M-16 machine gun (Symbol)
Once Carl Lee decides to murder Cobb and Willard, his weapon of choice is clear. He uses an M-16 automatic rifle because it is the same weapon he used in the Vietnam War. He obtains the weapon from Cat Brustler, and it symbolizes an entire generation's familiarity with violence through their often-mandated participation in the war. The gun also emphasizes the hypocrisy of a government that on the one hand forces a man, during the war, to kill targets they deem worthy of killing, and on the other hand, indicts him with the threat of the gas chamber when he kills the men who raped his daughter—men who he deems worthy of killing, but that the state does not.
Cobb's Yellow Truck (Symbol)
Billy Ray Cobb's fancy yellow truck symbolizes the inequity in the South and the leniency of the law on young white men versus young Black men. Grisham explains that Cobb, at the start of the book, has recently been released from prison. He starts selling drugs again and is quickly able to buy a new truck, complete with a confederate flag hanging from the back window. Cobb drives around in his flashy yellow truck, terrorizing Black residents of Clanton, totally without fear of maintaining anonymity, because he believes that the system will always favor him.
Burning Cross (Symbol)
The burning cross is a symbol of the Ku Klux Klan, used both in private induction ceremonies and as a calling card to terrorize their victims and opponents. The burning cross is planted in the yards of potential jurors as a threat, in Jake's yard as a way of intimidating him into dropping Carl Lee's case, and during the creation of the Clanton chapter of the Klan.
Jake's Victorian House (Symbol)
Jake takes pride in the fact that his home is one of two homes in all of Ford County on the National Historic Register. But at the same time, Jake's house, a Victorian, antebellum home, implicates him in the glorification of the old South. Jake's house symbolizes the opulence afforded to the white upper class at the expense of others—in this case, Black Americans and their ancestors.
Jake's Red Saab (Symbol)
Jake considers himself a progressive, and Grisham's interest in the New South often revolves around young, white male professionals questioning the status quo of Southern tradition. In a sea of American-made pickup trucks, Jake's red Saab symbolizes his willingness to defy (albeit in a superficial way) the cultural expectations.
