Sooley

Murray Walker is the son of Ida and Ernie, and Samuel’s roommate at NC Central. He quickly becomes Samuel’s best friend and helps him acclimatize to life at school and in America. Toward the start of the novel, Murray serves as a foil to Samuel. He spends all his free time with his girlfriend, Robin, and sleeps in late every morning; in contrast, Samuel has a chance with Robin but shoots her down, and he wakes up early to improve his jump shot.

Murray is allured by the fame, wealth, and luxury he encounters through Samuel’s rise to prominence. He also realizes that his basketball career will end after college, and like everyone else, he sees an opportunity to ride alongside Samuel into a world that was previously out of reach. He is a loyal friend and does what he can to protect and help Samuel throughout the year, but he is not as ready for the fame and wealth as he thinks he is. While at the music festival, Murray spends most of the weekend gambling rather than keeping an eye on Samuel like he usually does. His choice to gamble, of all the vices offered, shows his particular interest in money and luxury, as well as his willingness to take risks if he thinks they will lead him to those things.

In the end, Murray survives the festival where Samuel does not, which underscores their foil relationship. Considering the theme of Danger of Sudden Fame and Wealth, it looks like Murray’s proximity to fame—his basking in the reflected glow rather than in the fame itself—allows him to escape the brunt of the damage. However, Samuel was always more at risk due to the disadvantages he began with. When Samuel dies, Murray feels like he is to blame, which plays a role in his decision to start a non-profit foundation in Samuel’s name in an effort to make up for his mistake.

Beatrice Sooleymon is Samuel’s resilient and hardworking mother. The narrator states that she is as warm, personable, and intelligent as Ida, but because she grew up in a small rural village, she never had the opportunity to go to school. After the attack on the village, she joins together with two other women and their children from her village. Once they reach the refugee camp, she takes on a leadership role and procures tents and other important supplies for them. Toward the end of the novel, Samuel stops telling her everything that is going on because he believes his life has become so different from hers that she would have no way to conceptualize it and become overwhelmed.

Like Samuel, her narrative is complicated by Grisham’s focus on plot over character. In many ways, Beatrice represents the stereotype of the hardworking immigrant, despite the fact that she does not come to America until the end of the novel. She is honorable, caring, grateful for what she has, and always willing to put in effort to get more for herself and those around her. While Beatrice is at times upset with her circumstances, she never expresses this upset in unconstructive ways, and she never places blame on the societal structures that put her in this position.

Ecko Lam is the coach of the under-18 South Sudanese national team that travels to America for the showcase tournament. He was born in Sudan but fled the country during civil war and ended up in America. After playing four years of college basketball at Kent State, he pursued a career in coaching, and he sees basketball as a way to create change in his war-torn home country. He is the primary believer in Samuel’s ability and goes above and beyond to support him. He even takes a trip to the refugee camp to provide Beatrice with some supplies on Samuel’s behalf. He serves as a mentor to Samuel as his star rises. Because he has been through similar experiences to Samuel (in terms of fleeing civil war and seeing its destructiveness firsthand), he provides more practical support and guidance for Samuel: While he wants Samuel to stay in school like Ida and Ernie, he also recognizes that it is not the right choice given Samuel’s circumstances.

Lonnie Britt is the head coach of North Carolina Central’s men’s basketball team, the Eagles. He gives Samuel a scholarship to NC Central largely because he feels sorry for him, but also as a favor to his long-time friend, Ecko Lam. Lonnie provides a window into the world of coaching at the collegiate level in America. He is obsessive and career-driven. He often struggles to sleep and spends most of his hours poring over game film, analyzing past games or planning for future ones, and keeping up with the latest gossip about potential coaching vacancies. He also demonstrates how capricious the success of a head coach can be. His dreams of moving on to a bigger school are derailed when the team has an unexpectedly poor start to the season, largely due to injuries and poor performances. Things then turn around after he resorts to playing Samuel out of desperation, and Samuel surprisingly turns out to be an NBA-level talent. This success opens a lot of opportunities, and he eventually does earn a new job with a massive pay raise at Marquette. In both cases—losing and winning—it had little to do with Lonnie’s ability as a head coach.

Lonnie is another mentor for Samuel, representing the side of Samuel grounded in the capitalist, career-focused side of America. Lonnie wants good things for Samuel because that means good things for Lonnie. All his support is muddied by the fact that he materially benefits off of Samuel’s happiness. However, Lonnie stands alongside Ecko to speak kindly of Samuel at his memorial, and Murray receives their words equally.

Ida and Ernie Walker are Murray’s parents. Ida is the executive of Legal Aid in Durham, which provides attorneys for clients that cannot afford them, while Ernie runs a food bank that supplies food for over 11,000 people in the county. They embody Grisham’s ideal upper-middle-class family in that they dedicate their lives to socially responsible careers and help people in need. They also serve as surrogate parents for Samuel in America, as they quickly recognize that he needs love and support. Samuel often eats meals at their house, stays with them during any holidays, and eventually moves in when living in his dorm becomes difficult. Ida also uses her legal expertise to help Samuel explore ways of bringing his family to America. Ida and Ernie staunchly believe Samuel is not mature enough for the NBA and worry about what the fame and money will do to him. While they mean well and have Samuel’s best interest in mind, their stubbornness and rigidity on the issue cause Samuel to start ignoring them when he needs them most.

As Samuel’s final pair of mentors, Ida and Ernie represent Samuel’s ultimate desire: happiness and safety for himself and his family. They are also most closely tied to the symbol of food, which reinforces their ties to Samuel’s desire for safety. Neither Ida nor Ernie is plagued by high-minded career or political goals. They are happy with what they have and what they can achieve in their community. They are also the only mentors Samuel fully stops listening to, leading to the series of choices that ends in his death.