About the Author
John Ray Grisham Jr. was born on February 8, 1995. He was an American novelist, lawyer/attorney, politician, activist and author. He is best known for his popular legal thriller. He graduated from Mississippi State University. He received a J. D. Degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He practiced criminal law for about a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from January 1984 to September 1990
Characters:
Theodore Boone: kid Lawyer
Theo Boone, also known as kid lawyer, is a 13 years-old boy. He is only one child of busy lawyers Woods Boone and Marcella Boone. He is the protagonist of the novel ‘THEODORE BOONE: HALF THE MAN TWICE THE LAWYER’ by John Ray Grisham. Theo studies at grade 8. He is a well-developed character, likeable, kind, intelligent, mature & sometimes has an air of superiority around him. firstly, he is undecided about his future. One day he dreamed of being a famous trial lawyer, one who handled the biggest cases and never lost before juries. The next day dreamed of being a great judge, noted for his wisdom and fairness. When Judge Gantry declared mistrial to avoid Peter Duffy walk free, he decided to be a judge just like him.
Theodore, often known as "Theo" Boone is a fictional character created by the novelist. He knows all the policeman and judges in the city. Despite being a student, he spends most of his time in the court. Therefore, Theo finds himself in court much sooner than expected. He helps the judge to convict the cold-blooded murder, Peter Duffy.
Woods Boone-
Woods Boone is Theo’s father, the man in his early fifties but seemed to much older for Theo. Woods Boone was widely known by his first name, was a real estate lawyer who never goes to the court for case and never argued before a judge. He never addressed a jury and called himself as an office lawyer. Contrary to his wife, he was not interested in fashion; his firm is not so well furnished, not cleaned and not well-managed. He regards April Finnemore’s family “non-traditional” since her parents had been arrested on drug charges. As the novel is a thriller for children, Theo sometimes pronounced the name of his father quickly and it sounded like “woodspoon”.
Marcella Boone-
Marcella Boone is a minor character in the novel THEODORE BOONE: HALF THE MAN TWICE THE LAYER. She is Theo’s mother, a noted divorce lawyer who loves fashion. Therefore, she spends much of her income to be looked herself beautiful. She keeps her law firm well-managed and well-furnished. Her firm looks smart.
Mr. Peter Duffy (49 yrs.)-
He was the second husband of Myra Duffy and accused of murdering his own wife, Myra Duffy. On the day of the murder, Mr. Duffy played golf, something he did almost every Thursday. He teed off at 11:00 am according to the computer log in the golf shop. He was alone, which was not unusual, as he always used his own electric golf cart. He was a serious golfer who kept score and didn’t cheat. According to the claim made by Mr. Hogan, he began playing golf after he bought the life insurance policy
Myra Duffy –
She is the murdered woman in the novel. She was murdered when she was 46 years old. She was the mother of two sons, Will and Clark, both college students. Her first husband had been killed in a plane crash when the sons were little boys. Mr. Peter Duffy was her second husband and also, she was his second wife.
Mr. Mount-
Mr. Mount is in his mid-thirties and he once works as a lawyer. He is Theo’s government teacher/the debate teacher of class 8 and he wanted the whole class to go the court and see the trial as their field trip. He is Theo’s favorite teacher. He loved teaching. He considers the classroom far more important than the courtroom.
April Finnemore-
Theo’s childhood friend (since they could remember. She dressed like a boy, i.e. she wears jeans, hiking boots and a navy sweater. She is beautiful but has a problem. Her parents are divorcing and she has to choose one but she doesn’t like to stay with either one. She is an artist. Theo loves her. She was beautiful as well as a good artist also and she had drawn a picture of Theo standing in front of the court and saying “overruled” and the juries laughing at him on the background & she had given this picture on his birthday
Madam Monique –
She is a tall, dark lady from Cameroon in West Africa & had moved to Strattenburg three years earlier when her husband, also from Cameroon took a job at the local college where he taught languages. She had grown up speaking Beti (her tribal dialect) as well as French and English.
Jack Hogan (Chapter 5)-
prosecutor wearing a dark suit, who tries to prove Peter Duffy as culprit. Everyone made a joke of his dark suit that whether he had only one dark suit or other also because he wore a black suit every day. He handles the major cases in Strattenburg. He is tall, wiry and bald. He rarely smiles but begins his opening statement with a friendly “good morning” and introduces himself.
Mr. Hogan placed his fingers against his own carotid artery, on the right side of his neck to reveal the true cause of death of Mrs. Duffy. He said that the person who killed Mrs. Duffy grabbed her from behind and pressed firmly on her carotid artery. Mr. Hogan placed his fingers against his own carotid artery, on the right side of his neck and he said “Ten seconds of firm pressure in just the right place and you lose consciousness”. He wants to prove that how Mrs. Duffy was attacked and killed. His intention is to show the audience that if a person is pressed firmly on his/her carotid artery for a while he/she loses consciousness and collapse, and ultimately died as it had happened to Mrs. Duffy.
Clifford Nance (Chapter 5) –
He is the defense lawyer who tries to protect Mr. Duffy claiming that there is no proof/evidence to prove Mr. Peter Duffy as the murderer. He is a top criminal district lawyer in the state wearing a dark suit, shifty(dishonest). He was about sixty with gray hair over his ears, a thick chest and arms, and swagger. He blames Mr. Hogan for playing a ‘Maybe Game’. He claims that Mr. Duffy is not the murderer, but he will be testified.
Sandy Coe-
Theo’s friend, pleasant boy, an eighth grader at the middle school, but in a different section. He wanted Theo’s suggestion because he and his family were also in the problem that their parents had borrowed a hundred and twenty thousand for a thirty-year mortgage but they had not made the monthly payments in four months, and the bank wants to take their house (a force closure). Theo asks Coe’s father’s and mother’s name to find detail about the foreclosure (a person who owns a home can’t make the mortgage payments and the bank wants to take the house). After finding the detail, he says that his parents cannot help, so he asks her to meet bankruptcy lawyer Steve Monzingo
What is Sandy Coe’s problem? (p.39)
What is foreclosure? (p.39)
What is a mortgage? (p.40)
Emily Green-
Myra’s sister, who was 44 and lived in Strattenburg, worked as a fitness counselor. As Myra Duffy was going to her home for lunch, she began calling Mrs. Duffy’s cell phone, ten calls over the next two hours, and became concerned enough that she drove to Waverly Creek, to the Duffy home and found her sister dead on the living room carpet. She thought that her sister could’ve simply fainted. She informed the police and together, they thought that she had died of a heart attack or a stroke or some other natural cause. Later they became suspicious because Mrs. Duffy was only forty-six, she was fit and had no any history of drug abuse.
Omar Cheepe-
Omar was thick, powerfully built, with a large round head that he kept shaved. he was not a lawyer but he was well known in legal circles. He was former federal agent of some variety. He, now, has his own firm. He specialized in investigations and surveillance (observation) and other activities that lawyers needed from time to time. He was helping Clifford.
Bobby Escobar
· Julio’s cousin, from El Salvador, (page 110)
· A man of eighteen or nineteen
· He works out the golf course in Waverly Creek (He cuts grass, puts water in the coolers, all that sorts of stuffs)
· He was working on the day of the murder. He was eating lunch. His lunch starts at 11:30 ad goes to 12. He is very home sick, mostly he sneaks away from others and eats alone. He carries his family photo and looks at it every time he eats. He sends money for the family every month.
· He was sitting under some trees in a dogleg (a sharp bend especially on a road or in a golf course) – almost hiding
· an illegal migrant (so he sneaks from others/hides). He can also be taken as faceless witness in this novel
· he had seen a person on the day when Mrs. Duffy was murdered. The man hurriedly took golf shoes opened & door went inside as door was not locked. Julio’s cousin was living in Quarry which was one of the rough parts where the lower income people live & illegal migrant live & the crime goes there. The man wearing white gloves on left hand, wasn’t normal because most of them wore on the right hand. The strange part is that the man reached door took off shoes & put them by back door &pulled out another glove & quickly put two white gloves on his right hand.
The man came back walked, around the patio (veranda) for a minute, took his time, looked up and removed both gloves and put them in golf bag. Later he knew that a woman was murdered in the Waverly Creek on that day. It became a News in television.
Mr. Duffy was shown as culprit & Bobby was quite sure that the man shown on the television was just like the man whom he saw entering the house. Bobby was illegal so he doesn’t want to come and tell anybody or become a witness because he might be caught by police. If he was caught, his family couldn’t survive as his family was poor and was depended on him
Judge Gantry-
His full name is Henry Gantry. A close friend to Theo’s parents and Theo’s honorable judge. He is the one who has to decide whether Peter Duffy is a culprit or not. He behaves friendly to Theo and sometimes asks Theo’s opinion about the murder case. He is a popular Judge who can indirectly take opinion from the society, or let’s say public opinion.
Elsa: -
Elsa Miller had worked for Boones since long before Theo was born. She was the receptionist, secretary, office manager, and paralegals when needed (p. 32). She was very important in the lives of Boones. Theo considered her a friend and confidante ( a person that you trust and who you talked to about private and secret things.
Dorothy: -
The real estate secretary, a nice lady
Julio:
Julio informed Theo about his cousin, Bobby Escobar who works in the golf course in Waverly Creek and saw something wrong with a man on the day of the murder. But Julio was worried about his cousin that the police would arrest him.
Ike Boone
Ike Boone is Theo’s Uncle with whom Theo shared the secret about Booby Escobar but he didn’t tell his name as he promised Julio not to tell anyone. Ike has ideas about the mistrial. He helped Theo to open his mouth to the parents about the mysterious witness/faceless witness/surprise witness what Judge Gantry called phantom witness.
Ms. Finney
The court reported assigned to the Duffy trail was a Ms. Finney. She was the best in town, according to what Theo had heard around the courthouse. As in every trial, Ms. Finney sat at the foot of the bench, below the judge and next to the witness chair. Her job was to record every word spoken by the judge, the lawyers, witnesses and finally jury. Using the stenograph machine, Ms. Finney could easily take down 250 words a minute.
After the trial, she would translate the shorthand to a typed, neat transcript of what was said during the trial.
