66 pages • 2-hour read
The Rainmaker
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Themes
The American Judicial System
The American judicial system, its strengths and weaknesses are showcased in the novel from very nearly every echelon: law students, lawyers, and judges.
The novel predominantly criticizes the brutal competitiveness of law school with feeding into the shark-like nature of many lawyers. The difference between theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge of law is also addressed, though minutely.
From the very start of the novel, the profession of lawyer as something positive is called into question, and it is argued that most go into law in the hopes of making a fortune in court, or working for rich clients so that they can bill at astronomical rates. Rudy’s primary gripe with the legal system and the legal profession is the blurred line between ethical and unethical behavior and the blurred definition of morals. Rudy is cheated and mistreated by the conspicuously legitimate law firms: Brodnax and Speer fire him so that the partners can sell out and earn lots of money; Barry X at the Lake firm tries to cheat him out of the Black case, and Tinley Britt simply believes that he is not good enough for their firm, which actually means he isn’t blue-blood, and who tap his phones during the trial. On the other hand, however, he is treated far better by Prince and Bruiser, two men who are essentially criminals. Furthermore, each major lawyer character in the novel represents a specific type of lawyer. Drummond represents the high-powered, wealthy, and scrupulous lawyer. Deck represents the poor, scavenging type, who is always fighting with others to sign up as many clients as possible just to survive and make a living. Bruiser represents the shark type of lawyer (who quite literally has a shark tank in his office). He is the type who represents criminals and dabbles in the illegal themselves. And Rudy, of course, represents the idealistic type, those who would like to make money, but are not willing to compromise their ethical or moral code to achieve that end, and who want to defend the public and the general good from those who would take advantage of them. But it isn’t only the legal profession that is spotlighted in the book.
The importance of the judge, his/her power in the courtroom and influence, is embodied in Judge Kipler. Judge Hale and Judge Kipler are juxtaposed and represent two sides of the same coin. Hale is not around for very long, but it is quite clear that had he not died, then Rudy and the Blacks’ case would not have stood a chance. This is because Hale was old and lacked the motivation to take on a large case, but more importantly, Hale was a close friend with Leo F. Drummond, favored tort reform, and sided more with large companies and corporations than with individual citizens. Judge Kipler is the exact opposite. Kipler had fought against insurance companies while he was a trial lawyer, earning a biased displeasure towards them to begin with, which carried over to the Black vs Great Benefit case. Kipler never let them get away with anything, and continually pressured them to obey the law. One could easily argue that Rudy has less to do with Great Benefit’s downfall than did Judge Kipler. Rudy provided the evidence and did the leg work, but without Kipler he and the Blacks would have lost.
The American Health Care System
The American Health Care System is highly criticized in the novel. It is shown that there are doctors like Dr. Kord who have the expertise and willingness to treat deadly diseases like leukemia, but the costs of such procedures are so high that no insurance company or government entity is willing to pay for it. Furthermore, it is highlighted (cf. Page 358) that the United States is a land with excellent hospitals, doctors, and Nobel Prize winners, but the system is broken because a poor, young man like Donny Ray is unable to receive the treatment he needs to remain alive. What is most criticized in novel are insurance companies, especially ones that are more than willing to take their customers money, but who do whatever is necessary to keep from having pay for medical expenses, going so far as to further crowd an already crowded judicial system with lawsuits rather than pay those expenses if it means they’ll save anything in the long run. Arguably, the most important quote in the entire novel is found on Page 358 when Rudy muses on Donny Ray’s death (cf. the Important Quotes section of this guide, #16).
Race and Sex
The idea of race and sex does not feature prominently in the novel and is not a deliberate theme. Though it runs in the background and is only peripheral in nature, it is worth discussing. It is no coincidence that Booker Kane, Rudy’s best friend in law school, is a black man. By making Rudy friends with a black man, it separates him from the old guard establishment in the law profession. He is not one of the good-old’-boys. He is white, but Rudy does not fall into a racial category. He is able to bridge the gap between white and black. The fact that there is a line between the two is manifested in the differences between the Marvin Shankle firm, which specializes in civil rights litigation and hires only black lawyers, and Tinley Britt, which consists predominantly of white, blue-blood lawyers. While Tinley Britt does have a black lawyer on staff, he is clearly used only as a means to placate Judge Kipler. Furthermore, there is the juxtaposition of Judge Hale and Judge Kipler.
Gender and male-and-female roles are illustrated in an even more black-and-white manner than race. There are no female lawyers in the novel. There is one student mentioned, and she is not characterized well. She basically dresses like a man and it is suspected that “she also wears a jockstrap” (6). All of the secretaries are women—moreover, they are attractive women. Bruiser and Prince are in the “skin business.” Sara Plankmore, Rudy’s ex-girlfriend dumps him for someone wealthier and better connected. She does not pass the bar exam. She gets pregnant, marries, and based on the text, most likely becomes a stay-at-home mom. Kelly is the quintessential damsel-in-distress who needs Rudy, a man, to ride in on his white horse and rescue her from her evil husband who beats her. Kelly is brave, she is tough, but only when she knows that Rudy is there to support her. Jackie Lemancyzk is a single mother who is abused and sexually harassed by her male coworkers and bosses, and is the only woman to blatantly highlight the male chauvinism in the novel, but it is also only the evil, corrupt, and manipulative heads of Great Benefit who are shown to chauvinists. Any other sexism in the novel is pushed into the settings of the novel.
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