Twelve Angry Men is in many ways a love letter to the American legal justice system. We find here eleven men, swayed to conclusions by prejudices, past experience, and short-sightedness, challenged by one man who holds himself and his peers to a higher standard of justice, demanding that this marginalized member of society be given his due process. We see the jurors struggle between the two, seemingly conflicting, purposes of a jury, to punish the guilty and to protect the innocent. It proves, however, that the logic of the American trial-by-jury system does work. On another level, the play is about America and its makeup as a melting pot of different cultures, ideas, beliefs, and temperaments. This jury runs the gamut from a German immigrant watchmaker, 11th Juror, to a presumably wealthy broker, 4th Juror, to a male nurse at a Harlem hospital, who grew up in the slums, 5th Juror. These men represent the incredible richness of diversity in America and the various challenges that it presents. This clash …show more content…
8th juror appeals to their sense of pathos and pity by saying “this boy’s been kicked around all his life…He’s had a pretty terrible sixteen years. I think maybe we owe him a few words. That’s all.” While this has nothing to do with the case, he hopes to appeal to their humanity in order to get them to give him a chance in these deliberations. Many of the jurors use logos, logic and reasoning, to lay out the evidence in a rational and concrete manner to convince him. An example is when 4th Juror lays out all of the evidence of the knife to convince 8th Juror with seven, linear, factual points. The reader and audience is meant to connect a sense of ethos, reliability or competence, to 8th Juror, as he is the only one who doesn’t, at first, seem to be clouded by ignorance, racism, disinterest, or any other characteristic that might cloud
In the essay, A Movie, a Word, and My family 's Battle, by Patricia E. Bauer, Bauer effectively utilizes pathos, however, her argument to terminate the derogatory use of the word "retard" was ineffective due to the lack of structure and organization. With a complicated structure the reader becomes confused about the essay 's purpose therefore diminishing the argument of the essay.
John Steinbeck’s novel, ‘Of Mice and Men’ explores the life of itinerant workers during the Great Depression. The realistic plot represents the dreams of many workers during the depression and struggles they faced to achieve them. The text is supported with various literary techniques such as, foreshadowing, animal imagery, symbolism and the intertextual meaning of the title itself. The novel’s success relies heavily on the author’s ability to interweave literary and stylistic devices to stimulate the reader’s interest in the novel. Steinbeck’s writing style in the novel, ‘Of Mice and Men’ draws heavily on light and dark imagery as a literary device.
Juror Five is a white man, also born in the slums, but no one assumes that he is a criminal because he is white. Through the statements of Juror Four, his partiality is shown towards people of lower socioeconomic status. His prejudice, based on the race and social status of the defendant, is something not taught, but intrinsic in his psyche. Through this characterization, Twelve Angry Men reveals the origins the
Logical arguments can alter opinions, but in this case it can change lives. Ethical and pathetic arguments are both crucial in gaining attention, but the real power to create change lies with logical arguments. In order to get the most out of each argument, they must work together to achieve the same goal. In the drama Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose, Juror #8 utilizes rhetoric appeals to provide justice and prove the defendant is not guilty of a crime. Juror #8 initially proves that he is credible to add depth into his logical and pathetic arguments and establish trust with the other jurors.
10th Juror represents those who are prejudiced against people from differing cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. This prejudice reaches its peak during his fear against these people. To him, this trial is a chance to get rid of one of them by finding the accused ‘guilty’, even at the expense of a fair trail. Like the other defendant, the 5th Juror and other Juror are recognized for they childhood
“Twelve Angry Men” is a story that tries to show how prejudice should not be used to distort the course of Justice. Juror 3, a man who owns a small business who proudly employs
This remarkable courthouse only hosted approximately seven trials in its first year and since then has dropped even lower (Dzur, 2013). The early 20th century was the last time a jury was considered the normal process for dealing with criminal cases, and now the plea deal is king (Dzur, 2013). Simple fact is, today juries hear only a very few cases across the nation (Dzur, 2013). High-ranking members working in the justice system fear that the competence of a jury today is declining with the scientific evidence that is now available (Dzur, 2013). The statistics seem to support this fear.
Benjamin Brewer in the movie, “Beneath Contempt” (2011), suggests that suppressing emotions as a result of a tragedy can eventually lead to an eruption of feelings that can end up hurting or even killing someone. Brewer supports his suggestion by portraying Matthew, the brother of one of the people killed in a drunk driving accident, as losing all rational feelings and gaining a murderous rage when he sees Sean, the man who was drunk driving. The author’s purpose is to inform teenages of the dangers of drunk driving and the effect it can have on the people involved so that teenagers learn from the mistakes of these characters. The author writes in a serious tone for an audience of young and impressionable teenagers who may find themselves
Throughout Steinbeck’s naturalistic novel, Of Mice and Men, He portrays two distinctively different men struggling to persevere and survive in an otherwise cruel world. Two migrant workers, George and Lennie thrive off the company of one another and the impossible dream that one day, they will acquire land and make a contented life for themselves. Through their friendship and constant hope for a better life, George and Lennie learn how to survive and cling to aspiration during the harsh Depression era. Steinbeck uses symbolism, irony, and characterization in his classic novel to illustrate the undying hope found in a desperate situation. Steinbeck uses symbolism to portray how people find hope in the direst situations.
The script introduces the viewers to the typical behavior and the state of mind of these jurors, who surprisingly turn out to be the last to change their opinions from “guilty” to “not guilty”. Juror#3 the frustrated father whose personal conflicts and experiences influence his view of the accused’s crime is very desperate to make it clear that his mind is already made up before the deliberations even start. Similar
The film Twelve Angry Men uses psychological principles to display how a jury functions as a group. Informational influence, selective exposure, and social loafing are all predominant issues related to thinking and acting as a group. This is demonstrated as the jury debates the verdict of the defendant. These three psychological principles are major components of the film because it represents how they conform to one another’s behaviors. The movie takes place mainly in the jurors room as they discuss whether an 18 year old boy murdered his father.
“When injustice becomes a law, resistance becomes a duty” told by Thomas Jefferson. Sadly, since the judicial system of America was established there has been a lack of fairness, through which it has become unavoidable. This has resulted in some of the citizens themselves to confront it by fighting back trying to establishing justice. In Twelve Angry Men, Reginald Rose emphasis the theme of “Injustice” through his characterization of eleven out of the twelve jurors, the extensive use of verbal irony to convey their ignorance, and sarcastic attitude the author has towards the play. Reginald Rose utilizes characterization to thoroughly depict each of the twelve jurors.
We often pride our society for becoming more advanced and better. True, we now live in a place where medicine and technology is more advanced than that of what it used to be in the past. However, criminals still litter the world, possibly even more than it had previously. To cope, we have invented, a jury system, to help us separate the guilty from the not guilty. Twelve Angry Men provides such a story about the using of the jury.
The movie “Twelve Angry Men” illustrates lots of social psychology theories. This stretched and attractive film, characterize a group of jurors who have to decide the innocence or guiltiness of an accused murder. They are simply deliberating the destiny of a Puerto Rican teenaged boy accused of murdering his father. Initially, as the film begins, except the juror Davis (Henry Fonda), all other jurors vote guilty. Progressively, the jurors begin trying to compromise on a point that everybody agree because the decision of the jury has to be unanimous.
In the boy in striped pyjamas author, John Boyne took the approach of writing this novel with the point of view of a naïve young child. This was done very well throughout the book. The repetition used during the novel was there to indicate that something essential or relevant to the storyline was near. Another aspect used by John Boyne was the innocence on a child, how open minded they’re and the point no one is born a racist. Small hints were dropped during the books this was due to the little education about the horrific times that were happening.