How does Gilbert King initially characterize Norma Lee Tyson and Willie Haven Padgett? - Joe

In Chapter 3, “Get to Pushin’”, Gilbert King gives significant characterization to Norma Lee Tyson and Willie Haven Padgett, even more so than to Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irwin. Instead of demonizing Norma Lee and Willie, he gives a balanced perspective on their personalities. The two individuals’ personas are derived mostly from the judgment of others and reader sympathy.

Gilbert King constructs the personalities of Willie and Norma Lee through analyzing their relationships. There are a variety of relationships he uses to characterize them. The first relationship he uses is that between Willie and Norma Lee, the second relationship is that between Norma Lee and her father Coy Tyson, and the third relationship is that between Willie and Coy Tyson.  There is a tremendous amount of tension in each of these relationships. Willie and Norma Lee married young, but were “separated before their first anniversary” (King 34). Coy Tyson, Norma’s disapproving father, did not like that his daughter had married Willie, because of Willie’s frequent carousing and abusive behavior towards Norma. The relationship between Norma Lee and her father was further strained, because of Norma’s lewd behavior. The reader feels sympathy towards Norma Lee and Willie because of these stressed relationships and their portrayal as careless youth.

Much of what we initially learn about Willie and Norma is based on statements from judgmental onlookers. We never get a sense of what they are like from their perspective, but rather, we continue to see them described through the perspective of others. For instance, when describing Norma Lee’s lewd behavior Gilbert King writes, “her reputation around town was ‘not good,’ according to one white woman who knew her, and ‘a bad egg’ is how another local described her” (King 35). This emphasizes how Norma Lee and Willie are often negatively portrayed in the pubic eye, and foreshadows their very public position in the Groveland Boys Case.

What’s the importance of Point of View in Gilbert King’s “Devil in the Grove”? - Joe

Gilbert King presents the happenings of the Groveland Trail in a third person view. This is primarily interesting, because in a trial, each witness tells his or her own personalized account of the incident at question. During a trial, there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty onto what exactly happened, and thus, each viewpoint is uniquely biased. Therefore, when discussing a book that details the events leading up to a trial, the perspective of the narrator is an incredibly important element to consider. The viewpoint from which the author chooses to tell the story has significant ramifications on the accuracy of the story and its believability.

Gilbert King’s extensive research and meticulous citation sufficiently cover this issue. In compiling a variety of different sources on the Groveland Trail, King is able to construct a balanced historical account of the incident. It allows him to establish a clear viewpoint from which he can tell the progression of events leading up the trial in Groveland.

Gilbert King chooses to represent these events linearly and definitively. He establishes a constant overseeing voice of truth. As a result, before the trial actually takes place, the reader has an accurate account of the incident in question. This establishes dramatic irony later in the book, where the reader knows the exact happenings of a trial, but no legal consensus has come about yet, creating suspense.

A third person narrator, like the one Gilbert King utilizes, allows for the reader to gain an accurate historical account of the incident, experience the confusion of the people involved in the trial through dramatic irony, and follow a readable linear progression. Since the reader has a voice of truth to look to, Gilbert King gains the trust of the reader, so that the reader is not constantly questioning the validity of the arguments he presents.

Also thought this was an interesting bit on McCall - Chris

What did King intend for the theme to be? - Miles

The book touches on many different themes. Racism, morality, confusion, and mainstream acceptance are just a few I can think of. But which one did King really intend to convey as the main theme for the book?

While most nonfiction books aren’t really themed, this one seems different. As we’ve discussed a bunch of times already (too many times), this book takes a historical event and approaches it in a heavily researched and almost dramaticized way. Because it’s crafted this way, it deals with the harshness and reality of racism during the forties. It also takes us through how commonplace incidents like this, where young black men were accused of crimes with little to no evidence pointing to their guilt, and were rushed through unfair trials with all-white juries and executed, unless they were lynched by vicious mobs first. To me, it seemed as though King was just trying to inform colorfully, with highly descriptive language and graphic pictures throughout the book. But it also seemed like he wanted the reader to take out of it the fact that so many people just went along with that, being told that blacks were simply inferior. One idea I had was that he may be trying to show how horrible and cruel people can be just because of a deeply rooted prejudice, and how, in the case of Sheriff McCall, they may literally not care about what they’re doing or see how bad it is. It’s not really a theme, but it’s definitely a thought that he may have been trying to convey along with the recapping of the historical event. Do you guys think he was trying to convey a theme at all, or just telling this story?

How does Dante’s “Inferno” complicate Gilbert King’s “Devil in the Grove”? - Joe

Dante’s “Inferno” epic has interesting parallels to Gilbert King’s “Devil in the Grove.” After an analysis of the two texts, clear parallels arise between them. However, it is far from an allegorical relationship. Gilbert King uses allusions to Dante’s “Inferno” in his own book in order to drive home a point.

The aforementioned, deliberate characterization of Thurgood Marshall as an everyman sets the stage for him to be represented as Dante. Most readers recognize Marshall as central figure in the civil rights movement and as the first African-American Supreme Court Justice. After Marshall is characterized in the opening chapters through literary tactics involving sympathy, humor, and admiration, the readers see Marshall as a relatable individual on a quest to achieve the success they know him for; they see Marshall as an everyman.

One connection between the two texts is in the title of Gilbert King’s book: “Devil in the Grove.” As mentioned earlier in the “Title Analysis” blog entree, the title “Devil in the Grove” may directly refer to Sheriff Willis McCall, where sheriff is the “Devil” and “The Grove” or Groveland is hell. In depicting Sheriff Willis McCall as the devil, Gilbert King emphasizes that he sees the Sheriff as the focal point and origin of all evil in Groveland. The sheriff represents the core of the South’s disillusionment and corruption, and represents all that Thurgood Marshall is trying to fight.

Synthesizing these two elements Gilbert King makes a clear connection to “Inferno”. Marshall, as seen through the lens of “Dante”, seeks to achieve “salvation”, which is winning trials, advancing the position of African Americans, and saving the life of Walter Irwin. But in order to reach this, Marshall must first travel deep into the South or “Hell” via segregated train cars. Through his journey into the underworld he encounters many dangers in the form of threats against him. Eventually he confronts the “Devil” or Sheriff Willis McCall in the “inner circle of hell” or Groveland. In order to achieve the “salvation” of saving Walter Irwin’s life he must put himself directly in harms way and outwit the “Devil”.

Gilbert King uses allusions to Dante’s “Inferno” in order characterize Marshall, and emphasize the horrible injustice of the South. Dante’s Journey through Hell in order to reach salvation is a perfect metaphor for what “Marshall” had to do in his early career: travel into the most unjust and dangerous places in the South in order to serve justice and promote equality for African Americans.

To go with the comment to Miles's post about trying McCall - Chris

How has America changed since this case? - Miles

So obviously America has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. Just 150 years ago, we still had widespread slavery, a practice which made our country laughably hypocritical (Land of the Free, all men are created equal). Since 1949, we’ve passed Civil Rights Laws, and we’ve even elected an African-American President. But can we really say we’re a completely different country?

I think it’s interesting to think about both how much we’ve done and how little we’ve done as a country. While many are far more tolerant now than in 1949, racism still poses an enormous and hypocritical problem to our country. Again, we are called the nation that accepts everyone, the melting pot of all cultures, but there’s still such huge wealth distribution and race relation issues, and there is even still enormous amounts of racism in the region where this occurred. The question to consider here is, have we done more work than we still need to do to get this country to a place where everyone is equal?