Summary:
A summary of the role of Mitchell Stephens in Russell Banks' book The Sweet Hereafter, which tells the story of a community coping with a town's loss following a fatal school bus accident. At first Stephens portrayed as a fast-talking, ambulance-chasing lawyer from New York City as he pursues the case following the accident; but as the tale progresses, Stephens' internal motives come to the fore.
"The Sweet Hereafter" by Russell Banks is a fictional novel based on a real life tragedy. The story is about a community coping with the loss of almost all of its children after the towns school bus is involved in an accident in which most of them die. The accident occurs on a treacherous winding highway when the driver loses control of the school bus and it plunges down an embankment into an ice covered sandpit. The novel is unique in the way that it is written because it's story is told 4 different ways, from 4 different characters, each one filling you in just a little more on their perspective of what really happened. One of these characters is Mitchell Stephens. He is a lawyer from New York City with an undeniable past. He is a compelling character with an interesting story.
Originally when he is mentioned in this story he is shown to be "the ultimate top-dollar ambulance chaser" trying to make a living off others pain. It's assumed that he is amoral and cold-hearted. Yet, as the story progresses it gets more and more difficult to see him in this manner. He actually turns out to be a deeply compassionate presence in this novel and in the lives of those dealing with loss in the town of Sam Dent. It turns out that he comes to the town just as the other lawyers (having heard about the accident) looking for clients, but eventually starts to grow fond of the sleepy town and its people. The town slowly alters his involvement in the case as he befriends those he is representing. He even volunteers his legal advice to people, such as Risa Walker on divorce proceedings, after the case falls through. He also helps support the Walker's hotel by keeping a room there even when he is not in Sam Dent. His style of dress also changes from the sleek hot shot lawyer look to a plaid and slacks country look which he is influenced into. He is very observant and wise because as he questions the victim's parents he figures out key things about them as individuals.
Though money is Mitchell Stephens's external motive he is really driven by a hidden internal one. He is especially drawn to this case because it deals with the loss of children. Mitchell Stevens himself is the victim of a lost child and admits that he is on a "personal vendetta." His daughter is not physically dead like those of Sam Dent just lost from all hope. Mitchell Stephens has a strained long-distance relationship with his daughter Zoe. After him and his wife divorced Zoe was sent off to boarding school and from there her life slowly slipped into drugs. Though he tries to help and support her in all her needs he often does more harm then help. He is "in the position of having to buy her clean needles to protect her against AIDS." Though he has not seen her in years he sends her money, usually for a plane ticket home, which is later cashed and used for more drugs. She is like a ghost that haunts him with random phone calls reminding him that she exists when he probably would rather forget. She is the main reason that Mitchell Stephens is fighting for this case. Zoe's demise fuels his anger against a bleak modern culture that he believes has stolen his daughter. Though Mitchell Stephens had accomplished great things in his career, he always feels like a failure because of his daughter. After his wife left him he focused too much into his work and ignored his daughter, almost using his career as an excuse so he would not have to deal with her.
In a sense Zoe is doing to Mitchell Stephens what he would like to do to the corporations that he believes were responsible for this accident. He wants to help the people of Sam Dent. He wants to have a hold on these corporations and make them pay at his will, just as he does for his daughter. Though he is blackmailed by his daughter with emotions, he wants to blackmail these corporations with facts. He believes that the accident was caused by somebody trying to cut corners and save a couple of dollars or someone that was not doing their job right.
In trying to prove that the accident was not caused by driver negligence, Mitchell Stephens wanted Billy Ansel to testify in court that it was traveling at a safe pace. Billy Ansel felt that "a town that loses its children loses its meaning", so why fight for something that has no meaning? Billy Ansel, who lost both of his young children in the accident wanted nothing to do with any type of lawsuit, he had no interest in the money or remembering anything about the case. Even though, in the story Mitchell Stephens often seems to be against Billy Ansel, in truth they are really very similar. Both of them have rescued their daughters, Mitchell Stephens when she was poisoned by a spider and Billy Ansel when she was left in Jamaica. They both also lost their children and their wives and are now focusing on all they have left, their jobs.
Mitchell Stephens is a fast talking sly lawyer, yet he manages to form a special bond with one of the survivors of the accident, Nichole Burnell. Nichole Burnell was always a shinning star in the community with a real future ahead of her, until the accident left her confined to a wheelchair. Though she is now physically crippled only after the accident does she really gain control of her life. She is no longer a victim of sexual abuse by her father and no longer has to feel guilty or tormented by it. Mitchell Stephen forms a bond with her knowing that there is more to her story than she lets on to be. He buys her a computer and often checks up on her health. Though this can be seen as him keeping up with a client it can also be seen as his paternal caring nature being reviled. Nichole Burnell closes the case by giving the town peace and a scapegoat by lying that the bus was speeding before it crashed.
Mitchell Stephens is fighting this case with everything he's got because he wants to give the people of Sam Dent something he himself may never have, closure. There is more to him then just his obvious outer sly appearance. He uses all of his professional skills to inspire his clients, whom he cares about, with moral vengeance and visions of huge monetary settlements. At first the community seems to fall apart after the accident but in the end it is shown to be just as strong as it was before, gaining its own sense of closure even though it lost the case. In a sense the town needed Mitchell Stephens to make them realize that sometimes things just happen without reason and having a sense of community is the only way to get through tough times. This whole ordeal reminded Sam Dent's residents that they are part of a "permanent lifelong community."
This is the complete article, containing 1,205 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page).
