THE PELICAN BRIEF

who in turn shares it with Gavin Verheek- his friend and a lawyer working for FBI. Soon after this share of information, Callahan is killed in a car bomb explosion in which she manages to stay alive with a stroke of luck. Immediately after the explosion, some suspicious people contact her, which makes her scared and go on the run.

Verheek and Shaw arrange a meeting; however, Khamel-the serial-killer, who also has murdered the two justices kills this time Verheek and impersonates him to kill Shaw.

They meet; however, Khamel is murdered by an unknown perpetrator just as he is about to kill Shaw, which makes her scared and flee again.

An informant calling himself Garcia and reluctant to show his identity contacts via phone Gray Grantham-a journalist for The Washington Post and tells him that he has witnessed something in his law office which he thinks connected to the assassinations of the justices. Darby shares her findings with Grantham and speculates that the killings were perpetrated on behalf of Victor Mattiece- an oil magnate who aims to drill on Louisiana wetlands that harbors an endangered species of pelican. A case is expected to be heard before the Supreme Court that would make a huge impact on whether Mattice could get hold of the land. Darby speculates that Mattice could be behind the orchestration of the assassination to remove the two justices of the Supreme Court because of their radical environmentalism, adding that the current President- a hardline reactionary is authorized to replace the justices as a result of death or retirement. Grantham then shows his agreement to assist Darby in her seek to prove her speculation. Events get all the more complicated keeping in mind that the oil tycoon has supported the President during the presidential campaign with a considerable sum.

Thinking that it might pose a serious risk for the his re-election, the President and his Assistant Fletcher Coal seek to prevent people from learning White House's link with Mattiece. The President commands that the FBI Director F. Denton Voyles temporarily cease working on the brief and orders CIA Director Bob Gminski, whom he sees more trusted to carry out the investigation instead. The CIA sends an agent to Mattice in their investigation on the brief; however, events get more complex with the killing of the agent by Mattiece, who virtually has become irrational over the past years. Grantham and Darby succeed in identifying Curtis Morgan alias Garcia, who is an employee at the law firm working for Mattiece. However, they learn that Garcia has been murdered some days before that. They contact Garcia‟s wife and find out Morgan‟s written and

videotaped confession in which he confesses to having accidentally realized that some of his co-workers were implicated in the assassinations. After receiving this invaluable confession, Darby and Grantham contact Post's chief editor to be able to run a story on the event. Thereafter, the FBI director contact them, revealing that he has a tape-recorded conversation with the President commanding him to discontinue working on the pelican brief, and that the CIA conducts an inquiry into Mattice and has killed the serial killer to save Darby. The story gains a spectacular reception in the face of the objections shown by the President and his staff, which results in the President losing his prospect for re-election and Mattiece disappearing. The story ends with Darby settling on an island in the Caribbean and Grantham joining her for a month, which Pringle (1997, p. 63) regards as less compelling than the end of the Firm.

It is worth reminding that The Pelican Brief has two main foci, politics and environment.

Therefore, it is no wonder that the events take place mainly in two places, namely the Washington D.C. as the hub of the politics and New Orleans, Louisiana as the natural environment. As mentioned earlier, the common law is applicable in the US, which differs from state to state and even between cities. Hence, it is inevitable that the book reveals various legal terminology belonging to several states and cities. It is worth noting that the book makes references to certain culture-specific elements pertaining to the given places. One should also bear in mind the meticulous search that Grisham conducted during his composition of The Pelican Brief as for the places. Pringle (1997, p. 58) states that Grisham did some research for The Pelican Brief in order to provide more accurate descriptions of action in New Orleans and Washington by pinning street maps of both cities on his wall. It is essential that several characteristics of The Pelican Brief be presented in terms of layout and messages. To begin with, Pringle (1997, p.

63) suggests that Grisham employed similar strategies in The Pelican Brief as in The Time to Kill and The Firm in terms of layout, with chapters tending to be shorter. One can clearly see that Grisham makes use of legal-thrillers to express his messages regarding various topics. In The Pelican Brief, Grisham accuses the oil industry of arrogantly acquiring things through greedy actions, which can cause the United States to become weak and even fall down. Moreover, the book leads readers to global conclusions. Pringle (1997) points out that the most essential of these conclusions is that social wrongdoing in our society surpasses a single corrupt law firm, adding that corruption appears everywhere: in government, in industry and in the newspaper business ( pp. 66-67).

Last but not least, Pringle (1997) views The Pelican Brief from Marxist perspective and suggests that a tiny number of industries will damage the integrity of a government and its people if they are left uncontrolled, adding that profit for the ruling classes should not exceed the rights of the rest of people (p. 72).