Kenneth Burke, a 20th century literary and critical theorist, believes and specifically considers pieces of art and literature as systematic reflections of society and societal behavior. Works of art, including literature, are strategic naming of situations that allow readers to better understand and “gain a sort of control” over societal happenings. One of the best examples, for me, of this kind of literary work is John Grisham’s “The Chamber”.
The book is primarily set in Greenville, Mississippi in the year 1967, a time when the Black discrimination was at its peak. Organizations like the Klu Klux Klan existed and aimed to segregate the society, separating the whites from the colored ones, and preventing equality among the two different races. People who interfere and try to break this inequality are treated roughly, to teach them a lesson and set an example on what would happen to those who give the Blacks a humane treatment.
With this view alone, it was emphasized that people are different and some, in the past and even in the present, look down on others because of this. The Blacks may be well accepted now most especially in the United States where Black artists, writers, government officials, and all other professionals are appreciated and respected, but before this present acceptance was a dark and horrid past of unfairness and prejudice. People, as it seems to me, have a hard time accepting other people’s diversity. It is present not only with people of different races but also with those who have different religions, beliefs, social standing, and such. These give way to a tendency of collision and division among men.
In the novel, one radical Jewish lawyer by the name of Martin Kramer poured out his life and profession in helping the Blacks in legal matters and representing them on courts. This bold act caught the KKK’s attention and urged them to bomb the Jewish lawyer’s law firm, severely wounding Kramer and ruthlessly killing his twin sons. This bombing was planned and executed by three persons, namely Jeremiah Dogan, Sam Cayhall, and a young man by the name of Rollie Wedge. As the story went on, Sam Cayhall became the crime’s primary suspect, while Dogan later on testified against him and Wedge went hiding, his name not even mentioned during the court trials. Having Cayhall as the only suspect and with a witness testifying against him, he was convicted on two counts capital murder and one count of attempted murder. Two days later, the same jury at the same courtroom sentenced him to die and he was right away sent to the Death Row.
Regarding the issues of death penalty, some people think this is the rightful thing to do, especially with Cayhall’s case where lives were taken and the relatives of the deceased wanted the same payment in return, justifying the act with what the Bible says in Exodus 21:23, “But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for a life,”. But others, mostly religious men and human rights advocates, go against the death penalty. They believe that it is wrong to take a man’s life because of what he has done, taking away his chance of repenting and compensating for the mistake that has been made and cannot be undone. The stand that it is not our right to judge a person but the Lord’s to take vengeance on our behalf supports these advocates’ belief.
Back to the story, years passed and Cayhall is now facing the gas chambers and he is to be executed in four weeks. He dismissed the law firm of Kravitz & Bane, which holds his case under pro bono, several times already when Adam Hall came. He was a young lawyer who applied and worked in Kravitz & Bane for the sole purpose of representing Cayhall before his time runs out. Later on, it was reveal in the story the Adam Hall was before named Alan Cayhall, son of Sam Cayhall’s son, Eddie. The story proceeds to a critical page-turner sequence of events that could make or break the execution.
Adam’s frustration and confusion regarding his complicated family background (Adam’s grandfather’s father was a Klansman and so are most of their relatives) was mentioned in a chapter of the novel. As lawyer, he took an oath to defend the offended and promote justice to those who deserve it. However, as a grandson of a criminal convicted to die in a gas chamber, he is torn with mercy and longing for the grandfather he never knew. This feeling of being torn between justice and mercy could be considered as an example of the “collective unconscious”, a set of primal memories common to human race, existing below each person’s conscious mind. Somewhere in a man’s life, he experiences certain situations in which he had to chose between what he wants to do and what he should do. It maybe present in simple things, like for example, choosing between everyday activities involving our priorities in life (a father deciding whether to attend the board meeting or his daughter’s piano recital, where both events are similarly important to him) or on much complicated situations like Adam Hall’s. Still, Adam chose to defend his grandfather’s case against all odds, going against the relatives of Kramer, the government and the society.
As a reflection on the novel, I could say that a man’s ways determine who he is and what he believes in. And the things that he does, may it be good or bad, has its effect not only to oneself but also to the people surrounding him. Sam, from the very start, despises the Blacks for being Black, thinking they do not deserve acceptance in the society. He was able to kill a Black neighbor in the past out of a little argument of their sons and he didn’t even feel remorseful about what he did. Rather, he boasted that incident to his relatives who has the same views like him regarding the Blacks. But later on in his life, looking back to where his beliefs have taken him, he did feel regretful for wasting his life hating the Blacks of the society. He acts tough but on the inside he missed the time when his life was simple and he spends it with his family. After the Kramer bombing, his family was never the same again – while he was on jail his wife died in an illness, his son abandoned his past and changed his own family’s identity, and his daughter married and lived a life denying her father’s existence.
Regardless of all these things he felt, in his last days, a ray of forgiveness and compassion streaming down through his grandson who supposedly had a lot of reasons to hate him. As Sam ruined his life, he has also ruined his son’s and consequently, his grandson’s. But Adam set these things aside, seeing Sam not as a criminal but as a grandfather – his grandfather. I think we too should weigh matters like such based on facts and intellect but also with heart and sensitivity. There are a lot of angles to a situation and looking at things in one perspective is not enough to justify it.
All in all, Grisham did a good job in writing this novel which could be considered a one of his finest. He has not only captured his reader’s attention, focused towards law and society, but also towards oneself and his family.
