Lawyer's League By Sherman Alexie

1797 Words4 Pages

According to Black's Law Dictionary Law is defined as, "A system of principles and rules of human conduct, being the aggregate of those commandments and principles which are either prescribed or recognized by the governing power in an organized jural society." Laws are what keep society from chaos and anarchy. Laws are used by lawyers to help promote "justice" and fairness, yet at times they look out for their own best interest instead. Lawyers, in general, do not have a good reputation. Social commentary can be read in literature as lawyers have been negatively portrayed since Shakespeare. The reason is that the legal profession takes a toll on those who practice it and causes them to engage in selfish behavior. This can be seen higher …show more content…

He tells how a person can be both the victim of racism as well as the racist. The story Lawyer's league follows a young recent college graduate whose goal is to be the president of the United States. The young man's name is Richard, he is half black and half Native American. Richard is well aware of his skin color. After meeting a woman named Teresa during dinner, Richard begins thinking about marrying her. However, he suddenly changes his mind, after seeing their reflection in a mirror he decides that, "she was short, blond, blue-eyed and white-skinned" (p. 60). Even though Richard clearly likes her he lets racism influence his feelings about her. Richard does not pursue Teresa because he is more worried about what society would say and how it would negatively affect his candidacy. Richard weighs the outcome of his pursuit of Teresa, "I would never achieve my full potential as a public servant if I married a white woman. I would lose votes each time I kissed my wife in public." Richard's character has an inner battle with conforming to the conservative values of the typical person in the legal profession. Richard's character deals with similar inner conflicts that lawyers tend to face. The legal profession is predominantly filled with conservative or republican views. Some lawyers will adopt those views to become part of the herd to likely put themselves in a better position for more income. The loss of one's self to the legal profession is very common among lawyers which is why they become jaded and cannot connect to society. Lawyers invest their lives in their careers and make many sacrifices because of it. These sacrifices turn into resentment later down the road as one often wonders "what if?" Towards the end of the story, Richard is antagonized by a racist lawyer who hates to lose and strikes him, walking home he reflects on his life decisions. "I punched Big Bill

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