Sycamore Row

As the plot moves into the legal proceedings of an inheritance dispute, the narrative’s procedural aspects become more prevalent. Grisham’s experience as a practicing attorney shapes a detailed and authentic portrayal of courtroom protocols, strategies, and colloquial language. Through his emphasis on technical detail, Grisham highlights the inner workings of the court system. A prime example is his explanation of an estate administrator’s role. Mr. Lundy’s job, he writes, is “to gather Mr. Hubbard’s assets, appraise them, protect them, and report to the court” (149). Judge Atlee’s review of Mississippi‘s evidence protocol in Chapter 12 is another example of a strong procedural element.

As Grisham reveals the complicated stakes of the case for Lettie’s personal life, he develops the story’s conflict. If Seth’s handwritten will is upheld and Lettie inherits the bulk of his estate value, it will mean “a better life in a bigger house with nicer things and fewer worries and perhaps freedom from a husband she did not like” (139). Grisham also raises the negatives of such an outcome for Lettie: “a lifetime of running from family and friends and strangers, all with their hands out” (139), illustrating the complex factors that make legal matters like this one so contentious.

The courtroom setting takes on symbolic meaning as everyone involved eventually aligns with one of two opposing sides, creating a false binary in which subjective labels of right and wrong are assigned based on manipulation and self-interest. Grisham describes the two tables in the courtroom as “identical but radically different” (165). One table is for the prosecutor or plaintiff. The other is for the defense. In a room full of people who are all unique individuals, yet have more in common than they may realize, this dichotomy reinforces an “us versus them” mentality. In highlighting the ways in which the various lawyers’ act in their own self-interest, Grisham underscores the novel’s thematic interest in the Unethical Practices of Trial Law.

The narrative employs military language to describe the perspective of both sides of the legal battle on the trial. In Chapter 13, Dumas Lee’s front page headline in Ford County’s newspaper reports on the “Battle Lines” drawn between Lettie and Seth’s descendants. Jake and other lawyers in the novel criticize Booker Sistrunk for brazenly reducing the trial to a “war” that “would now be defined in terms of black versus white” and frame his ruthlessness as corruption (111). However, Jake and Lucien also reference war metaphors as they frame their legal strategy and tactics. Grisham furthers this symbolism by using figurative language that compares legal tactics to combat. For example, at his initial meeting with Stillman Rush in Chapter 10, Jake is said to have “delivered the first salvo” (87), idiomatically referring to a strong or sudden military action.

Grisham defines the stakes of the trial for Lucien as conflicting with the wants and needs of his protagonist, creating dramatic tension. Lucien’s reinstatement to the bar would mean Jake having to work with him again—a prospect Jake fears, calling to mind all the Lucien’s past professional tendencies that conflict with his own. By adding a potential personal negative of winning the trial for Jake, Grisham complicates his personal investment in the outcome, creating a moral dilemma. As the section progresses, Grisham’s development of Lucien’s character reveals additional nuance, portraying him as an idealist who cares deeply about the historical injustices committed against Ford County’s Black citizens. Like Jake, he’s developed a cynicism toward Ford County’s legal system, but working on this case helps renew his passion for the work.

In portraying Judge Atlee as defined by his objectivity and unbiased perspective, Grisham also highlights the way in which the judge’s personal privilege impact his experiences and worldview. In his opening description of Judge Atlee, Grisham writes: “He was a judge, as open, tolerant, and fair-minded as he could possibly be, given his upbringing and genetic composition” (105). Grisham’s caveat reinforces the importance of the novel’s setting and engages with the idea that social and cultural influences are, in part, inescapable. He decorates his office with “faded portraits of dead judges and Confederate generals” (196). Naming his younger son after General Nathan Bedford Forrest demonstrates his veneration for a historical figure who served as Grand Wizard of the resurgent KKK in 1867, pointing to the inherent conflict between his reputation for integrity and his complicity in systems of oppression that benefit him. Atlee’s upbringing doubtlessly informed this veneration, thereby qualifying his objectivity.

Portia’s character also establishes the importance Grisham’s novel places on setting and the impact of cultural influences. Rather than portraying the effects of living in Ford County, however, Portia demonstrates the effects of having left. Because she joined the Army and traveled the world, she comes back changed, having experienced a wider world outside of Ford County—something most of its citizens haven’t done. Jake describes her as looking nothing like the typical young Black woman in Ford County, claiming her speech has lost the “drawl and twang and sloppy grammatical habits” of the area (179). She has college credits and aspires to attend law school. Comparing Portia to Black women who have stayed in Ford County all their lives demonstrates the limiting and demoralizing effects of racial prejudice in places like Clanton.

Booker Sistrunk, Rufus Buckley, and Wade Lanier’s characters contribute to the book’s criticism of Unethical Practices in Trial Law. Sistrunk is described as “a shyster [a term with pejorative, antisemitic undertones] with the appeal of a TV preacher” (116). Buckley joins the fray because he’s bored and eager for controversy, and because he sees the trial as an opportunity to harm his enemy, Jake. Lanier is “well versed in the ethics of his profession when they [can] be beneficial; otherwise, he ignore[s] them” (125). Grisham represents each opposing council’s motives as selfish and their tactics as corrupt in order to create a clear moral distinction between them and Jake—the rare lawyer who still acts with integrity.

These chapters also continue a thematic exploration of Inequality and Entrenched Racism in the American South. Lucien’s statement that “[e]verything is about race in Mississippi” positions that exploration within the context of the American South’s historic and current attitudes toward the subject of race (91). An overlapping consideration of justice emerges as Jake considers how public opinion influences the outcome of a trial. Because Dumas Lee calls the handwritten will “suspicious” in a newspaper article to which every potential juror has access (116), their ability to consider the case from an unbiased perspective is called into question, raising dramatic tension.