Mississippi Trial, 1955

The novel features an archetypal encounter with the evil patriarch of yesteryear. Hiram understands that his father is not perfect, but understanding his grandfather's racism opens up a whole new kind of awareness. He didn't know that his own family had the deep-seated racism that he hates in his community. Whereas evil seemed like other people's problems, he must admit that, since his own grandfather helped to lynch Till, that evil is not as far from home as he thought. He must decide for himself who he really is, and how he can treat the character issues in himself that he learns about in his family.