Law And Social Aspects In ‘The Firm’ Written By John Grisham

Zareen Fatima, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad

ABSTRACT

A novel that deals with a plethora of themes, ranging from human greed for money to crime and justice is "The Firm" by John Grisham. The Book gives us a glimpse of what human greed could do to a healthy man even with a high intellect. The main character 'Mitch McDeere', who belonged to a humble background, and graduated from Harvard Law school, chooses a firm with a low reputation only for the sake of earning a grand. Which later lands him in trouble. This instance projects the extent to which humans must go, to climb the ladder of social hierarchy. The novel also gives us an understanding of social hierarchy's influence on human occupation. There is a constant tug of war between two lines of character, throughout the story. One is an honest and earnest man with empty pockets, and the other is a corrupt and misleading man with a heavy bank account. Mitch McDeere shows us a slow transition from the former character line to the latter. The story primarily revolves around the societal pressure to earn well, which leads to an innocent man committing a crime. The research aims to find an answer to the question ‘do actions emerging from societal conditioning have legal implications?’

Keywords: Social Hierarchy, occupation, devious character, honesty.