THE REFLECTION OF THE PRACTICE OF RACISM IN AMERICA IN JOHN GRISHAM’S A TIME TO KILL

THE REFLECTION OF THE PRACTICE OF RACISM IN

  AMERICA IN JOHN GRISHAM’S A TIME TO KILL

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degee of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

REKSIANA SEPTI NINGRUM

  Student Number: 044214123

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011

THE REFLECTION OF THE PRACTICE OF RACISM IN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  i

  AMERICA IN JOHN GRISHAM’S A TIME TO KILL

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degee of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

REKSIANA SEPTI NINGRUM

  Student Number: 044214123

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011

  ii iii

iv

  

You are never too old to set another goal or to

dream a new dream.

  

(C.S. Lewis) v

  I dedicated this undergraduate thesis to

  V My beloved father and Mother and

  V All my big family in Kaliwungu

  

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

  Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : ReksianaSeptiNingrum Nomor Mahasiswa : 044214123

  Demi pengembangan ilmu pengeetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

  

“THE REFLECTION OF THE PRACTICE OF RACISM IN AMERICA IN

JOHN GRISHAM’S A TIME TO KILL”

  beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Univesitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublkasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya menulis.

  Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal : 30 September 2011 Yang menyatakan, Reksiana Septi Ningrum vi

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First of all, I thank Allah SWT for guiding me through the hardest time during the work of my thesis. I believe that I could not accomplish this thesis without His blessing. I will never doubt for what He has planned for me. My gratitude goes to all the lecturers in Faculty of Letters who thought me during my study. I am indebted to my advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum, Adventina Putranti, S.S.,

  

M.Hum, and also Tatang Iskarna S.S., M. Hum for the patience, guidance and

suggestion during the work of my thesis.

  This thesis is dedicated to my wonderful family for encouraging and forcing me to finish this thesis. Thanks to my beloved father, Supardi who always support me and gives his trust on me. Thanks to my dear mother, Hartati for her never ending love, prayer and patience. And then, thanks to my only, little brother, Renhat Roa

  

Tatindo for his support, care and especially for the fight. My special thanks go to my

  beloved boyfriend Deva Bharata Probo Handoyo for his tender heart, hug, love and laugh. I also thank to my best friend Efra for the idea, support and also for the beautiful friendship that she gives to me. The last but not least, I would like to give my big appreciation to Deon, Shanti, Dhita, Atik, Bendot, mas Hoho, mas Arif,

  

Hari, Martin and Rohman for their friendship that they give to me to pass the hard

time.

  Reksiana Septi Ningrum

  vii

  viii

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ........................................................................................................ i

APPROVAL PAGE ............................................................................................. ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ........................................................................................ iii

MOTTO PAGE ..................................................................................................... iv

DEDICATION PAGE .......................................................................................... v

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ............................ vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... viii

ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... x

ABSTRAK ............................................................................................................ xi

  

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study ...................................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation ............................................................................ 4 C. Objectives of the Study ........................................................................ 4 D. Definition of Terms .............................................................................. 5

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ....................................................... 7

A. Review of Related Studies .................................................................... 7 B. Review of Related Theories .................................................................. 9

  1. Theory of Character .................................................................. 9

  2. Theory of Characterization ....................................................... 12

  3. Theory of Discrimination ......................................................... 14

  4. Theory of Racism ..................................................................... 15

  5. Theory of Setting ...................................................................... 16

  C. Review of the Practice of Racism in the United States in 20

  th

  Century. 17

  D. Theoretical Framework ......................................................................... 21

  

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ................................................................... 23

A. Object of the Study ................................................................................ 23 B. Approach of the Study .......................................................................... 24 C. Method of the Study .............................................................................. 25

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ................................................................................ 27

A. The Experiences of the Characters’ on the Practice of Racism ............ 27 B. The Character’s Reaction Upon the Practice of Racism ...................... 42 C. The Reflection of the Real Condition on American Society through

  the Experience and Reaction of the Character .......................................

   

  52

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 57

BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................. 60 APPENDICES Summary of A Time to Kill ........................................................................ 62

  ix

  

ABSTRACT

  Reksiana Septi Ningrum (2011). The Reflection of the Practice of Racism in

  

America in John Grisham’s A Time To Kill. Yogyakarta: English Letters

Department, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

  This thesis deals with the work of John Grisham, A Time to Kill. In this novel, Grisham exposes the issue of racism where the blacks have to fight against discrimination, the pressure from the society, the threats and also personal attacks.

  This thesis proposes three problems to be analyzed. The first question is intended to portray how the practice of racism is revealed through the characters in the novel. The second one discloses the characters’ reaction upon the practice racism that happens on them. The last one is to find out how those experiences and reactions reflect the real condition on American society.

  The research method used in this thesis is a library research. To analyze the topic, the writer uses theory of character, theory of characterization and theory of racism. Analyzing the problems, the writer conducts the sociocultural-historical approach. This approach can be used to analyze the racism that happens in American society. It can help the writer to see a literary work from its relation with social history in America, in 1990s.

  From the analysis, the writer finds out that Jake Brigance, Carl Lee Hailey, Tonya, Ellen Roark, and Ethel Twitty are the characters who experience practice of racism. They are experiencing intimidations, pressures, personal attacks, burning cross and burning house that are done by their society especially the Klan. The reactions of every character being analyzed are different one from another. Reaction of Jake Brigance and Ellen Roark is quite different from other characters. They keep on their decision to help Carl Lee although they get oppression, and threats. They keep trying to reach their dreams to win the case by fighting against the practice of racism. Carl Lee and Tonya as the victims could not much react due to their restrictiveness. The reaction of Ethel Twitty is much different from others. She tries to escape from the case that makes the death of her husband. The writer also finds that those practices of racism and the reaction of the characters is the reflection of the real condition in American society. From the story can be seen that in America racism is still exist nowadays. The blacks in America experience intimidations and discrimination not only in the economic field, but also in the field of law. In the story, Ku Klux Klan is the most active group in giving the intimidation and discrimination as forms of practice of racism. It shows that although American Government is trying to make the blacks to be equal in American society, in fact racism still happens there. x

  

ABSTRAK

  Reksiana Septi Ningrum (2011). The Reflection of the Practice of Racism in

  

America in John Grisham’s A Time To Kill. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris,

Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Thesis ini membahas tentang karya John Grisham yang berjudul A Time to

  

Kill. Di dalam novel ini, Grisham membahas tentang isu rasisme dimana orang-orang

  kulit hitam harus melawan diskriminasi, tekanan dari lingkungan, ancaman dan juga serangan secara personal.

  Thesis ini mengemukakan tiga masalah untuk dianalisis. Pertanyaan pertama ditujukan untuk melihat bagaimana praktek rasisme diungkapkan melalui karakter- karakter yang ada di dalam novel. Yang kedua memperlihatkan reaksi dari setiap karakter dalam menghadapi praktek rasisme yang mereka alami. Yang terakhir adalah untuk menemukan bagaimana praktek rasisme dan reaksi tersebut merefleksikan keadaan di Amerika yang sebenarnya.

  Metode penelitian yang digunakan di dalam thesis ini adalah studi pustaka. Untuk menganalisa topic di atas, penulis menggunakan teori karakter, teori karakteristik, dan teori rasisme. Dalam menganalisa masalah, penulis menggunakan pendekatan socialcultural-historical. Pendekatan ini dapat digunakan untuk menganalisa rasisme yang terjadi di masyarakat Amerika. Hal ini dapat membantu penulis untuk melihat karya sastra dari sisi hubungan karya sastra tersebut dengan sejarah yang ada di Amerika pada tahun 1990an.

  Dari analisis, penulis menemukan bahwa Jake Brigance, Carl Lee Hailey, Tonya, Ellen Roark, and Ethel Twitty adalah karakter yang mengalami praktek rasisme. Mereka mengalami intimidasi, tekanan, serangan personal, salib yang dibakar, dan rumah yang dibakar yang dilakukan oleh masyarakat khususnya Klan. Reaksi setiap karakter yang dianalisis berbeda satu dengan yang lainnya. Reaksi Jake Brigance dan Ellen Roark berbeda dari karakter lain. Mereka tetap pada pendirian mereka untuk membantu Carl Lee walaupun mereka mendapat tekanan dan ancaman.

  Mereka tetap mencoba untuk memenangkan kasus tersebut dengan cara melawan rasisme. Carl Lee dan Tonya sebagai korban tidak dapat banyak bereaksi sehubungan dengan keterbatasannya. Reaksi Ethel Twitty sangat berbeda dari yang lain. Dia mencoba untuk menghindari kasus yang menyebabkan kematian suaminya. Penulis juga melihat bahwa praktek rasisme dan reaksi dari karakter merupakan refleksi dari keadaan yang sebenarnya di Amerika. Dari cerita tersebut terlihat bahwa di Amerika rasisme masih ada. Orang kulit hitam di Amerika mengalami intimidasi dan diskriminasi tidak hanya dalam bidang ekonomi, namun juga di dalam hokum. Di dalam cerita, Klan Ku Klux adalah grup yang paling aktif dalam melakukan intimidasi dan diskriminasi sebagai bentuk praktek rasisme. Hal ini memperlihatkan bahwa bahwa walaupun pemerintah Amerika mencoba untuk menciptakan persamaan bagi orang kulit hitam di Amerika, namun faktanya rasisme masih terjadi. xi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study There are many ways for human beings to enrich their knowledge, to

  express their ideas, and also their thoughts. Two of them are in reading and writing works of literature. Works of literature helps the audience to understand and to learn about what has happened in the past and in the certain society. Literature is imaginative and creative writing which has some certain qualities, and represents human experience. Literature can help readers grow their personality and intellectuality. It helps connect their readers to the cultural context and helps recognize and learn about human dreams and struggles in different societies and conditions.

  Literary works are interesting to read because they do not only give one pleasure, but also a deep knowledge of human life and social condition in a certain area and certain time. The readers of literary works may learn about what kind of human behavior and values exist in the certain society. It helps the reader to learn about human dreams, and struggles in different societies and condition. According to Wellek & Warren in their book The Theory of Literature (1956: 102), literary works can play a role as a historical document that recorded social realities, which are artistically portrayed by the author.

  More over, they stated that literature must stand in recognizable relation to life in such way that it is in any case a selection from life. In other words, literature must indeed be true to life. But it seems impossible especially for those who believe that literature is an imaginative, fictional piece of work; whereas when we concern ourselves with life, we deal with something real and factual. Therefore, the readers should make a judgment to literary works, particularly for those who agree that it is considered as a true life.

  It is also said by William H. Hudson that literature is a vital record of what men have seen in life, what they have experienced in life and what they have thought and have felt in life. They stated as follows: But furthermore, literature ‘represents’ ‘life’ and ‘life’ is in large measure, a social reality, eventhough the natural world and the inner or subjective of the individual have also been objects of literary ‘imitation’ (1958 : 94). In other words, literature is an expression of human life or expression of the life itself. Therefore, through reading a novel, we can find some values of human life by revealing its content.

  Due to the discussion about literature above, this thesis would analyze the novel of John Grisham, who is one of the best selling novelists in the world. At the beginning of his writing career, he is famous with the form of legal thriller. He has a great interest and much influenced by some cases he found in his ten years time working with a variety of criminal and civil cases in a small firm. He tries to wrapped politics and social issues into a novel. He also writes works of fiction which is mostly dealing with aspects of life in rural South.

  Through the characters, the author creates a condition which is exist in the real life, a complicated life of black family and white people behind them who are wrestling with oppression of the white society. Grisham in his novel describes how the whites treats blacks and how the blacks’ reaction upon those treats.

  The title of the novel being analyzed is A Time to Kill (1992). This novel is chosen because it is his first novel which story is about the struggle of a black man in gaining his freedom from the practice of racism that exists in his society at that time. It has ever since fought for white supremacy, and they have tried to reach this goal by any possible means including threats and even murder.

  The novel which will be discussed contains of the issues of racism. However, racism makes someone judges others by their appearance, not by their deeds. Racism can be defined as the hatred of one person by another or the belief that another person is less than human because of skin color, language, customs, place of birth or any factor. It has influenced by wars, slavery, and the formation of nations. In basic of human traits, the fact is that blacks are in the same position as whites as well. Racism is an unreasonable believe that a race is destined to be a better than the others, but what most people do not know is that it only bring injustice, hatred, and misery.

  The practice of racism makes someone have a tendency to be assumed as a criminal, and hardly gain his right in many fields such as economy, work, and also law. In fact, people have the same rights. The human rights are not

allowing people to do the practice of any discrimination including racism.

  The story illustrates that even after many decades of equal rights in the country, but certain equal rights does not qualify or seems to be important. In this novel are shown how the black family is treated. They have to fight with the discrimination, the pressure from their society, the terrors and also personal attacks. From the story the readers can see the big interference of the Ku Klux Klan who tries to show their existence.

  Character is person in dramatic or narrative work that will be interpreted by the readers to have certain attitude or quality through his conversation or action (Abrams, 1981: 20). Related to this fact, the writer is interested to analyze how John Grisham reflects the real condition in America through the experiences and reaction of the characters upon the practice of racism in his novel A Time to Kill.

B. Problem Formulation

  In order to make the discussion systematic and more focused, the writer sets two problem formulations based on the discussion above. The two problems are:

  

1. How do the characters experience the practice of racism?

  

2. How do the characters react upon the practice of racism?

  3. How do the experience and the reaction of the characters reflect the real condition on American society?

C. Objectives of the Study

  The problem formulations above are designed to explore the topic of this study. The first question is presented in order to know how the practice of racism is experienced by the characters in the story. The writer starts with choosing the characters that experience racism. There are five characters which will be analyzed here. This problem is a tool to show the practice of racism experienced by those characters. This problem will also help the second problem that is related to the intrinsic element.

  For the next problem, the writer will continue to find the reaction of the characters upon the practice of racism. This problem enriches the description of the reactions from each character which is different one from another.

  The last problem will discuss about the real condition on American society reflected by those characters’ experiences and reactions. It shows that practice of racism still exist in American life although the government tries to make equality between the whites and blacks.

B. Definition of Terms

  The clarification of some terms used in this thesis is necessary to evading misinterpretation and misunderstanding:

  1. Practice According to The Penguin English Dictionary, practice is a repeated or customary action. Racism is also the usual way something is

done by specified group or at a specified place or time (2003: 1092).

  2. Racism According to Miles in A Dictionary of Cultural & Critical Theory, a racism is a process of racialization in which social relation between people are differentiated based on their race and culture (1996: 449).

  3. Characters Abrams stated that “character are person presented in dramatic interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral and depositional qualities that are expressed in what they say – in dialogue and what they do – in action” (1981: 21).

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies A Time to Kill is the first John Grisham’s novel. It was written in 1984 and

  finished three years later. Many people do not realize that this is his first novel that he wrote. A Time to Kill was rejected by several publishers before being accepted and published in 1988.

  As stated in the first chapter, John Grisham is a writer who is famous with the form of legal thriller. His novel was much influenced by the cases that he found in his real life. One of them is dealing with the issue of racism. He shows that justice is something that really hard to come by when someone is simply black. John Grisham in his novel A Time to Kill describes the difficulty of being an African American family who lives in white society.

  Marta Liddiard in Book Reviews: A Time to Kill, by John Grisham argues that the story illustrates that even after many decades of equal rights in the country, certain equal rights do not qualify or seem to be important in this particular region. We see how a father must choose, take a gamble, a risk. A father protecting his family is like a cornered animal, he will strike if provoked, or if there is even a slight chance that more harm will come to his family.

  (http://www.helium.com, 201l).

  

  In the same page, Regina W stated that Jake and Carl Lee mount one of the most incredible legal defenses that she has ever witnessed. These two go through so much together fighting the system, the prosecution's years of experience not to mention the treats and destruction brought on by the KKK. In the end good triumphs over evil and we get a look at how much life in the south has truly changed in the last forty years. (http://www.helium.com, 2011).

  This thesis also gives other quote to improve the thesis itself and in order to give the additional knowledge about the situation in the story. Bridget stated that Grisham’s writing style involved the reader in the moral dilemmas presented in the story. Each character came with their own prejudices, issues and opinions.

  Grisham’s style in this was to give each character their voice and allow the reader to take a side. Grisham allowed the characters to tell the story which worked beautifully and gave a sense of emotions. When the KKK get involved, Jake’s life is being threatened, his family and all the people he works with. The national guard are called into the small town to keep the peace, and clashes with protesters and the KKK are heightening by day. (http://www.illiterarty.com, 2011).

  This thesis is a further development of those review in related studies above, this study is analyzing the reaction of the characters in the novel against the practice of racism. Not just the reaction of Car Lee Hailey, but also the reaction of his friends who share the same struggle. Moreover, this thesis will analyze the author’s criticism toward American racism.

  The story is beginning with the murder case executed by Carl Lee Hailey. Together with Jake Brigance, his lawyer and team, they are successful to achieve his freedom after struggle hard in a long journey and also some oppression from many sides especially from the Ku Klux Klan that attempt to show their existences.

B. Review of Related Theories

  Some theories are applied in this study. They are interconnected in order to answer and give a profound analysis of the problems that are formulated above.

  In this study, the writer analyzes to find how the practice of racism revealed through the characters, how the characters reacts upon the racism and finally the writer find out how the author criticism toward the American racism.

1. Theory of Character

  Abrams in his book A Glossary of Literary Terms (1981: 20) categorizes the characters as the main or major characters. The major character can be the center of the story. He or she is the most important character in the story and the acts of the story are focused on the character from the beginning to the ending parts of the story.

  “Characters are the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities through their dialogue and the action” (1981: 20) From the definition, we know that characters are important because of their dialogues and actions. Then, we can analyze the character through the way she or he acts and speaks. A character may remain stable or essentially unchanged in his outlook and dispositions from beginning to end of work, or he may undergo a radical change, either through a gradual development or as the result of an extreme crisis.

  This thesis is analyzing the reaction of the characters in A Time to Kill. There are five characters that must be well studied, they are the character of Jake Brigance, Carl Lee Hailey, Tonya, Ellen Roark, and Ethel Twitty. To do so, the writer will use the theory of character. By analyzing the characters deeply, the writer hopes it will help her to understand what they feel and then understand for every reaction upon the practice of racism in helping Carl Lee Hailey’s freedom.

  Character is constructed through many ways in order to make the readers understand. M.J Murphy in Understanding Unseen writes various ways to creates character. Those are:

  a. Personal description This is an author who expresses the character. Usually, the author will use person’s appearance and clothes in detail. He/she explains further about character’s face, eyes, build, skin-color, hair, castaway’s extraordinary clothing, and etc. b. Character as seen by another Character’s perspective and point of view are the media that the author used to present the character. The character’s perspective and point of view can be found in some words and phrases.

  c. Speech The author provides information about the characters through the speech of characters themselves or even with others. It is a kind of clue, which in a form of what the character says, conversation with the others, and opinion.

  d. Past life Past life can help the readers to understand and recognize the character’s characteristic. It is connected to present life. By opening the history of character’s life, the author tries to help the readers to shape character’s characteristic and personality. It is known from direct by the author, the person’s thoughts through his/her conversation or the medium of another’s person.

  e. Conversation of others The author conveys some indications characteristic of character through the conversation of people and the things they talk about him.

  f. Reactions Reactions of the character in every events and situation that described by the author can signify character’s characteristic. g. Direct comment The author does not use any others medium to build a clue for recognizing the character, but he/she gives description or comment on character’s characteristic directly. The other characters also may do this process.

  h. Thoughts Not only through the speech, the author depicts the character, but also through what the character thinks about. The author may use all his/her imagination. He/she can write anything reflect on life, even anything that is impossible to happen in this life, but acceptable in a novel. The readers are invited to learn the character’s development mentally and who really he/she is. i. Mannerisms

  The author tells the character’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies as a device to introduce the character entirely. It is a way of the author to disclose character in detail piece in order to create readers’ imagination that the character in the novel is as like real people.

2. Theory of Characterization Perrine says characterization must also observe three other principles.

  First, the character must be consistent in their behavior. They are not allowed to behave differently unless there is a clear reason for change. Second, the character must be clearly motivated in all their actions. The readers have to understand the reason of their actions. Third, the character must be plausible, a life like figures.

  The readers have to understand that all the characters are, they could appear in the real life (1974: 69).

  Rohrberger and Wood say that the prosess by which an author creates a character is called characterization.

  “There are two principle ways that an author can characterize. The first is through a direct way. It describes the physical appearance. The second, he uses a dramatic event. It means that he places in situation where he should react in particular way. His action must be motive in term that a reader can accept.” (1971: 20-21)

  It means that the way to show about characterization can be direct or indirect. In direct ways the author describes the physical appearance. Secondly is through indirect ways, where the author describes the character by how the character behaves and speaks. We can see the character implicitly.

  According to Holman in A Handbook of Literature there are some fundamental methods of characterization in fiction. The first one is there should be explicit presentation by the author about the character though direct exposition. They can be placed in the introductory block or in the action through out the words. The second one is the presentation of the characters in action that can provide a possibility for the reader to deduce the attributes of the actor from the actions. The third one is the presentation from within a character without comment by the author about the impact of the action and emotions on the characters’ inner self that can drive the reader to a clear understanding of significance of the character (1986: 61).

  The conclusion of the difference between character and characterization is that character is a figure or individual that always appears in a story and has an importance role to develop the story. Character should be plausible or life like in a story; meaning to say character should represent a person in a real life. Then, characterization is related to characters’ disposition (characteristic) in a story. The readers can see their disposition through characters’ speech, feeling, behavior, thought and reactions in a story. Moreover, the readers will understand and imagine what kind of person the character is in a story.

3. Theory of Discrimination

  Discrimination is differential treatment based on physical and social affiliation. As stated on the International Encyclopedia of Ethics it has negative impact on the human’s moral behavior (Roth, 1995: 231). There are several races that experienced discrimination such as racial, sexual, and religious discrimination. Beside that, there is also discrimination against certain cultural groups, and against the disabled.

  There are two types of discrimination; those are legal discrimination and institutional discrimination. Legal discrimination is the treatment of the law which is unequal, while the institutional discrimination (racism) is the unequal treatment based on the race in social custom. The institutional discrimination includes segregation between race, redlining by financial institutions, and continuous practice of low paying job experienced by the minority group member. The minority itself means any group whose positions is disadvantage (Roth, 1995: 232). A group of people is considered as the minority usually because they were treated unequally.

  From the theory above, it can be known that a group of people that are discriminated can be known from several characteristics, such as segregated from the society, forced to do whatever the majority class wants from them. Besides, the people who were discriminated usually live in poverty. They also usually get punished if they did not do what the majority class wants.

4. Theory of Racism

  There are many people with different customs, culture, and physical appearance living together, but not always in good condition. The different condition makes them have different attitudes and life style. It is, then to be the beginning of discrimination of race.

  According to The New Encyclopedia Britannica, racism is the theory or idea that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits of personality, intellect, or culture and combined with it, the notion that some races are inherently superior to others. The term racism has no necessary relation to biological or anthropological definition of race, a subdivision of species. Racist ideas are often indiscriminately extended to apply to such non biological and non racial grouping as religious sects, nations, linguistic groups, and ethnics or cultural groups (The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1983: 360).

  Karenga in his book Introduction to Black Studies says that racism is essentially a system of denial and deformation of the history and humanity of colored people and their right to freedom based exclusively or primarily on the specious concept of race(1993: 275)

  Donnelan states that racism is treating one group of people less favorable than another because of color, religious belief, or ethnic origin. It was once widely held that human beings belonged to different ‘races’ of people, which were defined according to physical characteristics. Racism is rooted in the belief that some ‘races’ are superior to others. Feeling of racial superiority led Europeans to colonize countries in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean, and exploit their economies (1956: 1).

  Racism leads to moral conclusions that contradict many of the most generally accepted civilized standards and have notoriously to what on ordinary grounds are inconceivable crimes. It might be claimed that ordinary standards are mistaken (The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1967: 58).

5. Theory of Setting

  One of the important elements in a story is setting. It is the intrinsic elements, which provides the background where a story takes place. Setting helps the readers to understand the story because indirectly setting creates a description of the place and the time of the character’s activities. Setting also supports the character’s role in explaining the structure of the story.

  Setting is used to enrich the meaning of a story. In a limited sense, setting refers to “the general locale and historical time”; it is when and where the action occurs. In a large sense, setting refers to the “social circumstances in which its action occurs.” It takes the social conditional or total environment in which the characters live (Abrams, 1981:175).

  th C. A Brief Review of the Practice of Racism in the United States in 20 Century. th

  In the early 20 century, urban mob violence against black increased, as white surged into Negro district, beating and shooting at random. The greatest loss of life occurred in the 25 riots of what National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) official James Weldon Johnson called “The Red Summer” of 1919. The riots came after more than 200.000 blacks had served overseas in World War I, earning the praise of French.

  Racism has existed since the beginning of history. Between 1700s and early 1900s the United States gained control of large parts of Asia and Africa.

  This colonialists justified domination on the ground that the black-, brown-, yellow-skinned “race” had to be “civilized” by the “superior” Whites in the United States held blacks in slavery. Slavery was a major cause of the American Civil War (1861-1865). The slaves were freed during the 1860, but segregation

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  and discrimination against Blacks continue in early 20 century, the United States government passed laws designed to give equal opportunities to Blacks. Even so, racial problems, which began with slavery and were fostered by discrimination and segregation, continue to plague the United States.

  The consequences of great immigration of black brought racial, violence, discrimination, and abuse in the South and North. The Ku Klux Klan rose again in

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  the 20 century. This time organized in 1915 by Colonel William J. Simmons, a preacher and promoter of fraternal orders. Ku Klux Klan is the name given to several secrete organizations in the United States, mostly in the South, that are known for believing and fighting for white supremacy. The first KKK appeared after the Civil War. It used terrorism, violence, and lynching to intimidate and persecuted African.

  The “Ku Klux Klan”, the “White Citizen Council” and many other racist organizations were founded to keep the black man “in his place” using threats, burnings and lynchings to reach this aim. But there were also new laws made in the South – the Black Codes were introduced, which limited to the movement and rights of freedmen and tried to establish the old master- and slave relationship. To keep blacks from registering to vote, poll taxes were raised, comprehension tests were held and the grandfather- clause was put into practice. (http://www.studenshelp.com, 2011).

  America experienced great economic prosperity during the 1920's but not much of it filtered to the South. Racism mixed with anger at their economic plight formed a potent cocktail.

  Racist activity in the South often took the form of riots that targeted blacks and Republicans. In 1866, a quarrel between whites and black ex-soldiers erupted into a full-fledged riot in Memphis, Tennessee. White policemen assisted the mobs in their violent rampage through the black sections of town. By the time the violence ended, 46 people were dead, 70 more were wounded, and numerous churches and schools had been burned. Just two months later, on July 30, a similar outbreak of violence erupted in New Orleans. This time, a white mob attacked the attendees of a black suffrage convention, killing 37 blacks and three whites who allied with them. (http//:www.pbs.org, 2011) Lynching and miscarriages of justice as part of the reality of American life for blacks as well, especially in the South. Twenty-four blacks died by lynching in

  1933, and before that in 1931 eight black youths were sentenced to death by an all white jury in Scottsboro, Alabama, on highly suspect charges that they had raped two white women in a freight car (Boyer, 1990: 908).

  John Grisham’s A Time to Kill told us about the condition of the black people who life in America, especially in Southern. The great immigrations happened to the Northern and Southern Cities in between 1900-1910. The great urbanization in this time came from Kentucky and Mississippi to Chicago almost 80% of Chicago from both of the countries. Du Bois noted that the most significant economic change among (Black) in the last ten or twenty years had been their influx into Northern City (Karenga, 1993: 147-148). Whites migrated to the cities with low skill and education, while the Progressive is sadly infected by the prevailing racism in American life. By 1900 cooperation and combination of business controlled whole industries dominated the economic. From the time million people, many of them immigrants living mostly in big cities, worked for low wages and skills. The problems in that era were attended to by corrupt political organization led by ‘bosses’, who were seldom concerned with the workers.

  Stikoff wrote in his The Struggle for Black Equality that by 1980, in fact, the black improvement comes because of an expanding economy. The United States makes a bigger economic pie, but black people have to compete with white people on reaching the job opportunity (1981: 236). Thus, black have to struggle for their future in order to make an improvement in their finance.

  Related to the inequality of job opportunity, business job and consumer markets in the United States have been divided by race. Racist attitudes in the part of whites and literacy rate among blacks lower than that among whites kept African Americans out of most white-controlled office work. In other words, black people rarely get a good position at work because they do not have better education than white. That is why people hardly get the equality of job opportunities among white. Blacks are still over represented in menial, farm, and service occupations; they are underrepresented in professional and managerial position; blacks tend to be unemployed longer than whites in equivalent job categories; they earn less in the same job as whites, college-educated blacks earn about the same amount of money as high school-educated whites (Turner, 1976: 190). A 1936 study of unemployment patters in Chicago reported “a prevailing sentiment that Negroes should not be hired as long as there are whites men without work” (Boyer, 1990: 908).

  In terms of family, law and public opinion supported the patriarchal system in which the husband or father was the only person who is responsible to the family. Many men went alone and sacrifice himself to make fortunes in the competitive circumstances. Boyer says that “Men, the producer of food created specialized and highly rewarded occupation to control the distribution of food and related resources. It means that as the head of the family, a man must reside with his child and make a good parental relationship with the mother of his child.

D. Theoretical Framework

  In order to answer the problems formulated in the previous chapter, it is necessary for the writer to explain the contribution of the theories and reviews that is used in the thesis.

  The theory of character and characterization are needed in this thesis since it analyzes the characters in the novel. Theory of character is used to identify and to understand what kind of behaviors that characters have. Moreover, theories of characters and characterization are used to investigate the characteristics of Jake Brigance, Carl Lee Hailey, Tonya, Ellen Roark, Ethel Twitty. In analyzing the characteristics, the writer deeply pays attention on the way the characters behaves as well as how he gives his acts and reaction. All theories will be very helpful to answer the first problem. The other theory is theory of discrimination. Theory of discrimination is used to help the writer explaining about the white characters being analyzed that they are seen and treat as a black because the other whites call them as black lovers who help the black to get what they want. The theory of racism is used to know the meaning, the history, the practice and the consequences of racism that revealed in the characters in the novel. Through the theory the writer can see whether discrimination happens individually or institutionally. The last theory is theory of setting; this theory is used to explain the last problem formulation. Since this study analyzes about the real condition in America in certain time, this theory is needed to help the writer to give a clear view about the role structure of the story being analyzed. Moreover, to get some ideas about the practice of racism experienced by black American in the twentieth century, the writer has provided a slight review on its history. Knowing the social

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  condition of black people in United States on 20 century will help the writer to know the situation of society which is struggling for their dreams.

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study

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  John Grisham was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas on 8 February, 1955. His father was a cotton farmer and a construction worker. His family settled in Southaven, Mississippi in 1967. His mother encouraged him to read variously and discouraged television watching, that is why he was deeply influenced by many authors.