The Parker Inheritance

When any person or community is faced with oppression, it can be difficult to figure out how to seek justice without also seeking revenge. Throughout The Parker Inheritance, this search to balance justice and forgiveness is highlighted as a key theme through the perspectives of multiple characters as they try to navigate difficult situations and histories.

This idea is introduced early on in a key document: the letter. In it, James Parker describes his motivation for setting up the inheritance: Siobhan’s belief “in the balance of justice and forgiveness” (30). The entire novel rests on this letter and on Parker’s insistence that Lambert’s terrible history be revealed as part of the inheritance itself. This way, Parker feels he can “honor Siobhan’s family, force the city to face its dark past, and acknowledge what had happened so long ago” (294). As a result, the conclusion of the novel illustrates one path toward balance, where some justice is found through Candice and Brandon’s publicity around the history of the inheritance and forgiveness if found through the funding of new programs for the city. A larger lesson comes from Siobhan’s challenging of James Parker to search for more than revenge—it becomes clear that the message of The Parker Inheritance is that revenge alone cannot earn justice; forgiveness is also necessary.