Jodi Picoult : Small Great Things
Jodi Picoult penned down one of her most inspiring masterpiece through Small Great Things. This fictional book managed to connect people, and at the same time to trigger the readers to standstill for a while and scrutinize their society around them. This page turner revolves around a life of a single mother of African American nurse, Ruth Jefferson who worked at birthing pavilion. The omniscient narrator also offers perspective from a white supremacist and his wife, Turk Bauer and Brittany Bauer and finally a white attorney, Kennedy McQuarrie.
As the storyline develops, we can see these three major characters are brought up with completely different background and belief in their people when the writer brought us back to the time during their childhood.
Ruth Jefferson believed being an African American never made her any less as a human being. She had a perfect life that anyone could dream of. Ruth graduated from a prestigious university, Yale in nursing. She owned a house in a neighbourhood where most of the residents are the whites. She had a stable income working at West Haven Hospital. Her son, Edison is an excellent student and sportsman with outstanding achievement at his school. Ruth turned deaf ears when her sister complained the double standard that exist in the society. She did not see her point cause she knew everyone received an equal treatment.
Turk Bauer was raised by his grandfather who taught him to be a fighter. During his teenage life, he joined numerous movements of white supremacist. He listened to white power bands and books on the same ideology. Turk even had a LONEWOLF website to spread his belief across the globe and introduced his clans and him as Aryan Warriors anonymously. That was when he met his father in law, Francis Mitchum and later got married with his wife, Brittany.
Kennedy Mc Quarie lived her life as a normal public defender, mother, daughter and a wife. Her husband is a surgeon and her marriage is blessed with a daughter, Violet. Kennedy decided to take Ruth's case as her opportunity at the first place, I could imply that racism is not a major contributing factor that she wanted to be Ruth's public defender, it is because she wanted to improve herself as a rookie. However, soon she realised, there are a lot of things that she can learn from her first felony.
Their journey intersected when The Bauer had a newborn named Davis at West Haven Hospital. Ruth was assigned by her supervisor, Marrie to do a regular checkup to the baby. Later, she found that she was reassigned to another patient as The Bauer did not want African American to touch their child. The hospital complied, however Davis had a cardiac distress in nursery and his new nurse was not presence but Ruth was.
Suffering from postpartum depression, Brittany and Turk marriage started to shake after losing their baby. Turk promised to Britt that he is going to sue West Haven Hospital. However the lawyer from the Risk Management Department of the hospital played so well to shift the focus to Ruth in order to save the hospital's reputation. Ruth and Edison were handcuffed at her house and Edison was knocked down on the ground by the polices. Ruth was not given much choices that she was dragged to the prison with her nightgown during the terror.
Being held captive as an African American at the prison, Ruth suffered several humiliating events. That was when Kennedy stepped in the scene during her arraignment. She volunteered to be her public defender which means she has to go against with the black prosecutor of defendent, Oddete.
Series of unexpected events occurred afterwards during Ruth's trials. Turk's supporters from his LONEWOLF website gathered in the courtroom in almost the trials. Turk even spitted to Ruth during her arraignment and another person shouted 'MURDERER' to her.
The conflict between Ruth and Kennedy arouse when Kennedy refused to acknowledge the racism issue is the key point of this case. Kennedy did not think bringing up the issue would help Ruth in court, however Ruth felt the need to voice out her side of story from her not from her white public defender. She spent most of her life, convincing her son that they are darker than other people because they have more melanin and melanin is good for skin. Nonetheless, she just knew she failed when her son watched her got handcuffed and sat in the court as alleged offender. This is the time, where she needed to voice out about the real issue in the court and it is far, more important than winning the case. This is real, racism is still exist anywhere and everywhere. But what makes the different is those who keep their opinion to themselves like Kennedy, or those who sing it out loud like The Bauers.
The irony of the case that is refused to be acknowledged by the whole people in the court is racism issues that lies underneath the case.Who won the case and how it ended? I don't want to be a spoiler 😎 .
Jodi Picoult is a great writer in blending the opposite experiences of the three major characters to form a poignant yet powerful message to all walks of life. It is highly recommended for those who would like to change their lens for a while in viewing the society around them.
As the storyline develops, we can see these three major characters are brought up with completely different background and belief in their people when the writer brought us back to the time during their childhood.
Ruth Jefferson believed being an African American never made her any less as a human being. She had a perfect life that anyone could dream of. Ruth graduated from a prestigious university, Yale in nursing. She owned a house in a neighbourhood where most of the residents are the whites. She had a stable income working at West Haven Hospital. Her son, Edison is an excellent student and sportsman with outstanding achievement at his school. Ruth turned deaf ears when her sister complained the double standard that exist in the society. She did not see her point cause she knew everyone received an equal treatment.
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| Ruth provided everything that she could just to make sure her son feels belonged to the society. Pictures are for illustration purposes only. |
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| Turk Bauer and Brittany Bauer were the biggest supporters of any movements involving white supremacists. Pictures are for illustration purposes only. |
Their journey intersected when The Bauer had a newborn named Davis at West Haven Hospital. Ruth was assigned by her supervisor, Marrie to do a regular checkup to the baby. Later, she found that she was reassigned to another patient as The Bauer did not want African American to touch their child. The hospital complied, however Davis had a cardiac distress in nursery and his new nurse was not presence but Ruth was.
Suffering from postpartum depression, Brittany and Turk marriage started to shake after losing their baby. Turk promised to Britt that he is going to sue West Haven Hospital. However the lawyer from the Risk Management Department of the hospital played so well to shift the focus to Ruth in order to save the hospital's reputation. Ruth and Edison were handcuffed at her house and Edison was knocked down on the ground by the polices. Ruth was not given much choices that she was dragged to the prison with her nightgown during the terror.
Being held captive as an African American at the prison, Ruth suffered several humiliating events. That was when Kennedy stepped in the scene during her arraignment. She volunteered to be her public defender which means she has to go against with the black prosecutor of defendent, Oddete.
Series of unexpected events occurred afterwards during Ruth's trials. Turk's supporters from his LONEWOLF website gathered in the courtroom in almost the trials. Turk even spitted to Ruth during her arraignment and another person shouted 'MURDERER' to her.
The conflict between Ruth and Kennedy arouse when Kennedy refused to acknowledge the racism issue is the key point of this case. Kennedy did not think bringing up the issue would help Ruth in court, however Ruth felt the need to voice out her side of story from her not from her white public defender. She spent most of her life, convincing her son that they are darker than other people because they have more melanin and melanin is good for skin. Nonetheless, she just knew she failed when her son watched her got handcuffed and sat in the court as alleged offender. This is the time, where she needed to voice out about the real issue in the court and it is far, more important than winning the case. This is real, racism is still exist anywhere and everywhere. But what makes the different is those who keep their opinion to themselves like Kennedy, or those who sing it out loud like The Bauers.
The irony of the case that is refused to be acknowledged by the whole people in the court is racism issues that lies underneath the case.Who won the case and how it ended? I don't want to be a spoiler 😎 .
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| We complete one another and that's all matters :) Pictures are for illustration purposes only. |
The piano keys are black and white but they sound like a million colours in your mind.
Maria Cristina Mena
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