Devil In The Grove By Gilbert King Sparknotes

Devil in the Grove is a non-fictional book written by Gilbert King. King’s purpose throughout the book is to take an outside look on Thurgood Marshall’s life and the story of the Groveland Boys. Although, at first, the organization may cause the reader to feel that the story jumps around, in the end one should realize how its organization helped build the themes of this book.

King’s beginning purpose was to give insight on Thurgood Marshall and his works. In doing so, it helps to build Marshall’s credibility and how he was the most experienced person to handle the Groveland Boys case. Although he failed in the end, King may or may not have wanted the ending of the trial, specifically Walter Irvin’s, to discredit all the work Marshall did in shaping the Civil Rights Movement.

The most prevalent theme was the idea of what or who was the “Devil” in the story and the victims it took with it.

One may think with Sheriff McCall being who he was and also being on the cover of the book that he was the devil. However, the “Devil” in the Grove is actually “the forces of oppression and the legalized white supremacy” (King, A Conversation with Gilbert King) that occurred throughout that time. That theme is developed with not only the case of the Groveland Boys, but also with other stories that have terrorized other blacks. Such as, the stories of Emmett Till, Willie James Howard, and Joseph Spell (even though he was acquitted). The organization of the stories throughout the book may appear to be random but they aren’t. They serve the purpose of foreshadowing a similar ending to the Groveland. Although different, the stories all link together because the results of all their stories were affected by the “whitewashed investigations” (King, 101) of the south. And how white supremacy was also ignited by the KKK, their involvement in the government, and not receiving punishments for their lynchings and other

crimes.

King’s purpose is to bring light to Florida during the 1940s and thereon. King points out that at that time Florida was “immune to media scrutiny” (King, 108). King uses the stories of Willie James Howard (Florida) and Emmett Till (Mississippi). While Till’s story gained mass media attention, Howard’s went without a glance by outsiders because of Florida’s law enforcement covering up or swaying of many its cases. Another purpose of his was to bring light to a forgotten case and show how one lie can turn into something so severe. For one, the Groveland boys were beaten into admitting the rape. As well as the fact that, two of the boys were killed by law enforcement. And Irvin being sentenced to death.
In conclusion, Gilbert King presents a style uniform throughout his work. In which he presents and builds the themes of the book very well. And gives insight to the tale of the Groveland Boys and how close to home it may be for many and not too long ago that these events happened.