Turning Point in the Life

¶ … Turning Point in the Life of John Grisham

John Grisham is an extremely popular author in the modern legal and criminal mystery fiction genre. His books and films have been translated into thirty - one languages and they have earned a gross amount of several billion dollars. At the end of 1997, it is estimated that the total number of printings of his works amounted to 20,000,000 hardcover and 67,000,000 paperbacks. (Robinson M.) Before becoming a world-renowned author, Grisham was a lawyer and had a comparatively successful career in criminal law. The writing of his first novel a Time to Kill can be considered a turning point in his life and career.

Understanding the career and literary turning point in the life of John Grisham is, on the surface, a relatively simple affair. As the autobiography on his official Web site states, the initial motivation to write occurred during a court case.

One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, Grisham overheard the harrowing testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants. Getting up at 5 a.m. every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on a Time to Kill and finished it in 1987.

John Grisham: The Official Site)

While his first work was initially rejected by numerous publishers, he persevered and sent it to various other publishing houses. It was finally accepted by Wynwood Press, with a relatively small print of five-thousand copies and published in June 1988. (John Grisham: The Official Site) Coupled with this event are other factors that coalesced during this period of his life to bring about radical changes in his career and lifestyle.

In the first instance, he was never entirely enthusiastic about his choice of career in law. This added to the desire to find an avenue that was more interesting and relevant to his life. It is possible that the De Soto country case that he observed was an event that led him to question his career choice and motivated him in the direction of a writing career.

However, if we delve more deeply into his life and particularly the events and occurrences surrounding the beginnings of his writing career, a number or questions arise. In the first instance, why did he persevere and write the now famous novel, the Firm, even though his first book was not a success and was seen as a minor regional novel? This seems to indicate a much deeper level of commitment and intensity of feeling than is suggested in many references to his career as starting as a 'hobby'.

The above ruminations lead to further interrogations and questions that call for answers that are more comprehensive. For example, what was it in the trial of the young ten-year-old girl who was raped in 1984 that was forceful enough to make Grisham get up at five in the morning and write according to a grueling schedule, while still maintaining a very full legal career? As one explores the available data, interviews and articles on his life and work one cannot help but to stumble on incidents and certain passages and statements from various sources that intimate that there is more to this change in Grisham's life and his radical move for law to fiction writing than at first meets the eye.

There are various articles and interviews that add texture and depth to this turning point in his life and which suggest that there is possibly something more to this period of his life than is officially provided in many biographies and articles on the author. The central aim therefore of this paper will be to explore these possibilities and to analyze the suggestion that there may be a "mystery" at the heart of the turning point in John Grisham's life. The paper will therefore attempt to establish the real reasons and the underlying motivations for his career change and the variables that may have precipitated this decision.

2. The impetus towards writing

Grisham makes it clear in many article references and interviews that he had no real interest in writing before witnessing the events of the trial of the young girl in 1984. This would therefore place this particular event at the centre of the reasons for his change of career. Besides being an avid reader, Grisham did not indulge in any writing or even in any aspirations with regard to writing before the observation of the trial.

In 1984 he watched the events of the rape trial referred to and was obviously appalled by the details of the horrendous rape of a young girl and thought of the revenge that the father might take on these men for the crime. The legal battle and the consequent impact on the community and the law were to form the basis of the first novel. In brief, the fictional novel centers around a white lawyer fresh out of law school and struggling to pay the bills comes to be council for Carl Lee, the father of a young girl, Tonya, who was sexually assaulted, raped, beaten, and left for dead by two backwoods hicks. Carl Lee decides to take the "law into his own hands" and eradicate the two criminals who are white and will most likely be let out with a small tap on the wrist.

John Grisham's Books - Bot's Book Lounge...)

One reason that can be given for Grisham's intense interest in the case as well as his desire to write a novel based on these events, is that the incident had awakened a sense of extreme moral indignation in the author. In addition, there was the fact that what he observed in the courtroom showed the inability of the legal system to protect the innocent. This was to lead to a central thematic strand in many of his works. In an interview, Grisham has stated that the creation of his books rests on a central precept. "You throw an innocent person in there, get 'em caught up in a conspiracy and you get 'em out" (Robinson).

As the above discussion suggests, we can trace the author's desire to write about certain aspects of crime and law to possible changes in his view of law and the legal system. This concern can also be related to the fact that he had changed his legal career path and had become more involved in criminal law in his career. This would tend to suggest that at least part of the reason for the turning point in his life was a result of his awareness of the problematics and moral inadequacies in the arena of criminal law and the way that the law dealt with tragic events such as the rape of a young girl in 1984. As one commentator states, he changed course and turned his attention to criminal law. In 1981, he earned his law degree and soon after opened a law practice in Southaven. As a criminal lawyer he had opportunity to experience the drama and pathos of the courtroom. He also saw lawyers and judges at their best and worst.

The John Grisham Room - the Writer)

Therefore, we can assume that it was while John Grisham was practicing as both an attorney and a legislator and was deeply involved in the machinations of the criminal process, that he viewed or heard of a trial that he would later describe as "gut-wrenching." This was so moving that it motivated him to rise at five in the morning to write. (for Posterity: The John Grisham Papers)

It is also important to note that in the first fiction novel he wrote the social implications of the criminal events are also an important component of the story, as the town is Clanton, Mississippi is 'rocked' by the trial. Grisham's concern for social injustice is an aspect that will also be further discussed in this paper.

In interviews, Grisham has referred as follows to the original impetus for this first novel. "I've always been intrigued with the question of what a jury in a small Mississippi town would do with a father who took the law into his own hands for the rape of his daughter" (for Posterity: The John Grisham Papers).

However, one tends to question whether a single trial for a relatively seasoned lawyer and its effects would have been enough to cause that lawyer to write a novel under difficult circumstances. It should be remembered that Grisham was deeply involved with work in both criminal process and the judiciary and that there would have had very little time to devote to novel writing. What makes the situation even more interesting is that while he began writing both the first and then the second novels he was fully aware that there would very few real prospect of being published.

Therefore, one of the questions that arise from these speculations is the following; was it a sense of moral indignation and a desire to help others through his novels that was the real impetus towards writing. In other words, did Grisham begin writing in order to reveal the innate ambiguities and machinations of the legal system - or were there other unrecognized facets and factors at play that led to this turning point in his life?

These questions become even more pronounced when we take into account his expressed views about his own writing. In many interviews, Grisham tends to assert that his literary work is not of a very serious or profound nature and instead of having any deeper social intentions his writings are essentially only meant to entertain. As he states in one interview:

I'm not sure where that line goes between literature and popular fiction...I can assure you I don't take myself serious enough to think I'm writing literary fiction and stuff that's going to be remembered in 50 years. I'm not going to be here in 50 years; I don't care if I'm remembered or not. it's pure entertainment.

John Grisham has no illusions about writing).

This view of his work therefore tends to reduce his books to a sophisticated form of "pulp fiction." When this may or may not be the case, this view does not seem to concur with the original reasons for his writing in the first place, which were motivated by an extreme sense of indignation at the act of rape and its consequences for the innocent people involved. Many commentators therefore are of the opinion that,

Sometimes he wraps a serious issue around a plot -- the death penalty in "The Chamber," insurance reform in "The Rainmaker," homelessness in "The Street Lawyer." Now the self-styled political junkie and former Mississippi state legislator has written a book that's more political intrigue than legal thriller.

John Grisham has no illusions about writing)

Is it possible therefore that while Grisham's work is now categorized as popular entertainment and light fiction, that this was not the original intention of the author and that he was more concerned with writing novels that would be taken more seriously. This aspect will be expanded on in the next section. In this light, it is important to note some of comments that Grisham makes about the original impetus towards writing. "My motives were pure, I was not dreaming of best-seller lists and big fat royalty check" (Interview: John Grisham, Author).

This impression of the very serious and morally concerned young lawyer is also seen in many commentaries on his life and work. This refers to the rape trial and the profound effect it had life. As one article states:

The seed of 'A time to kill' was a brutal rape of a young girl near Grisham's home in Mississippi. He visualised how he would kill the rapist if he would have been the father of the girl, and he became obsessed with the question what a jury of ordinary people would do to such a father. He guessed that there would naturally be a great sympathy to the father, but he did not know if that would be enough for an acquittal. This question was enough stuff for him, to write a novel, and so he started to write the first chapter.

Time to Kill" by John Grisham)

It is also significant that Grisham returns to the same general thematic concerns and motifs in many of his other works that echo aspects of the De Soto courtroom drama that initiated his writing career. His plots usually center on protagonists who are young and in some way vulnerable and who, "...find themselves fighting against overwhelming odds in situations in which they should not be able to prevail. Ultimately they may win out over antagonists of apparently superior strength: the U.S. government, the Mafia, giant insurance companies"

Notable American Novelists, Revised: John Grisham).

As has been mentioned, another factor that also has to be taken into account is his personal dissatisfaction with this career in law.

Having graduated and passed the bar exam in 1981, he began practicing law in Southaven but quickly realized he didn't care for his chosen profession. Although he won his first case by claiming self-defense -- a client had shot his wife's lover point-blank in the head six times -- he wasn't comfortable with the victory.

Pringle 2/3).

This indicates a number of important points. The first is his lack of any great enthusiasm for his career and the second is his realization that the law was in many cases inadequate to administer true justice or, as was the case with the 1984 rape trial, to provide full protection for the innocent. This again seems to empathize that the prevailing 'mystery' that underlies the turning point in his life was not only a desire to write but to grapple with and to describe to others these elements of fallacy and tragedy in the legal system and in human society.

3. Society and religion

Other aspects lend cogency to the moral and socially sensitive nature of the Grisham's reason for turning from law to writing. His awareness of social problems and the need for their rectification can be seen in the fact that even before to the 1984 rape trial, Grisham had shown a penchant for social involvement. In 1983, he ran successfully for the Mississippi legislature. His intention in so doing was that he wanted,"... To help improve education in his state" (Pringle, 1997, p. 2/3). Importantly, in terms of the central thesis that is being explored this paper, we once again see how Grisham became aware of the fallacies and fault lines in both the legal and legislative systems. Grisham left the Mississippi legislature because he, "...realized it was impossible to make changes" (Pringle, 1997, p. 3). Writing therefore became the natural outlet for the deeper moral views and social conscience that Grisham shows in the years surrounding his decision to leave law and write his first novel. "It was during this period that he began writing novels" (Pringle, 1997, p. 3).

This sense of moral and social indignation and the desire to rectify social ills can be seen in the words that Gresham used when asked about the effect of the rape trial in 1984. "I never felt such emotion and human drama in my life," he told an interviewer. He wondered "what it would be like if the girl's father killed the rapist and was put on trial. I had to write it down" (Pringle, 1997, p 3). As has been referred to, writing a novel was obviously much more than just a "hobby" for Grisham. This can be ascertained from the following remarks that Grisham made in an interview with Bill Moyers.

A worked on it for three years. I remember I had to go to court sometimes at 9:00. And I can remember just sitting in court being dead tired 'cause I'd already written for three hours. And it, you know, it's draining. When you do it a lot it really takes a lot out of you.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Bill Moyers talks with John Grisham about writing and reading).

This perspective also relates to other areas of his life that can be included in order to understand this turning point in his life. One of these aspects is his religious Baptist background. He emphasizes this aspect as a fundamental part of his development in an interview.

When I was eight years old first Baptist church in Parkin, Arkansas. I felt the call to become a Christian. I felt the need to. I talked to my parents. I talked to my pastor. And I accepted Christ when I was eight as old, just a little small boy and- like most of the kids, you know, in my church, and my brothers and sisters -that was very much a part of growing up.