John Grisham's Theodore Boone: The Accused

A lawyer, who moved to Mississippi in his early childhood, John Grisham has developed a writing style that accommodates his time in Mississippi. This appears even in his young adult, fiction novel, Theodore Boone: The Accused. Grisham shows his vast knowledge of law in his writing as well as his background as a southerner. John Grisham exhibits his southern writing style through his characters and setting, which are influenced through his past and personal career.

John Grisham’s southern upbringing is shown through his use of setting in his novels. The setting is shown by Grisham's words in Theodore Boone: The Accused “... a narrow street lined with small mom-and-pop stores” (32). Grisham’s language exhibited in this quote can be correlated to his passion for the southern environment in which he was raised. Grisham, at the age of twelve, moved to Southaven, Mississippi with his mother and father where he resided for the remainder of his early life. The small town of Strattenburg in Theodore Boone: The Accused relates to Grisham’s childhood home as well as being described as a small town where each citizen is neighborly toward one another. This relationship between the people of
For example, Theo’s mother and father in the series were described as extremely busy lawyers. This compares to Grisham’s actual parents who were described in the following quote “ The family moved often, finally settling in Southaven, Mississippi, when Grisham was twelve” (Arnold 1-3). This statement describes how Grisham’s parents were busy people, always on the move. Grisham’s father, a construction worker, was the prime reason for the family’s movement. Likewise, Theo’s parents were busy as well, and this is mentioned several times throughout the novel. Theo’s parents even employed a secretary, Elsa, to aid them in their busy day to day