Summary
The novel begins with a scene of horrific violence being committed by a small-time drug dealer Billy Ray Cobb and his employee, Willard. The two men beat and rape a ten-year-old girl, Tonya Hailey. They spend two days and a night parked out by the river, drinking, getting high, and raping Tonya, who is tied up with ropes and cords. The violence is racially motivated; they kidnap Tonya in part because she is a young Black girl and they are Confederate-flag-toting white men. They throw half-empty beer cans at her barely-conscious body in between beatings and rapings. They sleep out by the truck, and in the morning, the men devise a plan for killing Tonya and disposing of her body. They drive around Ford County, over bridges and down by creeks and ravines shooting off of the Mississippi River, looking for a quiet spot to leave her, but everywhere they go, there are fishermen and ample witnesses. Finally, they drop her body in an overgrowth of kudzu vine and leave the scene, but she is still clinging to life.
Tonya's mother Gwen senses that there is something wrong. She had sent Tonya to the grocery store because Tonya's brothers are all being punished for misbehaving and are occupied pulling weeds in the garden. She sends the boys to search for Tonya; they don't find her, but they find a sack of abandoned groceries on the side of the road. When Carl Lee Hailey, Tonya's father, returns from work the following day, he expects to find all of his children at home, safe. His wife Gwen has raised the alarm before, thinking one of their children was kidnapped, and it has always proved to be in vain. This time, however, as Carl Lee approaches his house, he sees a squad car and a truck he doesn't recognize. When he walks into the house, his entire family is huddled around his daughter, who is wrapped in wet towels, bloodied and bruised almost beyond recognition. Deputy Willie Hastings relates Tonya's story to Carl Lee, who holds his daughter until the ambulance arrives to take her away.
Sheriff Ozzie Walls, the only Black sheriff in Mississippi, also happens to be the sheriff of Ford County. He grew up in Ford County, had a successful college football career, and retains the support of his constituents, both white and Black. Sheriff Walls takes pride in the fact that he is a Black sheriff in a predominantly white county, and he is known by his constituents as "a tough cop who did not discriminate between black punks and white punks" (8). Walls rushes to the hospital where Tonya undergoes surgery and speaks to one of her uncles, who fills him in on the doctors' reports. They have confirmed that Tonya was raped repeatedly. Walls is sure, based on Tonya's description of the truck, that Cobb is to blame.
Walls drives out of Clanton with his deputy, Hastings, to an informant's house. The informant's name is Bobby Bumpous, who is a young, reforming doper who Ozzie Walls taps when he needs a reliable ear inside the honky-tonks. Walls sends Bumpous out to find Billy Ray Cobb. Walls instructs Bumpous to buy Cobb a few beers and get him talking about the last few days. Cobb is a notorious loudmouth, and the Sheriff is certain that if he's goaded enough, he will outright admit to the crime. Bumpous spends a few hours in the honky-tonk with the twenty-dollar bill Walls gives him. After a while, Bumpous stumbles out of the bar and informs the sheriff that Cobb is talking to anyone who will listen about the girl he and Willard raped the day before. Walls radios the deputies, who hand off affidavits to County Judge Percy Bullard, who in turn produces warrants for the arrests of Cobb and Willard. Walls enters the honky-tonk at 11 p.m. and arrests Cobb and Willard.
Chapter 3 introduces the character of Jake Brigance, a young criminal lawyer in Ford County. Jake lives in one of the two homes in Ford County listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He owns a snazzy red Saab, and is married with a four-year-old daughter named Hanna. Jake counts himself among the white liberals of Ford County. He is anxious about his receding hairline, evidence of his aging, but otherwise he seems to live a fairly charmed life. Jake's life is dictated by strict adherence to personal "rules." His rules include rising extremely early, arriving at the coffee shop at six o'clock, and being at his office at seven.
The morning after Tonya is admitted to the hospital, Jake commences with his usual routine. He arrives at the coffee shop and his favorite waiter, Dell, has his breakfast in front of him promptly. Jake spends his morning as usual, discussing local gossip and politics with the blue-collar clientele of the diner. Things are as usual until one of the patrons asks Jake if he remembers a client by the name of Billy Ray Cobb. Jake remembers Cobb, but says he was never one of his personal clients. The patron tells him that Cobb is in jail for raping the daughter of Carl Lee Hailey, who Jake knows personally. Jake is sickened by the news. He leaves the diner with half a mind to go back home and check on his own daughter, Hanna.
Jake shows up to his office, a beautiful, two-story building on the Main Street of Clanton. The building is owned by Lucien Wilbanks, Jake's former boss. Much of the town was built by the Wilbanks family. They were a law dynasty in Northern Mississippi until Lucien was the only lawyer left in the family. The narrative shuttles to the past and tells of the downfall of the Wilbanks family and the eventual disbarment of Lucien Wilbanks in 1979, which coincides with the rise of the Sullivan law firm, which is now the prominent firm of Clanton and of Northern Mississippi in general.
After generations of Ivy-educated lawyers, Lucien earns his degree in law through correspondence courses and passes the bar exam at the age of forty. After he takes over the firm, their major clients flee. Lucien fires everyone but his father's favorite secretary, Ethel Twitty, who still works for Jake.
Lucien embraces the dissolution of his family's legacy and pursues his own passion by becoming a civil rights lawyer. He joins the ACLU and NAACP and starts suing institutions for discriminatory practices, seeking educational equality, prison reform, and equal employment opportunities for Mississippi's population. He gains a reputation for overworking his associate lawyers and very few last long at his firm. He works seven-day weeks at fifteen hours per day. Lucien hires Jake straight out of law school in 1978. In 1979, Lucien is disbarred for taking part in a brawl at a civil rights protest. Lucien disappears to the Cayman Islands for the better part of a year after losing his many appeals to his disbarment. When he returns, he tells Jake to start his own firm in his building, and he rents the huge space to Jake for less than five hundred dollars a month.
Now, Jake proudly carries on the legacy of being a "street lawyer" and representing individuals, rather than corporations like his rivals at the Sullivan firm. The morning Jake hears about the rape of Tonya Hailey, Ethel phones up to his office that a woman by the name of Earnestine Willard is at reception and would like to hire him to defend her son. Jake, knowing that Willard is in jail for raping Tonya, turns her away.
Meanwhile, Ozzie Walls and his deputies interrogate Willard at the station. They inform him of his rights. Willard answers a few questions, but when they start asking about the details of the charges and Billy Ray Cobb's involvement, Willard says he'd like to speak with a lawyer present. The police turn off the recording device and scare Willard by telling him that if he ends up staying at Parchman, the federal prison, he will be raped and killed by the Black inmates for what he's been accused of doing to Tonya Hailey. Willard balks and confesses to the crimes and also implicates Billy Ray Cobb as the primary perpetrator.
County Judge Percy Bullard presides over the preliminary hearing. Bullard hates preliminary hearings, and seems to dislike everything about being a judge except for the status it grants him. The crowd at the preliminary hearing makes him nervous, and he expresses frustration at the number of Black people in the courtroom. He has a reputation of kicking cases up to the Circuit Court, no matter the strength or weakness of the evidence. He does this to avoid the scrutiny of his constituents. Constituents do not like to see suspects released, especially if they end up being found guilty. So Judge Bullard washes his hands of accountability by passing cases up the ladder.
At the preliminary hearing, the prosecution calls Sheriff Walls to the stand. Walls gives a detailed account of the interrogation of Willard. Cobb and Willard are seated before the judge with their lawyer, Drew Jack Tyndale, a public defender. Eventually, Walls reveals that Willard signed a confession implicating himself and Cobb in the rape and kidnapping. Cobb loses his composure and screams at Willard (this is new information for him). The judge restores order. The defense does not bring forth any witnesses. The preliminary hearing concludes, and the defendants are denied bail. An appeal for bail is scheduled in the near future, pending the condition of Tonya Hailey.
Outside of the courtroom, Carl Lee Hailey catches up to Jake. Jake offers his sincere condolences. They catch up and talk about family. Jake asks after Lester, Carl Lee's brother. Carl Lee says Lester is coming back to town from Chicago. Carl Lee asks Jake what he would do if two men raped his daughter Hanna. Jake says he would kill them. Carl Lee tells Jake that he's planning on killing Willard and Cobb. Jake has defended three Black men on murder charges and won all three cases. Carl Lee asks for Jake's help when he is inevitably arrested for killing Cobb and Willard. Jake tries to convince Carl Lee not to do it, but he can't be convinced. Jake agrees to meet Carl Lee at the jail when he's arrested.
Carl Lee's brother Lester drives down to Ford County from his new home in Chicago, where he lives with his wife, "a Swedish girl from Wisconsin" (46). Lester's wife refuses to join him in Mississippi, the suggestion being that she is afraid of the racialized environment of the South. When Lester arrives in his new Cadillac, he and Carl Lee confer in the hospital waiting room. Tonya is stable and her condition is finally improving. Carl Lee and Lester discuss the possibility of murdering Cobb and Willard. Grisham writes, "They made plans and discarded them, plotting well past midnight" (47).
Tonya is finally released from intensive care and moved to a private room where she remains surrounded by her family. Her brothers stay by her side while the nurses manage her pain with painkillers. Meanwhile, Carl Lee pays a visit to the Ford County Courthouse. He hides in a bathroom past closing time, waits until he doesn't hear any lingering staff in the halls, and then leaves the bathroom to case the joint. He has the whole courthouse to himself. He walks through the path described by Lester, where people who are on trial are taken by deputies. There is a holding cell and a back entrance to the courtroom. He paces through the footsteps of Cobb and Willard, trying to determine a good opportunity to strike. He sits in the jury box, on the witness stand, and even in the judge's perch, attempting to internalize the different vantage points and perspectives. After several hours of pacing through the courthouse, Carl Lee slips out through a window.
Jake discusses his conversation with Carl Lee with his wife, Carla. Carla insists that Jake should report Carl Lee's intentions to the authorities. Jake firmly maintains that Carl Lee simply said what any father would say in his position. He says that as far as he knows, Carl Lee has no real plans to kill the suspects. Jake then asks Carla, if she were on a jury, would she actually convict Carl Lee if he did kill those men who raped his daughter. Carla doesn't like being asked the question; putting herself in Carl Lee's shoes, watching Hanna jump rope, she finally admits that it would be hard to convict him for retaliating.
Carl Lee and Lester visit Carl Lee's old war buddy in Memphis named K.T. "Cat" Bruster. Cat owns a chain of extremely successful bars, restaurants, and strip clubs. Cat lost his eye on the same day in Vietnam that Carl Lee was shot in the leg. Cat welcomes Carl Lee like an honored guest; he's ecstatic to see him and immediately offers him a job. Carl Lee graciously declines, assuring his friend that he is happy with his life in Mississippi. Carl Lee asks Cat to do him to favor of procuring a fully automatic M-16 rifle, like the ones they used in Vietnam. Cat realizes that Carl Lee must be in a serious bind and doesn't ask any prying questions. He tells Carl Lee that he'll get him the rifle at no cost and then spends the day wining and dining Carl Lee and Lester. Carl Lee sticks to iced tea, but Lester partakes in all the alcohol he's offered. By the day's end, there is a fully automatic rifle in the trunk of Carl Lee's car. Shortly after they return to Mississippi, Tonya is released from the hospital and taken home. She's grateful for the support of so many of her family members and neighbors, but she quickly tires of the spectacle of her return.
Meanwhile, Jake decides to approach Sheriff Ozzie Walls with his concern about Carl Lee. He tells Walls that he thinks Carl Lee might be serious about planning to murder the two men who raped his daughter. Walls assures Jake that they are safe and heavily guarded by deputies. According to Walls, regardless of his intentions Hailey simply won't ever have the opportunity to strike. In their meeting, the reader learns that Jake and Ozzie have a history together. They both played high school football, they were on undefeated teams, and in their senior years, they met in a championship game. In the last quarter of the game, Ozzie tackled Jake, the quarterback of his team, and broke Jake's leg. To this day, Ozzie jokingly asks Jake how his leg is doing.
Ford County prosecutor Ricky Childers sees the bond hearing as an opportunity to inject some excitement into his otherwise miserable career as a small-time country lawyer. He has an antagonistic relationship with the District Attorney and the local judge, Bullard. Bullard is nervous because the Black constituents are who keep him in office. He doesn't want to set the bail at an unreasonably high price, but he also doesn't want to upset Black voters by setting the bail too low. He meets with Childers before the hearing so they can coordinate an approach. The judge suggests setting the bail at $100,000 for Willard and $200,000 for Cobb. Childers tentatively agrees, but makes pointed remarks about the hearing being "fair."
During the hearing, Childers undercuts the judge by proposing a "maximum bond" of $500,000 each. The judge is furious, because now his predetermined bonds will look conservative to the to crowd of Black constituents in the courtroom, but he sticks to his original proposal and sets the bond at $100,000 and $200,000. The suspects are led out of the courtroom, and as they walk down the hall, Carl Lee bursts out of a janitor's closet and open fires at close range, killing Cobb and Willard. He then throws down the rifle and escapes out of a window, driving back to his home in his truck. Meanwhile, a stray bullet has hit Deputy Looney in the leg. Jake rushes to the courthouse from across the street, hearing the shots from his office. Sheriff Walls quickly ushers all citizens out of the courthouse and secures the crime scene. Jake makes Ozzie promise not to question Carl Lee without him being present. Later that day, the Sheriff goes to Carl Lee's house and places him under arrest.
Carl Lee sits in a holding cell in the county jail. Ozzie Walls and his deputies fend off the horde of press outside the jail. Jake Brigance meets with Carl Lee for the first time since Carl Lee expressed his desire to kill Cobb and Willard. Jake warns Carl Lee of feeling too confident in his acquittal. He reminds him of a key difference between Lester's case and his own. Lester killed a Black man, and Carl Lee killed two white men and shot a deputy in the leg. Jake has his work cut out for him in the defense. On his way back to his car, Jake fields questions from the press. He pretends to hate the press when in fact he loves the limelight. At home, he admits to his wife that the case could be great publicity and, if he won, earn them a lot of money in the long run.
Jake Brigance notices a chilly reception in his regular coffee shop. It seems that with the unexpected casualty of Looney getting clipped in his leg, Carl Lee's decision to take justice into his own hands has not been met with the level of understanding that he thought it would be when the retaliation was confined to the killing of Cobb and Willard. Judge Bullard is furious that Jake insists on having a preliminary hearing. He figures Jake just wants more time in front of news cameras. Cobb and Willard are buried, and at their funerals, family members of Cobb discuss getting the Ku Klux Klan involved in retaliatory efforts. Cobb's grandfather was a member of the Klan, and his cousin still has open connections. The town is overrun by news media from out of town, and Jake relishes the attention. At the preliminary hearing, he doesn't request bond in a gesture of goodwill to Bullard, who would have lost face with the Black constituency for denying bond to Carl Lee. Bullard sends the case up to the Circuit Court where it will be tried by the same judge who tried Lester's murder case. After the preliminary hearing, Deputy Looney undergoes surgery; his injuries are more serious than they initially appeared, and they have to remove his leg below the knee.
Analysis
It's clear from the first scene of A Time to Kill that it is a novel focused on the racial tensions in the American South of the 1980s. By strategically employing free indirect discourse, Grisham's third-person narration is able to shuttle between perspectives of individuals living in Ford County. Free indirect discourse is a type of third-person narration that fluidly switches into close-third perspectives on multiple characters. A hallmark sign of free indirect discourse is the presence of hypothetical questions that a character may ask themselves in their stream of consciousness. For example, when Jake Brigance goes through his morning routine and considers his male-pattern baldness, Grisham writes, "But what about old, bald attorneys, or even mature, middle-aged bald attorneys? Why couldn’t the hair return after he grew wrinkles and gray sideburns and looked very mature?" (18). These are clearly questions that Jake is asking himself, rather than questions that the narrative is posing to the reader. Later on, when Judge Bullard presides over the preliminary hearing, Grisham shuttles into a close-third of Bullard's perspective, writing, "The vodka felt good. He took a sip of what appeared to be ice water from a Styrofoam cup and managed a slight grin. It burned slowly downward and his cheeks flushed. What he ought to do was order the deputies out of the courtroom and throw Cobb and Willard to the niggers. That would be fun to watch, and justice would be served" (63-64). Subjective statements like "the vodka felt good" without qualifying statements like "the vodka felt good to Judge Bullard" are also clues that the author is engaging in close-third, because the narration is suddenly narrowing its focus to the sensory experience of one particular character. Bullard also espouses racial prejudices that the novel itself clearly does not, and when the narration suggests that the Black constituents would attack Cobb and Willard, it is Bullard's internal monologue speaking, not the narration as a whole.
The use of free-indirect speech to cover the topic of racial tensions in the American South leads to the ample and frequent use of racial slurs in A Time to Kill, which were part of common, everyday speech and are used even by the so-called "liberal whites" with impunity and without remorse. As we look back on Grisham's handling of racial slurs in A Time to Kill, many critics would argue that as a white author, he uses them too liberally and without adequate reflection upon their use. One could also make the counter-argument that it would be a misrepresentation not to show how frequent white people used harmful, dehumanizing language against people of color. One thing is certain: a major project of Grisham's debut novel is the attempt to inhabit different perspectives and force his characters to try to imagine life from another person's point of view. The old cliché of walking a mile in someone else's shoes is actually a major theme of A Time to Kill, and Grisham demonstrates it in both the structure of his novel and in specific scenes, where Carl Lee's goal is to understand the literal, physical perspectives of Cobb and Willard as they will be led through the courtroom.
Carl Lee's mission to literally gain perspective in the Ford County courthouse after hours reinforces perspective as a central theme of the novel. Grisham describes the scene: "Up and down, up and down, he traced and retraced the movements to be made by the men who raped his daughter. He sat in the judge’s chair and surveyed his domain. He sat in the jury box and rocked in one of the comfortable chairs. He sat in the witness chair and blew into the microphone" (49). This theme is also reinforced by the oft-repeated question Jake poses to his wife and Ozzie Walls, and Carl Lee poses to Jake, which is variations of What would you do if it was your daughter who was raped? Jake asks Carla if she were on Carl Lee's jury, would she convict him. These hypotheticals also serve to emphasize the way class and race shape people's circumstances in Northern Mississippi and the U.S. in general. When Jake and Carl Lee negotiate a fee for representation, Carl Lee asks Jake what he would charge "a man with plenty of money." Jake tells him he would charge fifty thousand dollars, and Carl Lee, shocked, asks if he's ever gotten that much from a murder case. Jake responds, "No, but I haven’t seen too many people on trial for murder with that kind of money" (77). This statement reflects how socioeconomics intersects with the justice system, and how the wealthier a person is, the less likely they are to find themselves entangled in the justice system, for a plethora of reasons which include both influence, and the fact that people living in poverty more often find themselves in situations where in order to survive, they must break certain laws, which makes them more vulnerable to prosecution. Tonya Lee is targeted by Cobb and Willard because of her race and position in society. Cobb and Willard feel they can get away with hurting her because the structure of society does not favor her. These structures, by extension, also influence Carl Lee's decision to take justice into his own hands.
