35 pages • 1 hour read
Chris CroweMississippi Trial, 1955
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2002A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The River
Many of the novel’s pivotal moments happen in proximity to a river. Both significant encounters with Emmett happen here—Hiram’s saving him from drowning and also R.C. Rydell’s torturing of him. While Hiram often sees the river as a place of calm and relaxation, where he can be lulled into sleep by the sound of the water, it is also a source of anxiety. His inability to stand up to R.C. leaves him feeling shameful and guilty. The river is also where Emmett’s dead and mutilated body is found. The river, too, is a place of solace; Naomi and Hiram meet on the bridge overlooking the Yazoo River, their special place for being alone with one another and working through their difficult thoughts and feelings.
Grampa’s Pickup Truck
Grampa’s truck is the means for all of Hiram’s adventures. As a young child, they would take the pickup through Grampa’s fields, where Hiram first noticed without fully comprehending the treatment of and conditions for Grampa’s black workers. The truck is also the means for getting to the river for various fishing excursions. After his stroke, however, Grampa is unable to drive the truck himself, so it becomes a vehicle constantly on loan to those in the neighborhood. It is the pickup truck, however, that makes Grampa essentially an accomplice in Emmett’s abduction and murder. The truck is an image that is constantly present in the text, even if just lingering in the background. It is mentioned in the trial, but Hiram does not make the connection until he realizes Grampa intends to sell it. His conversation with Ralph Remington brings to light new knowledge and Hiram is forced to confront Grampa on the nature of the truck transaction and the truth behind its use.
The Courthouse
Hiram remembers being young and traveling to the courthouse in town with Grampa, where Grampa went to conduct “business,” which is never clearly articulated to Hiram. These courthouse visits bring him to Mr. Paul’s convenience counter, where he fondly recalls enjoying a rootbeer or sweet treat while in casual conversation with Mr. Paul. These moments at the courthouse shift when Hiram returns as a teenager, and Grampa’s “business” becomes more suspect to him. He continues his relationship with Mr. Paul, but the tenor of their conversation becomes more meaningful as they discuss serious social and political issues that make Hiram think more deeply. The courthouse is also problematic in terms of the judicial system. Beyond the business of the White Citizens’ Council, the courthouse where the trial for Emmett’s murder takes place becomes almost akin to a showroom and stage, where the white audience and white jury press against any of the efforts to exact justice for an innocent black child. That the courthouse, a governmental legal space, is somehow used to abuse the law and promote white privilege is a harsh reality that Hiram continues to notice during his time in Mississippi.
