Grisham\'s Novel Concerns Insurance Companies

¶ … Grisham's novel concerns insurance companies and how they take advantage of the sick, the weak, and the elderly. By pitting Rudy, a young, inexperienced lawyer against a giant insurance mogul, Grisham illustrates the greed and corruption in the insurance industry, and how it victimizes those who are least prepared to deal with legal issues.

My decision to become a lawyer was irrevocably sealed when I realized my father hated the legal profession" (Grisham, 1996, p. 1). Grisham opens his book with this statement, noting the intense hatred of the legal profession by many, and this seems to set the stage for a very realistic portrayal of the American judicial system. Throughout this novel, Grisham realistically portrays the legal and judicial systems, from Rudy's acknowledgement that he is unprepared to practice law even as he is set to graduate from law school ["This is my first confrontation with actual clients, and I'm terrified" (Grisham, 1996, p. 5)], to the court scenes and maneuvering behind the scenes.

What is difficult to believe is that someone as green as Rudy would actually be allowed to handle the case in court, and then win the case. Even in a small firm, it would seem a more experienced lawyer would want to take the case, if nothing else for the glory of he or she won, and that seems very unrealistic in this novel. It makes a good story, but it seems as if it might be more fiction than fact. However, he does explain many other common legal procedures, such as "fast-tracking" cases through the system and illustrates how evidence and depositions are collected. The book is exciting reading, but also very representative of the work behind the scenes in the judicial system. Grisham also portrays what it is like to be a new lawyer without clients or a large law firm's support. He writes, "I've been reduced to a poacher in hospital cafeterias, for a thousand bucks a month. I'm sickened and saddened by what I've become, and I'm staggered by the speed at which I've fallen" (Grisham, 1996, p. 140). Much of the book is realistic, but any good work of fiction takes license in some areas, and this work does, as well. A lawyer getting so involved with a client that he kills an abusive husband would probably be disbarred just about anywhere in the country, and yet Rudy looks like a hero when the story is finished. That is certainly not realistic.

Grisham supports his thesis against insurance companies throughout the work, by portraying the company and its representatives as greedy, uncaring, and only out for one thing - profits. Grisham writes, "So this is how the uninsured die. In a society filled with wealthy doctors and gleaming hospitals and state-of-the-art medical gadgetry and the bulk of the world's Nobel winners, it seems outrageous to allow Donny Ray Black to wither away and die without proper medical care" (Grisham, 1996, p. 261). Throughout the book, it is clear the insurance company is the enemy, and that the battle must come to a head in the courtroom.