rape case he witnessed: On July 11, 1984, Julie Scott, 16 years old, and Marcie Scott, her twelve-year-old sister, were forcibly raped and badly beaten in their home in Southaven, DeSoto County,

Mississippi. The young girls were the only ones at home on the afternoon of that day. About 2 p.m. Julie was in the bathroom, about to take a shower, and Marcie was in her bedroom. Julie heard a loud banging noise at the front door, and, wrapped only in a towel, she left the bathroom and went to determine the cause of the noise. She discovered a young black man, approximately six (6) feet in height, wearing a green shirt and cut-off tan pants climbing through the shattered front-door window. The trespasser had a silver pistol in his hand. Julie screamed and attempted to lock herself in the bathroom, but was overpowered by the man. Marcie, hearing Julie's scream, started for her bedroom door, but was met there by Julie and her assailant. At gunpoint, he forced the girls into Marcie's bedroom. Over the next thirty minutes to one hour, he raped and beat both girls. While he assaulted one girl, he kept the other locked in the bedroom closet. (Harris vs. State, 1989).

Now, John Grisham, a law student at that time, went to hear about the public trial about this rape case, but only to be met with gut-wrenching testimonies of young girls on how they were raped. After the trial, John Grisham was in tears, in anger, and contemplating, “What would a jury do to a father who killed his daughter’s rapist[s]?” (Mitchell, 2018)

“A Time to Kill” The plot starts in Clanton, Mississippi where a black ten-year-old girl, Tonya Hailey, is on her way back home when two white men kidnapped her, Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard. Subsequently, after being kidnapped, she was “bound together with yellow nylon rope. Her legs were spread grotesquely with the right foot tied to an oak sapling and the left to a rotting, leaning post of a long-neglected fence...She did not look at the man on top of her. He was breathing hard and sweating and cursing. He was hurting her.” (Grisham, 1989, p. 2). Fortunately, however, Tonya manages to survive, despite being hospitalized near death and damaged to the point of being unable to bear children in the future. After being sent to court, Tonya’s father, unable to endure the guilt and anguish as a father, ambushes and kills them outside the courtroom with an M16 rifle. The story then proceeds to a lawyer, Jake Brigance, an ambitious lawyer that, in the story, experiences a plethora of different emotions and dangerous circumstances as he tries to convince the court to absolve the crime of Tonya’s father, Carl Lee Hailey. However, acquitting Tonya’s father is not as easy as it seems, for racism tore

apart the country’s people and the legal system; hence making it difficult for Lawyer Jake Brigance to acquit a black father in a ‘white biased’ community and court.

The story ends with a heartbreaking closing remark of Jake Brigance, where he told the Jury, I cite, “I want you to picture this little girl. Suddenly a truck races up. Two men jump out and grab her. They drag her into a nearby field and they tie her up, and they rip her clothes from her body. Now they climb on, first one then the other, raping her, shattering everything innocent and pure -- vicious thrusts -- in a fog of drunken breath and sweat. And when they're done, after they killed her tiny womb, murdered any chance for her to bear children, to have life beyond her own, they decide to use her for target practice. So they start throwing full beer cans at her.

They throw 'em so hard that it tears the flesh all the way to her bones -- and they urinate on her. Now comes the hanging. They have a rope; they tie a noose. Imagine the noose pulling tight around her neck and a sudden blinding jerk. She's pulled into the air and her feet and legs go kicking and they don't find the ground. The hanging branch isn't strong enough. It snaps and she falls back to the earth. So they pick her up, throw her in the back of the truck, and drive out to Foggy Creek Bridge and pitch her over the edge. And she drops some 30 feet down to the creek bottom below. Can you see her? Her raped, beaten, broken body, soaked in their urine, soaked in their semen, soaked in her blood -- left to die. Can you see her? I want you to picture that little girl. Now Imagine She’s white.” (msl83db, 2010)

MY THOUGHTS After reading the book, I contemplated for a bit and understood that what I am reading right now are cases that happen in real life.While I was reading the origins of the book and the book itself, I cannot help but feel the livid rage that atrocious things like this are happening each day—maybe—and children are the most vulnerable to these nefarious activities. Up until today, albeit the book being a masterpiece, I cannot bring myself to read it once again—it scares me to the point of wanting to rip the book because of my frustrations and mind telling me that these things do happen in real life. Hence, I sincerely pray that someday there will be an era where

children's rights are fully protected, and no child would ever face these wicked things—although naive, I hope it will happen.

References

Grisham, R. (1989). A Time To Kill. John Ray Grisham. Harris v. State, 537 So. 2d 1325 (1989) https://law.justia.com/cases/mississippi/supreme-court/1989/57653-1.html Mitchell, J. (2018, October 21). A “cold blooded” crime in Mississippi inspired “A Time To Kill,” John Grisham says. Clarion Ledger. https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2018/10/21/john-grisham-time-kill-inspired-rape-case-mississippi /1698877002/ msl83db. (2010, October 3). Best Closing statement ever (A Time to kill 1996) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKN1K2He8yg

msl83db. (2010, October 3). Best Closing Statement Ever (A Time to Kill 1996) [Video]. Youtube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKN1K2He8yg

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