Free Sample Essays > North American
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The analysis of "The Client" by John Grisham
ordinary child, to enjoy the most careless period of his life - childhood, you even wish to give him that childhood, to show him the way from the labyrinth of injustice and fear. His words scare the reader in both the good and the bad sense of the word: “So we just pack up and leave our lives behind, right? That’s easy for you to say, Reggie. You’re not the one who’ll have the nightmares. You’ll go on like nothing ever happened. <...> But not us. We’ll live in fear for the rest of our lives.” (pg. 402) His wisdom frightens and enchants at the same time: “One good thing about jail is that it allows you to think a lot.” (pg. 463) And just imagine an eleven-year-old boy saying that he is too old for games! It is scaring, but when you muse upon what Mark has suffered since his early days, what he has had to confront in his short life, it seems so natural and understandable. Life has stolen his childhood, has stolen the joy of being an eleven-year-old. Boyhood will never return, you can be a child only once in the lifetime:
“ <...> you can live in Orlando and go to Disney World every day.”
“That’d be okay for Ricky. I’m too old. I’ve heard the tickets are very expensive.” (pg. 462)
A person can learn a lot from this boy how to cope with life. It seems to Mark that grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them:
“Mark, I can’t take any more of this, okay? This may be fun games for you, but I’m fifty-two years old and I’ve had it. I can’t believe I’m hiding in this jungle at one o’clock in the morning.”
He put his forefinger over his lips. “Shhhhhh. You’re talking too loud. And this isn’t a game.”
“Dammit, I know it’s not a game! Don’t lecture me.”
“Keep your cool, Reggie. We are safe now.” (pg. 524)
Along his way to security, on the road of danger and fear, Mark Sway meets an array of colourful personalities, the most important of them being Reggie Love - the only Mark’s ally, a 52-year-old warm-faced woman with comforting eyes and short grey hair, a woman who has been a lawyer for all four years. She is very smart and worth confidence, besides she perfectly knows her job, but still she is a human first, then a lawyer, she can do anything to protect her little client: “ <...> some kids need lawyers, though most of them don’t know it. And most lawyers are too busy making money to worry about kids. She wants to help. <...> She’ll work for no fee if she believes in the client.” (pg. 327) Reggie feels Mark, she feels his pain and enormous fear, she is Mark’s friend, and the human contact is inspiring when the boy trusts her with his life, when she listens to him and is eager [next page]