I basically read the whole book this week, and to be honest I didn't blog 100 pages at a time because I have already read the movie so I knew how it ended and also I just wanted to get started on the new book I picked up at the library. So instead of doing a 150 page summary, I decided I'm going to re-iterate the first 150 and cover the rest of the novel.
First off: loved the movie, LOVE THE BOOK :) normally it is the other way around for me, but I really liked being able to know what was going on inside the minds of the characters. Okay now I am ready to summerizee....
This a comtroversial story takes place in a southern state where racism and the Ku Klux Klan are very big factors in the lives of many inhabiting in the southern town. It tells the story of two white males who commit a terrible crime by beating and raping a young black girl and leaving her on the side of the road to die. After this crime was brough to the attention of her father, Carl Lee Hailey, he decides to take justice into his own hands and take the lives of two men whom vicously raped his young girl. The killing took place in the courthous and charges of first degree murder were brought against Carl Lee. No one was willing to take the case except for a Jake Bragance. This is when the theme of the story starts to unfold.
Throughout the trial racism, prejudice, and hate crimes heightened against the black people in the community and were inflicted upon the young lawyer and his family throughout the duratrion of the trial. Many people protested and stood for what they believed in. These groups included the hateful Ku Klux Klan and the people who were rooting for Carl Lee and his family.
A young and single up-and-coming lawyer decides to help Jake with the trial, and begins doing secretive work for him. When the brother of the two killed by Lee (he is also the leader of the Ku Kluz Klan division in the area) finds out, he and his members that are cops kidnap her and take her to an abandoned dried out land and leave her to die. Fortunatly, one of the members is sane enough to come rescue her before she passes away. All of this takes place as the lawyers make their closing remarks.
In Jake's speech, he touches the hearts of the jurors by describing precisely what the girl went through. He first tells them to close their eyes and picture a girl. He then describes everything from, kidnapping her to throwing full cans of beer and urinating on her open wound that Lee's daughter went through. At the end of his speech, full tears running down his and a few jurors cheeks, he says "now imagine that girl is white."
Lee was set free, the dirty cops were arrested, and although Lee and Jake still faced communal troubles, they both end up at a BBQ happy and Lee's daughter is healthy.
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