Damond Stanciell
A Time to Kill writing analysis
6th period- Coach Grimes
The movie “A Time to Kill” takes place in a rural area of Mississippi that still held a lot of
racial tension between blacks and whites. The movie surrounds the case of Carl Lee Haley
(Samuel L. Jackson) where he murdered the two men who raped and almost killed his 10
year old daughter Tonya Haley (Rae ’van Kelley). A young white male lawyer by the name
of Jake Brigance took Up Carl Lee’s case which sparked the attention of the K.K.K., a
racist group who were terrorized blacks and white people who associated with blacks. I
personally loved the film and the actors played their roles very well. The film was very
dramatic and graphic which shocked me but it was very accurate and well put together.
The conflict occurred when two men raped and nearly killed Carl Lee’s daughter, so Carl
sought revenge and killed them both when they were sent to be trialed. The town had a lot
of racial tension so it was very tense since the black people in the town believed Carl Lee
was right for doing what he did and so did a handful of white people. The K.K.K. and the
state court were huge obstacles that caused a lot of problems for the antagonists Jake