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 11-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary
Rudy skips the graduation ceremony. He neither wants to see his ex nor confirm the rumor that she’s pregnant. Instead, he decides to get a job with Jonathan Lake.
Rudy enters Lake’s law offices at the exact time graduation begins. He meets with one of the lawyers, Barry X. Lancaster. Desperate, Rudy sells himself low. He brings along the Blacks’ case files and finagles a deal in which he will work as a paralegal for a paltry sum and give the Black files to Barry. Barry says he will talk to Jonathan about it.
Rudy returns home and tries to sneak in quietly so that Miss Birdie won’t spot him. He’s not in the mood to do yard work. Birdie, however, greets him warmly and tells him about her mulch. Although Rudy doesn’t want to, Miss Birdie tries to sweetly entice him to mulch that afternoon.
Barry calls and agrees to accept the deal, but Rudy needs to come over immediately and sign the contract. He reminds Rudy that he needs to make sure to get the Blacks to sign a contract with the firm. Rudy recovers from the day’s efforts by sitting in a booth at Yogi’s, feeling a bit better.
Chapter 12 Summary
Rudy goes through the files given to him by Max and is astonished by how many insurance companies cheat their customers. He also works closely with Barry as they review the Blacks’ files. Barry has done several bad-faith cases with mixed results; Tennessee is a tough state. For that reason, Jonathan Lake now prefers cases outside Tennessee. Rudy has yet to meet the man—in fact, he hasn’t met anyone other than Barry. He also doesn’t have a key to the building, so he can’t start work before Barry, who arrives every day at 8 o’clock. Rudy is happy to have a job and proud to be working for the Lake firm. He had felt almost desperate enough to ask Bruiser for a job.
Early Friday, Miss Birdie wakes Rudy up to begin work mulching. Rudy explains he needs to get to the office and ditches Birdie once again. Once there, he tries to go inside with one of the other lawyers, but the man doesn’t recognize Rudy, and Rudy is forced to wait for Barry. After Barry shows up, he asks Rudy to go and get the Blacks’ signature on the contract.
Dot lets Rudy reluctantly in again. Rudy meets Donny Ray for the first time and is shocked by Donny Ray’s emaciated appearance. Rudy has Donny Ray sign the contract first. Dot also signs, though she is wary, and she goes outside to the old car to get Buddy to sign as well.
Chapter 13 Summary
It’s the weekend, which means Rudy can finally help Miss Birdie with the mulch; it is arduous, sweaty work. He works all day and finally quits at five o’clock, tired and upset. He goes to Yogi’s early for his shift.
It rains on Sunday, which means no mulch. Rudy is tired and sore from all the work yesterday. Nevertheless, Birdie drops the hint that maybe they could still work. Rudy tells her he can’t work because it’s the Sabbath. She doesn’t have a response to that.
Chapter 14 Summary
It rains for three days, relieving Rudy from doing more yard work. Rudy gets a call from Dot about Barry. Rudy tells her that’s the name of the lawyer he is working with. Dot informs Rudy that Barry mentioned that Rudy doesn’t work for them anymore. Rudy calls Barry on the phone and curses him out. He then goes down to the offices demanding to see Jonathan Lake. No one lets him in, so he screams at Barry through the windows. A burly security guard comes out and tells him to move on, and Rudy leaves without making any more of a scene.
Later, two police officers visit Rudy at his apartment, asking him why he was at the Lake offices. The building has burned down, and the security guard died in the building’s collapse. Rudy is adamant that he had nothing to do with it, though he is feeling strong schadenfreude about the whole episode.
Rudy turns to Prince for help, and Prince takes Rudy to see Bruiser. Rudy explains the whole situation: the Blacks’ case, Barry’s tricks, and his association with an arson/homicide case. Bruiser is confident he can work things out with the police so that Rudy won’t have to worry about getting arrested. Prince convinces Bruiser to give Rudy a job Rudy, who doesn’t want to offend Prince or Bruiser, goes along with it.
Chapter 15 Summary
Rudy reports the next day to Bruiser’s offices in a shady part of town. He expects the same reception he has received at other firms, but the receptionist receives him warmly, and Bruiser appears happy to see him. Rudy talks to Bruiser about the Blacks’ case. Rudy has prepared a document that will fire the Lake firm from the case and have Bruiser represent the Blacks. Bruiser thinks it’s good work and wants Rudy to meet Deck Shifflet, who has a lot of experience with insurance companies.
Just before closing time, Rudy files the lawsuit against Great Benefit Life at the Office of the Circuit Clerk. After he leaves, Rudy races to the Blacks’ home and explains the change in lawyer—again. The Blacks sign because they trust Rudy. Rudy ponders on the fact that the bar exam looms on the horizon.
Chapters 11-15 Analysis
Rudy is both desperate and hopeful when he looks for work at Jonathan Lake’s firm. He sells himself for very cheap, getting paid just above minimum wage to work as a paralegal and not as a lawyer, and he hands over the Black case. Despite his bad luck, Rudy is resilient, tough, and positive. He does not dwell on the fact that many of his fellow graduates, like his friend Booker, are going on to well-paid positions; instead, Rudy focuses on getting his foot in the door and dedicates himself to moving up the ladder and becoming a good lawyer. Rudy’s resourcefulness is one of his greatest characteristics, and it will help him out of future difficult situations.
In Chapter 12, Rudy immerses himself in the dirty waters of the insurance business and learns to what extent these companies go to cheat their customers. He finally meets with Donny Ray face to face, a turning point. Until the meeting, Rudy’s intentions have seemed suspect, but the pathos Rudy experiences in Donny Ray’s presence resonates with Rudy’s inherent moral code, and seeking justice for Donny Ray becomes Rudy’s motivating force. Donny Ray’s situation hint that an indictment of the American healthcare system is a major theme of the novel, much more than a simple plot element.
Barry’s deception with regard to Rudy’s possible employment with the Lake firm, and the Blacks’ case, is further evidence for the indictment that Grisham makes against the American judiciary system—and the legal profession in general—by illustrating how cutthroat and underhanded they can be. Barry’s behavior also puts a black mark on the legend of Jonathan Lake and causes Rudy to question whether Jonathan is someone he’d want to emulate. Rudy is reduced to accepting a tentative position with Bruiser, but his positive attitude won’t allow him to wallow in shame and self-pity. Rudy now must enter the darker side of the law profession, and he hopes he will not succumb to the type of work with which Bruiser deals. Bruiser is a shark and reinforces the point by keeping a shark tank in his office. Still, he helps Rudy escape from being the prime suspect when the Lake firm burns down.
The treatment Rudy receives at the hands of blatant criminals, Prince and Bruiser, contrasts favorably with the other “ethical” firms with which Rudy dealt. Brodnax and Speer, and the Lake firm, cheat Rudy out of a job; Barry’s actions are unethical bordering on criminal. Tinley Britt does nothing wrong per se; they simply believe that Rudy isn’t good enough for them. At Bruiser’s office, Rudy is received kindly and treated as an equal.
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