What does the title “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and
the Dawn of a New America” mean, and what does it reveal about the book’s
composition?
The title of Gilbert King’s thoroughly researched,
biographical, and dramatic novel is off-putting. Juxtaposed on my bookshelf
next to the franker and more generic historical titles “Jack Kennedy: Elusive
Hero” and “1434”, the title “Devil in the Grove” conceals deeper meaning.
To most uninformed readers, the title “Devil in the Grove” has
no obvious connection to the historical accounts of which the book details. The
only direct connection it has to the content of the book is to the name of the
town, Groveland, Florida, where the proceedings of the book’s central trial
take place. Despite this, this trial, as noted by the author in the prolog of
his book, is “barely mentioned in civil rights history, law texts, or the many
biographies of Thurgood Marshall” (King 4), thus most history readers would
rarely recognize it. Also, although the book has a subtitle that makes mention of
Thurgood Marshall and the Groveland Boys, the subtitle is significantly smaller
then the main title, less artistically detailed, and off-placed on the cover of
the book. It is neither referred to on the book’s binding nor on the top of the
book’s pages. As a result, it is evident that the primary title emphasis is placed
on the book’s main title “Devil in the Grove.”
A non-specific title, such as “Devil in the Grove”, is an
uneconomical decision when it comes to history books. Often readers look to
history books for information on a topic, so with regards to readers with a
research objective, a nonspecific title would hinder sales. Thus, in naming the
book “Devil in the Grove”, Gilbert King clearly defies a literary norm. He does
this in order to make a statement about his research and about the content of
his book. His decision warrants further analysis:
“Devil” connotes ideas such as hell, demon, supreme,
supernatural, enemy, evil, sin, antithesis of god, tempter, trickster, origin
of wrong doing, infamous, the highest power. “In” can mean both imbedded within
and residing at. “The Grove” connotes words such as forest, thicket, backyard, and
hedge. “The Grove” can have the negative connotations of uncertainty, loss, and
fear or it can have the positive connotations of neighborly, friendly, and
serene. In deconstructing the title, a variety
of possible meanings are revealed.
One standout interpretation of the title is its personification,
in which the character Sherriff Willis McCall is characterized as the “Devil in
the Grove”. In this interpretation “The Grove” refers to Groveland, Florida, the
location he resides at. The ambiguity of the tone of “The Grove” in the book’s
title alludes to the double sidedness of William McCall’s character. Gilbert
King presents Sherriff Willis McCall as a man who represents, in every sense,
what is wrong with the segregated South. The responsibility of a sheriff is to
promote justice and uphold the law, a viewpoint of McCall, which was held by
the majority of the townsmen in Grooveland, Florida. Although in reality,
Sherriff Willis McCall, half attempting to act in the town’s “greater good,”
resorted to unjust and often brutal measures in order to convict his victims
and maintain unbalanced race relations. McCall not only abused his African
American suspects into submission, but also committed acts of homicide in order
to ensure his success. He represented the core of the South’s disillusionment
and corruption, he represents all that Thurgood Marshall is trying to fight,
and so, serves as an interesting focal point for the book.
The second interpretation is one in which “Devil” represents
the idea of “sin”, “evil”, and “disorder”, related with “the Grove”, which
represents the construct of “a town”, “a neighbor”, or “a familiar place”. With
this interpretation, Gilbert King is calling attention to the wrongdoings of the
common folk, who daily, reinforce the injustice of segregation. More directly,
“The Grove” represents those who were negatively involved in the trial of the
Groveland Boys and segregation in general, and “Devil” represents their “sin”
in doing this. These individuals and groups include the KKK, the racist
townspeople, and the biased jury in the initial conviction of Samuel Shepherd,
Walter Irwin, Ernest Thomas, and Charles Greenly.
The third interpretation is more vague. “Devil” could
directly symbolize the idea of “segregation”, and “Grove”, interpreted with a
more positive connotation, represents the construct of a “backyard”. In the
book, Gilbert King calls attention to the atrocities that occurred in
Groveland, Florida, and the great deal of other cases talked about in
describing Marshall’s early work with the NAACP. All of the trials that Gilbert
King discusses are true and symbolic of the more encompassing idea of southern
segregation. The atrocities detailed in the book occurred just sixty years ago,
in our home country, an idea that is extremely hard to comprehend.
I like that you found the "devil" was consequential and not just a placeholder title. Not trying to draw yet another connection to a different work because its this book being discussed, but i find it very interesting that the words devil and grove are used explicitly and think that a connection can be drawn to Inferno. Marshall is in a way this pilgrim traveling into these segregationist towns and he becomes so embroiled in groveland that he journeys to the very depths of hell and sees the horrors that lie there.
ReplyDeleteI think the most likely meaning behind the title is "an atrocity in a familiar place". Obviously, this would be racism/segregation in America, the "land of opportunity". I think this title goes hand in hand with Heart of Darkness. Both Darkness and Devil heavily imply something sinister, something deeply rooted in where they are but something caused by the people there and something barely understood. I don't believe King put as much thought into naming this book as Conrad did, however, the main difference being, one is nonfiction and one is fiction. This, of course, isn't to say that they aren't still similar to the point of almost belonging to the same genre. Heart of Darkness serves as a sort of summation of Belgium's destruction of the Congo, whereas Devil in the Grove uses one specific example to show the entirety of racism in the USA. Both titles examine the almost unbelievable and twisted cruelty occurring for no reason at all, and how commonplace it is. When Marlow arrives in the Congo, not one Englishman thinks ill of what they are doing. All simply know it as the norm, just simply what happens there. The same goes for the white Floridians and KKK members, all just know blacks as inferiors and savages, completely unaware or unwilling to admit their own culpability.
ReplyDeleteSorry for ranting a bit there, I just couldn't help but talk about how similar the two titles are in how much meaning they carry. But to repeat myself, I think the true meaning behind King's title is "heinous atrocity in a familiar place", one where it seems almost foreign and all too twisted.