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| Plot Summary of Mississippi Trial, 1955 |
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Sixteen-year-old Hiram hasn't been to his beloved town of Greenwood, Mississippi since he was a small child. He used to live there with his grandfather before his father uprooted him from his home to live in Arizona. But when he comes back, things aren't exactly the way Hiram remembers them to be. He crosses paths with Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old African-American boy from Chicago.
A few nights later, R.C., an old "friend" of Hiram's pays him a visit to tell him about Emmett Till whistling at a white woman in public and how he needs to be "taught a lesson." Hiram is worried for Emmett, but then, the boy goes missing and a few days later, his body is found in the river. Two of the four murderers are caught and put on trial (three men and one woman picked Emmett up the night of his murder) and Hiram has a strong suspicion that R.C. was the third male killer.
During the trial, the two murderers aren't seen as guilty, but Hiram still struggles with whether to turn R.C. into the authorities or not because of his suspicion. He is determined to find out who the others are who murdered Emmett, but when he finds out exactly who it was who killed the boy, it makes him think twice about how 'beloved' Greenwood really is.
This synopsis report prepared by Megan
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| Chapter Analysis of Mississippi Trial, 1955 |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 70%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%
Tone of story
- very upbeat
How difficult to spot villain?
- Challenging
Time/era of story:
- 1930's-1950's
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 40%
Special suspect?
- relative
Kind of investigator
- amateur citizen investigator
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
- minority/women/homosexual issues
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a teen
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Deep South
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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