The Chamber by John Grisham Essays -- Chamber John Grisham Essays

The Chamber by John Grisham   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Chamber, by John Grisham, was basically an attack on capital punishment. Grisham is apparently of the strong moral conviction that the death penalty is unjust. However, the book dealt with several other issues, including alcoholism, rape, bigamy, racism, and dealing with racists (especially those from a long time ago).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Chamber is a work of fiction in novel form. Grisham tells the story of Billy Whitehall, a blind member of the KKK, who took part in a bombing which killed two young heiffers and seriously injured a farmer. Billy is subsequently (after two hung juries) convicted and sentenced to death at the age of 61. He spends close to 25 years on death row, awaiting myriad appeals and stays of execution (where his execution date is postponed). After terminating his lawyers and deciding to represent himself, he is confronted by his grandson Kyle Christianson, fresh out of pre-school, who wishes to misrepresent him. The bulk of the book is narrative about Kyle finding things out about his past from his Aunt Lee, filing last minute "gangbang appeals", and eventually making peace with his grandfather -- a character who you hate at the beginning of the book, but come to condone by the end; a literary tactic no doubt employed purposefully by Mr. Grisham to assist him in persuading you that the death penalty is wrong. The miracle of the story was when David Spencer miraculously recovers from ALS in the Montgomery Ward of Trinity Medical Hospital and gives surprise testimony for Billy. Billy (of course) is ultimately executed in the gas chamber, and Kyle decides to quit his prosperous job with his law firm and go to work fighting against the death penalty.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Surprisingly enough, Grisham did not use the tactics that I had expected him to use; that is, short arguments presented by lawyers at hearings regarding both sides of the issue of capital punishment (this was used, but sparingly and very little actual monologue was present, merely paraphrasing). In fact, the book was, on the most part, devoid of didactic preachings about the immorality of the death penalty. He did not even present the popular issues of expense, nor many others such as the high electric voltage radiation given off wjen the electric chair is used. Instead, he presented a story which was designed to have peo... ...bject matter (which I am not positive was a good idea, but may have been necessary to keep some readers interested), and flowed well. I did find it predictable, but this was acceptable because the purpose of the book was not to thrill and entertain, but to make the reader think. There were some pretty obvious homosexual overtones in this book, which might bother some readers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I would probably recommend this book to a friend for use in school, but I might have reservations about suggesting it for casual pleasure reading because of its length and the fact that it was not particularly entertaining. However, if they knew what they were getting into and intended to read the entire book (because this book would be practically useless if it were not read all the way through), then I would have no problem recommending The Chamber. Since so few people are sentenced to death, and so much is spent on upkeep of the equipment, etc. (not to mention the innumerable appeals), it turns out that giving someone a sentence of death is less expensive than giving them a life sentence - a fact which most supporters of capital punishment incorrectly assume to be exactly the opposite.