John Grisham is a influential writer that has written many thrillers. “A Painted House” reflects on the life of a impoverished farm boy in Black Oak, Arkansas. John Grisham’s life influenced his novel A Painted House by helping convey what it was like for a poor, working child in rural Arkansas in the early 50’s.
Firstly, the book starts out in 1952 in Black Oak, Arkansas; Black Oak is a small farm town in far northeast Arkansas. The books setting was in Black Oak for the entirety of the book until the end. Black Oak is also where Grisham lived when he was young, although his parents lived in Black Oak he was born in Jonesboro because it was the closest town with a hospital for him to be born in. The book and his real life do have a few years …show more content…
He uses the unpainted house that Luke lives in to show the classification of humans based on their wealth. Luke’s family has never had money to paint their house and Hank repeatedly pestered him about it telling him that even his family had a painted house and they were just hill people, “You ain’t gonna believe this, boy, but our house’s got paint on it, White paint. You ever seen paint boy?” (Grisham 62) Luke was humiliated, he ran away into the fields and cried. Foreshadowing is also a great literary element used in the novel to create tension in the story. It was a saturday afternoon in the chandlers stayed at home instead of making their traditional trip into town on saturdays. Luke went out by the barn and started throwing pop flies, this created a crowd and commotion and eventually the Mexicans, hill people, and some of the chandlers were at the barn. Cowboy was a breathtaking pitcher, he had a true skill. Hank batted up against him and was struck out multiple times in humiliation. Hank angered by this threw the ball with all his might threw the ball at Cowboy striking him in the ribs. Cowboy retaliated by pulling out his switchblade and provoking Hank to come closer, “and a very long switchblade popped free…. With his left hand, Cowboy made a slight, beckoning motion, as if to say, Come on, big boy.” (Grisham 123) This foreshadows when Cowboy violently kills hank with his switchblade and dumps him in the river. The element created tension from the time the switchblade was shown to the time of the killing, everyone knew they now had to be cautious around
Firstly, the book starts out in 1952 in Black Oak, Arkansas; Black Oak is a small farm town in far northeast Arkansas. The books setting was in Black Oak for the entirety of the book until the end. Black Oak is also where Grisham lived when he was young, although his parents lived in Black Oak he was born in Jonesboro because it was the closest town with a hospital for him to be born in. The book and his real life do have a few years …show more content…
He uses the unpainted house that Luke lives in to show the classification of humans based on their wealth. Luke’s family has never had money to paint their house and Hank repeatedly pestered him about it telling him that even his family had a painted house and they were just hill people, “You ain’t gonna believe this, boy, but our house’s got paint on it, White paint. You ever seen paint boy?” (Grisham 62) Luke was humiliated, he ran away into the fields and cried. Foreshadowing is also a great literary element used in the novel to create tension in the story. It was a saturday afternoon in the chandlers stayed at home instead of making their traditional trip into town on saturdays. Luke went out by the barn and started throwing pop flies, this created a crowd and commotion and eventually the Mexicans, hill people, and some of the chandlers were at the barn. Cowboy was a breathtaking pitcher, he had a true skill. Hank batted up against him and was struck out multiple times in humiliation. Hank angered by this threw the ball with all his might threw the ball at Cowboy striking him in the ribs. Cowboy retaliated by pulling out his switchblade and provoking Hank to come closer, “and a very long switchblade popped free…. With his left hand, Cowboy made a slight, beckoning motion, as if to say, Come on, big boy.” (Grisham 123) This foreshadows when Cowboy violently kills hank with his switchblade and dumps him in the river. The element created tension from the time the switchblade was shown to the time of the killing, everyone knew they now had to be cautious around