12 Angry Men Analysis

Juror 5 was biased for relating this case to himself because he was from the slums and so was the boy on trial. “The children who come out of slum backgrounds are potential menaces to society” (Rose 318). Juror 3 was being biased in the play because his son hit or abused him like how the boy is being tried for stabbing or abusing his father. “When he was fifteen he hit me in the face” (Rose 317). Other times in real life that people could be biased is they have

The verdict of the trial was unjust and heartbreaking. Although all the evidence against Tom Robinson was false, the jury still sided with Mayella and her father. The trial truly shows that Maycomb is infested and plagued with their racist views. After the guilty verdict that ignores Tom 's own version of himself in favor of Maycomb 's nightmare vision of him, Tom loses hope. In chapter 24, Scout quotes “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men 's hearts Atticus had no case.

To add to this it also shows how it the marginalization has had an impact on Tom Robinson’s life through by him being shot for something he didn’t do. The children of Atticus also take note of how Tom was wrongfully convicted. The children were raised by Atticus, who had a strong belief that all men are equal. The children see Tom as innocence and are curious to know why he was convicted on such inconclusive evidence. From looking at this example we can compare this text to the first text (Of Mice and Men).

In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, the theme is discrimination to others can lead to the wrong assumptions. For example, Tom Robinson was never given a fair chance during his trial because of his race. The story quotes “I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man” (Lee 279). The jury ended up convicting Tom Robinson guilty because of his skin color, not because he was truly was. The jury has the wrong assumptions about Tom Robinson and his race .

The controversy of the trial influences Maycomb’s white children and neighbors to mistreat Atticus’ children, Jem and Scout, through abusive language. Even though, Maycomb clouds itself with hatred, some of Maycomb’s residents demonstrate acts of courage as Boo Radley safeguards Jem and Scout from the batty Bob Ewell 's murderous ambush, Jem and Scout protects Atticus from a mob, which plans to lynch Tom, and Atticus vindicates Tom in court though Maycomb chagrins defense of the black man; courage is to protect and execute the

Two of names he said he didn’t know, but the third man was George Clark. The police couldn’t find a man by the name of George Clark but used descriptions given by Joe that leads to the arrest of Derek Tice. Derek Tice both dazed and confused was taken to the integration room to meet no other than Robert Ford. Similar to the other three men after eleven hours of threats, yelling, intimidation, and being told he’s not telling the truth Derek surrendered and signed validating his confession. All four men share the same following theme from Ford: If you tell the truth you die, but if you lie you will live.

This is teenage Jem’s perspective so he assigns the blame to two levels, the Ewells who falsely accused Tom and the jury which convicted Tom despite knowing he was most likely innocent. On the most in-depth level of the story, the case is a black man in a prejudiced society falsely accused of raping a white girl then convicted by a white jury despite more than reasonable doubt. This is adult Atticus’s perspective but instead of placing blame at all the levels, he assigns the blame mainly on one level, a level he can’t explain but that incorporates most of society, prejudice. To Lee, however, it is not just one case it is all the cases she has witnessed, heard about or read about and the ones she hasn’t. It is not just one family accusing or one jury convicting but the whole society whose prejudice, passed on for generations, has come between individuals and reason.

Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people, too”(Lee, 269). This shows how white people don’t respect colored persons even though they are people too. Atticus wants to show his children that colored persons are people too and that they have to be treated fairly because they don’t do anything to you to hurt you. Not only that, colored persons face being treated unfair and like trash because of their skin color. “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.

Reasonable doubt proves that critical thinking is important when someone’s life is in someone else’s hands. “Twelve Angry Men” by Reginald Rose, is a play about twelve jury members who must deliberate and decide the fate of a man who is accused of murdering his father. These twelve men must unanimously agree on whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty without reasonable doubt. Just like the jurors, the readers of this play have not witnessed the crime that took place before the trial started. Everyone, but the writer, is in the dark about who committed the crime.

I believe people do have a tendency to allow their prejudices to direct their decisions. People have their prejudices, feel they are right and go along with that feeling. A great example of this is Juror Three in Twelve Angry Men. He believed the boy murdered his father because he felt he did it. As the play went on, Juror Eight started proving how the boy was innocent.

During the trial, Dill is distraught by the way Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor, speaks to Tom. Dill does not think anyone has the business to talk that way and “that old Mr. Gilmer doin’ him thataway, talking so hateful to him,” (265) made him sick. Mr. Gilmer interrogates questions like “Are you being impudent to me, boy,” (264) and acts toward Tom as if he is an untamed animal being trained and not a full-grown adult. Although Tom Robinson is treated harshly, Jem believes Atticus, the defendant lawyer and their father, has won the case because of the strong evidences presented and the fact that Tom is innocent (279). When the jury pronounce Tom guilty, Jem is exasperated and “his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulder jerked as if each ‘guilty’ was a separate stab between them,” (282).

Juror Eight’s passionate opinion about the defendant’s innocence helps persuade the other jurors to change their view on the matter. The defendant faces the death penalty if the jury votes him guilty for the first degree murder of his father. Immediately after the first half of the trial the jury converges in the conference room and takes their first vote. The main protagonist, Juror Eight, becomes clear when the results of the first vote are told to be eleven to one in favor of guilty. Juror Eight states, “It’s not so easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first” (Rose 231).

Juror 8 was instrumental in changing the racial discrimination discussion that came into play by the other jurors. Juror 10 on multiple occasions brought up the fact that the boy is hispanic and as such he was raised to be a killer and that he doesn 't value life as much as they do. Through this event, Rose captures the core fault in the american justice system, racism. Class was also a key factor in the decision of whether the boy was innocent or guilty. Juror 10 often repeated that where you are brought up influences who you are.

It was a hot, sweltering summer day that involved a gruesome murder case. Twelve men were placed as jurors regarding a young man being accused of stabbing his father to death. During preliminary tally, eleven tired men voted guilty, while one lone man voted not guilty. That person was Juror #8. A simple man nearing middle age with full dark hair, dark mystic eyes, and a well leveled tone, who carried himself firmly.

To Kill a Mockingbird is famous for its controversy. In fact, it has been banned from being read at many schools for its use of racial, sexual, and political content, all of these aiding the book’s “big ideas”. To Kill a Mockingbird has many themes. For example, one is about racial injustice. You would think a jury would establish their final decision based upon the facts, but in this book, the jury had already made up its mind once it heard that the case was a white man versus a black man.