Introduction
This research work will be based on John Grisham’s the chamber. It will illuminate the criminal justice system in American society that was struggling with racial bigotry characterized by widespread criminal activities fanned by criminal gangs who were championing the existence of pure race. Most of the wanton killings were perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan against the African Americans and the Jews who were perceived to be minority races. Because of racial prejudice, a criminal gang plan to bomb the office of a Jewish lawyer- Marvin Kramer who was championing the rights of African Americans. Three people decide to execute this course. The first accomplice-Rollie Wedge was the person who was funding the operation, the second knew the location of the office to be bombed, and the third was an explosive expert who had a knack for vanishing without a trail (Bly, p. 10). Rollie Wedge said his death would only come from his fight for white supremacy. His father was a demolition contractor and a Klansman. After the Kramer bombing, the explosive expert went into hiding in Northern Ireland for 6 years. One of the reasons Marvin was targeted was his involvement with civil rights movements in Greenville where he attempted to register black voters. He received his first death threat when he was barely 26 and made it a routine to carry a gun and even bought a gun for his wife-a a Memphis girl and their African hose girl whom he advised to be carrying the gun in her purse. Marvin Kramer had two-year-old sons Josh and John. At first, the Klansmen alleged that he used his money to bail out freedom riders and civil rights activists. The lawsuits he filed attacked white-only facilities. He funded the reconstruction of a ‘black’ church that was bombed by the Klansmen. Moreover, he welcomed Negroes into his home and urged other Jewish groups in his speeches to engage in struggle. Kramer was surely toying with death. Jeremiah Dogan funded the activities of the Klansmen including the bombing of Marvin Kramer’s office. Another architect of the Kramer bombing was Sam Cayhall whose father was a Klansman. Unfortunately, Sam Cayhall had very little information about Rollie Wedge and never believed much of what he said. The bomb that the two accomplices had set went off killing the two Kramer twin boys and injuring others who were passing closer. Sam Cayhall who came back to ascertain whatever had become of the bomb ended up sustaining injuries. He decided to flee from the scene of the blast with the injuries he had sustained only to be arrested by police officers and taken to jail (Brittan, p. 12). Sam’s first and second trial for the murder of Josh and John resulted in a hung jury. At the time of his third trial that takes place 12 years after the death of the Kramers, the prosecution feels confident because the jury was not all white. In the subsequent trials, the jury was all white and this was thought to have influenced the outcome of the verdict. At that time racism was so rife in the south. Adam Hall, Sam’s grandson coincidently gets a job in a law firm that had represented Sam in the subsequent hearings. After the second hearing of the Cayhall murder case, Sam fired the lawyers who had represented him in court. Paradoxically the lawyers marvel at the fact that Sam had fired them complaining of Sam’s lack of cooperation. Adam takes it upon himself to convince the management of the law firm that he can represent Sam however bleak the outcome of the case looked. Despite the fact that the courts refuse to grant Sam a stay on grounds of his health and age and later execute him, Adam did his best. Adam gets to know some of the intricate family secrets when he takes to representing his grandfather. As Adam runs up and down the corridors of justice to save his client and grandfather from capital punishment and grant him stay so that he instead serves a life sentence, the time for gassing also nears. This leaves the reader in a complete dilemma. Capital punishment at this time becomes a matter of contention and racism only plays a second fiddle to it (Cohan, p. 12). Before his execution, Sam a known arrogant man apologizes before his grandson for all the wrongs that he had done. On the day of his gassing, he refuses Adam from seeing him being killed.
A discussion of a work’s characters: are they realistic, symbolic, historically-based?
The major characters found in John Grisham’s The Chamber include Rollie Wedge, Jeremiah Dogan, Marvin Kramer, Ruth Kramer, Adam Hall, Lee, Mr. Phelps, Josh and John, Sam Cayhall, Eddie, Mr. Goodman, and the Kramers house help. The story is more of fiction. The characters that are exhibited in the book never realistically existed nor were they historical but were just symbols that were used to show how issues pertaining to racialism affected the American societal fabric. White superiority was the backdrop of all the racial prejudices. Ethnic tensions were characterized by the bombing of African and Jewish neighborhoods, synagogues, churches, homes and even offices of those who were seen as frustrating the course of the superiority of white men.
A comparison/contrast of the choices different authors or characters make in a work
The author of this book uses characters that feature in the third person. The main character is a male lawyer creature. The main character does not engage in a form of violence but instead tries to release from prison those who had engaged in crime. The main character is a Caucasian white American who is able to balance his feelings. He middles sensitive feelings with others feeling. The main character is portrayed by the author as a very serious person who can occasionally showcase some sense of humor. The character is of the average physique. The main character is a sharp contrast to his grandfather who seemed to derive some happiness when he caused misery to others. He either participated personally in the mob lynching activities of the Klansmen or just spectated. Sam Cayhall is portrayed as a sadist. He is a very cold man who never cares much about the feelings of others (Hearn, p. 9). Moreover, Sam Cayhall is portrayed as a very arrogant person who even fires the lawyers who try to win him freedom. He is a very secretive person who decides to carry some of his secrets to the grave. He adamantly refuses to divulge information pertaining to the person who actually planted the dynamites in Marvin Kramer’s office that finally killed his two sons. He is also very calculative. He knows that when he implicates Rollie Wedge with the bombing, he will definitely come to revenge on his family members and decides not to. Sam is a person who keeps promises (Wade, p. 7). During the first and second hearing of his cases, and when wedge came to visit him in the prison, wedge cautions him against testifying to have had an accomplice in the Kramer bombing. Sam dies without telling anybody who this mysterious Wedge was. Marvin Kramer is a fierce human rights defender who does not back off from anything even if his life is put at risk. As a lawyer, he takes to championing for the rights of the minority African Americans fully aware that such activities would infuriate the Klansmen who champion for white supremacy. Marvin is forced to hire the services of a specially trained security guard to keep vigil in his home. He even ends up giving firearms to his wife Ruth and their African house help. Marvin is portrayed as a heart bleeding human rights defender who goes to an extent of committing his resources to pay bail for civil rights activists. Marvin is used by the author to show how delivery of justice can be impacted by racial inclination in the United States of America. In Sam’s first trial, he walks free maybe because the jury was all whites and would never see one of their own locked in for having killed a Jew. He is used to showcasing the rot in the criminal justice system in America at the time when ethnic jingoism was perpetrated by Ku Klax Klan.
A study of the sources or historical events that occasioned a particular work
The book is set in deep South America in Memphis Mississippi where immigrant black Africans settled working in cotton fields. They were products of the slave trade having been shipped from West Africa. Memphis in the 1950’s witnessed the heinous activities that the Ku Klux Klan infiltrated on minority groups like the Africans and the Jews. Because the criminal justice system was run by the whites, the suspects of widespread killings were not subjected to justice. Such people literally walked free even after killing.
An analysis of a specific image occurring in several works
Sam Cayhall has been used as a perfect image of racism. He kills the father of a farm boy who was a friend to Eddie. Some pictures that Adam got from Aunt Lee showed Sam Cayhall taking part in the lynching of a black man when he was still a youth. Sam and Rollie Wedge orchestrate the death of Josh and John, the sons of a Jewish lawyer who was a civil rights activist who championed the rights of Africans in the Mississippi. Instead of protecting his family from ‘primitive blacks’ he ends up destroying his own family. Because of depression that Eddie runs away from home and ends up committing suicide. Lee takes to alcohol to ward off her miseries.
A reading from a political perspective
During Sam Cayhall appeal before he is taken to gas chambers, the political class uses this case to shape their political future. The governor orders for phone lines to open to the public to seek their opinion whether Sam deserves to die or not. The governor finally fails to pardon Sam Cayhall because that would mean his political death. The social-political and economic in which this book was written help to show the devastating effects of racism and the effects of the death penalty.
Work Cited
- Bly, Robert. Iron John: A Book about Men. Brisbane, Queensland: Element Books, 1992. Print.
- Brittan, Arthur. Masculinity and Power. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989. Print.
- Cohan, Stephen. Masked Men: Masculinity and the Movies in the Fifties. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1997. Print.
- Hearn, Jeff. (1992). Men in the Public Eye: The Construction and Deconstruction of Public Men and Public Patriarchies. London: Routledge, 1992. Print.
- Wade, Wyn Craig. The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987. Print.