A Painted House

A detailed Summary of A Painted House

John Grisham's novel, A Painted House, is a fantastic story that illustrates life of the farmers in the early 1950's. A Painted House skillfully captures a lost way of life in the rural south, where extended families lived close to the earth and closer to the rules of a stern God. It cleverly seizes the audience's attention and points out the hardships farmers faced in the fifties. Although it is not solely about farming, it is set around a farmers family trying to scrape together enough money from their cotton field to pay off their debts and come even. Trouble soon begins brewing between the Mexicans and the hillbillies. As the weeks pass, Luke's overwhelming curiosity makes him a witness to scenes he'd have been safer not seeing. The youngster soon finds himself keeping dangerous secrets that leave him caught between family loyalty--and the truth.

This novel takes place in early September of 1952 in Black Oak, a small town in southern Arkansas. A rambunctious seven-year-old boy, named Luke Chandler, narrates the story. Despite Luke's age, he involves himself in many things that no seven-year-old should see, let alone hear. Luke Chandler lives in the cotton fields with his parents and gra

This book enlightened me in a way that no other book has. It also has a very important message, one that should not be taken too lightly. Through out the book Luke learns that you do not need to know everything that goes on, because it only leads to trouble. He also learns that curiosity killed the cat. At first I did not know if I would enjoy the book or not because the title does not tell you much. By just reading the title it makes you think that the book will talk solely about the house and its occupants. This goes to show that you cannot judge a book by its cover.

It all starts when the Spruill's come to help the Chandler family pick cotton. At first Luke likes the idea of seven extra hands, because the more helpers they have, the less cotton he has to pick. As soon as the Spruill's make camp on home plate, Luke, being an extreme Cardinal fanatic, quickly changes his mind. While resting in the cotton field one day, Hank starts making fun of Luke for not having a painted house, "We've got a nicer house then yours boy," he retorted. Well this of course upsets and intimidates Luke. For the next couple of weeks, Luke spends his time hating and trying to avoid the Spruill's, until one Saturday when Luke witnesses a fight between Hand and the Sisco Boys. The Sisco's, dirt-poor sharecroppers, have been known for fighting-and fighting remarkably well. Even though it is three to one, Hank has no trouble conquering them. They knew they had lost and "The fight should have been over, but Hank had other plans." However, Luke leaves before the fight finishes and does not know what becomes of the Sisco's or Hank. Nevertheless, the following day, he learned the terrible truth about what went on after he left. A Sisco Boy had died of a fractured skull and all the clues of who killed him lead to Hank. This really displeases Pappy and frightens Luke even more because now he has to decide whether to tell the police what he saw, or just keep his mouth shut. Hank's little stunt does not pull Luke father away from th

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sisco Boy, Painted House, Luke Chandler, Percy Luke's, John Grisham, Tally Luke, Ten Mexicans, Days Luke, Pappy Sometime, Boys Sisco's, painted house, pick cotton, cotton field, john grisham, luke chandler, picking season, luke leaves, background information, sisco boy, crop hand,

Approximate Word count = 1370
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels