Sparring Partners

“Strawberry Moon” is a condemnation of capital punishment and incarceration in the United States, and an argument for The Importance of Allowing for Second Chances. While Cody was condemned for his actions at age 14, he has spent his life on death row in productive and laudatory activism for the rights of fellow inmates—a juxtaposition that highlights the pointless irrevocability of the death penalty when evaluating the complexity and nuance of a human life.

In the hours leading up to his death, Cody meets with or hears from a number of representatives of the legal system who demonstrate the complex nature of the criminal justice system: Although Grisham suggests the system is corrupt at all levels, he also highlights the good work of individuals hoping to achieve justice. Some of these individuals—like his lawyer, Jack, and a friendly guard named Marvin—support Cody even when the establishment rules say they should not. Marvin, for example, risks his career when he allows Cody a moment of freedom in the prison yard shortly before his execution. This act of kindness is in keeping with the assertion that “he treated [the prisoners] well and expected the same from the other guards” (132). Jack similarly risks his legal career when, in defiance of the governor and Supreme Court, he calls Cody’s execution “barbaric” and “immoral” (164) on television. Both Marvin and Jack are examples of people working within the criminal justice system to defend the vulnerable, even when to do so is unpopular or dangerous. Their example is contrasted by malicious actors, such as the unnamed warden who tried to prevent incarcerated people from receiving books. Equally malicious is the governor, who refuses to grant Cody clemency, despite the fact that he did not commit murder and that he was convicted as a minor, because the politician is “much more sympathetic to the victims of this horrible crime” who are “opposed to clemency” (164). The emphasis in this passage on individual feelings highlights the injustice and irrationality of the death penalty as a punishment.

The slow revelation of details across the novella—typically used for the purposes of suspense in a thriller—here helps to strengthen Grisham’s condemnation of the criminal justice system and capital punishment by introducing nuance and complexity. Readers with knee-jerk reactions in favor of capital punishment are slowly made to see the injustice of the situation. The first time Cody’s case is mentioned, the crime is described in fairly stark terms: Cody was “convicted of killing Dorothy and Earl Baker in their rural home during a botched break-in and robbery” (132). The rural setting of the crime and old-fashioned names of the victims create a sense of vulnerability. A few pages later, that the reader learns Cody was himself extremely vulnerable: “I was fifteen years old in that courtroom, with a terrible lawyer. The jury hated me and I hated them. I never had a chance” (134). Later, more troubling details about Cody’s childhood emerge: His mother, a sex worker, abandoned him shortly after he was born, and he struggled through a series of foster homes before finally escaping with his brother, Brian. Cody describes himself and his brother as “outcasts […], orphans, pathetic kids who were not supposed to be born” (145). The horrific details of Cody’s childhood are intended to soften the reader’s perspective and shift their opinion on the justice of his execution. Moments before the governor denies Cody’s clemency, solidifying Cody’s fate, it is revealed that he did not pull the trigger on the night the Bakers died. The timing of this revelation highlights the wrong of his execution, which is proceeding despite the fact that Cody is not the killer—his death penalty is misplaced vengeance rather than justice.

Although the details of Cody’s case are uniquely horrifying, the lack of setting markers indicating where and when the story takes place emphasizes its universality and allows for an allegorical reading. In this interpretation, Cody is representative of all incarcerated people on death row, suggesting that the injustices described here could take place anywhere in the United States, at any point in time. The fact that the prison, state, and governor are unnamed underscores that all instances of capital punishment are as potentially unjust as this one.