66 pages • 2 hours read
John GrishamThe Rainmaker
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Rudy Baylor went into law school to spite his father, with whom he had a strained relationship. His father died a few weeks after Rudy was accepted and Rudy, now in his third year at Memphis State, isn’t close to his mother or stepfather. Scheduled to graduate in a few weeks, he has timed everything well so that he has easier classes, which provides him more time to study for the bar exam. One of these classes is Legal Problems of the Elderly. As part of the curriculum, the students, including Rudy’s best friend Booker Kane, tag along with the instructor, Dr. Smoot, to a senior center.
A kind, energetic woman named Miss Birdie emcees the day’s activities and introduces Dr. Smoot and his students to the seniors in attendance. The seniors are invited to ask Rudy and his classmates for free legal advice. Only a few take advantage of the offer.
Miss Birdie, who is worth millions, meets with Rudy. She wants him to redraft her will. She feels slighted by her family and wants to cut them out. She doesn’t trust lawyers, though, and that’s why she wants Rudy to draft a simple will for her.
Rudy’s next “clients” are an elderly couple, Dot and Buddy Black. The Blacks are poor and their son, Donny Ray, is dying of leukemia. Their health insurance company, Great Benefit, refuses to cover Donny Ray’s illness, and the Blacks want Rudy to sue Great Benefit Life.
Rudy feels inadequate. He doesn’t feel he can do anything for these people and hopes to get some help from his professors, so he can draft a quick document and conclude the course.
Chapter 2 Summary
An hour later, Rudy and Booker drive away from Cypress Gardens Senior Citizens Building. Rudy is slightly jealous of Booker because Booker is set to work for an established law firm that specializes in civil rights; they only hire black lawyers. Rudy has financial difficulties. He doesn’t have much money, drives a cheap, barely functional Toyota, and owes Texaco money. He’s also behind on his rent. Booker drops Rudy off at the law library.
Rudy retreats to his carrel in the corner of the library, tucked away from everything and everyone else. He pines for his ex-girlfriend, Sara Plankmore, who dumped him for a local blue blood classmate. She’s a big reason why he’s in debt.
Rudy reviews the stack of paperwork the Blacks gave him. He thinks there may be a case, so he decides to go to Max Leuberg, one of his professors who is known to hate insurance companies. Max tells Rudy he will look the file over and that Rudy should come back tomorrow for a follow-up.
Rudy next goes to the student lounge where F. Franklin IV accosts him about his future position. Rudy has a tentative position with a small law firm in town called Brodnax and Speer. Rudy does not like Franklin because he finds Franklin snooty, pompous, and rude. He and his friends teasingly inform Rudy that his future firm is merging with the largest and richest firm in the city, Tinley Britt. Rudy pretends that it doesn’t bother him.
Rudy exits the student lounge and return to the library. The clerk motions for him. Rudy has a message to call Lloyd Beck, the managing partner at Brodnax and Speer. Rudy calls. He’s nervous. Lloyd Beck is in a meeting and can’t talk. The person on the other line hangs up, annoyed with Rudy’s questions.
Rudy immediately vacates the library, climbs into his Toyota, and drives downtown to Brodnax and Speer.
Chapter 3 Summary
Even though Rudy has complained from time to time about going to work (cheaply) for Brodnax and Speer, he knows how lucky he was to be offered any job. From day one of law school, students hear how oversaturated the job market is. Rudy races off to find out if he still has that position.
When Rudy arrives, he meets with one of the lawyers in the lobby, Richard Spain, who looks downtrodden. Richard has just been fired. He laments that loss of such a good job and says Rudy no longer has a position, either. Devastated, Rudy tries to speak with Lloyd Beck, but the security guard won’t allow him in the elevator to go up to the offices, and so he simply hands Rudy an envelope containing his dismissal letter. In a fit of anger that Rudy can hardly control, he bumps a bust near the glass exit door. It falls and smashes through the glass. Rudy runs off, with the security guard yelling behind him.
Chapter 4 Summary
Rudy drinks several beers, wallowing in anger and frustration. When he gets home, he finds a process server waiting both to serve him papers from Texaco and to inform him he’s being evicted. Rudy turns to Booker for help, especially because Brodnax and Speer reported him to the police for smashing their window. Booker tells Rudy he will talk to his boss, Marvin Shankle, an influential attorney, and that they will take care of the matter. Booker has been working for two years as a clerk and will be hired as a lawyer after he passes the bar. Rudy falls asleep on Booker’s couch.
Chapter 5 Summary
Rudy sneaks into the law library, trying to keep a low profile. Booker told him earlier that Mr. Shankle is working on clearing up the matter, and it will be taken care of soon.
Rudy wonders if he can possibly get a job working for Jonathan Lake, a local legend, who, allegedly made $1.3 million on his first case right out of law school. No one would hire Jonathan, so he went into business for himself and is doing well.
Rudy speaks with Max Leuberg again about the Blacks’ case against Great Benefit. Max has reviewed the files and sees a strong case against the insurance company. Max warns Rudy, however, that getting punitive damages awarded to the plaintiff in the state of Tennessee is no easy task. Rudy thanks Max for his help and goes to the library.
In the library, Rudy researches the Blacks’ case. Booker informs him that Marvin Shankle has made calls and has cleared up the matter with Brodnax and Speer. A little while later, Rudy goes to see Madeline Skinner, who is in charge of student placement. He hopes she can help him find something since she was the one to help get him the job with Brodnax and Speer. She is a nice, old, caring woman who promises to do what she can for Rudy. Rudy then returns to the library to study and work.
Chapters 1-5 Analysis
The main protagonist, Rudy Baylor, is an autodiegetic narrator telling his own story set in Memphis, Tennessee. In Chapter 1, the book’s title is mentioned for the first and only time in the novel: “I’d be an instant rainmaker, a bright young star with a golden touch” (12)—a rainmaker is a lawyer who has the knack of finding high-paying cases. Grisham writes in the present tense, having Rudy explain everything in the moment. Rudy does not have the luxury of hindsight; he learns and grows as the story progresses.
Rudy has made it through three years of law school, but before he has even finished his final semester and passed the bar exam, he already questions his reasons for becoming a lawyer. His motivation to spite his father, mingled with hopes of making a good living, keeps him going, yet at times he speaks of nobler aspirations. In these early chapters, it seems that Rudy is solely interested in Miss Birdie because she is a rich, lonely old woman. His interest in the Blacks’ case, however, will push him toward those higher ideals.
In many instances, Rudy uses sarcasm when talking about his situation, as a defense against his overt fear. Such negative talk grates against his friend’s, Booker’s more positive personality. Rudy also complains that he and his fellow students are given too much theoretical knowledge and not enough practical experience. Yet Rudy is also humble. He who know more.
By contrasting Rudy with characters like F. Franklin IV (a very blue-blood name), Grisham makes Rudy relatable to the average reader. A commoner, Rudy is in so much debt that he is in collections. He drives a junk car that barely runs, and he has to supplement his income by working evenings and weekends as a bartender. On top of that, Rudy’s girlfriend Sara dumps him for Ivy Leaguer S.. The piece de resistance, of course, comes in the form of losing his job at the Brodnax and Speer, when the powerful firm of Tinley Britt purchases it.
Tinley Britt’s lawyers either tend to be Ivy League graduates or come from the American upper class. The merger of Brodnax and Speer with Tinley Britt portrays the law profession as founded on greed. Rudy encounters Richard, an associate lawyer with the firm who had a good position. All Richard wanted to do was work and collect his paycheck, but he was sold out by the partners so that they could earn even more money, even though they already earned over six figures every year. Greedy, voracious, and cannibalistic entity, partners show no loyalty to the firm or camaraderie with other lawyers.
Chapter 5 introduces to the legend of Jonathan Lake. Jonathan Lake never emerges as a character in the novel but serves as an inspirational figure: Because Jonathan Lake, who was in a similar situation to Rudy’s, becomes a rainmaker, Rudy believes he can do the same—and the Blacks’ case against Great Benefit, which his professor thinks has merit, may just be his ticket to the big bucks.
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