Injustice In Reginald Rose's Twelve Angry Men

The justice system that relies on twelve individuals reaching a life-or-death decision has many complications and dangers. The play Twelve Angry Men, by Reiginald Rose, illustrates the dangers of a justice system that relies on twelve people reaching a life-or-death decision because people are biased, they think of a jury system as an inconvenience, and many people aren’t as intelligent as others. The first reason why Reiginald illustrates dangers is because people can be biased or they can stereotype the defendant. The Jurors in Twelve Angry Men relate to this because a few of them were biased and several of them stereotyped the defendant for being from the slums. The defendant in this play was a 19 year old kid from the slums.

Within society, people are motivated by self interest and self gain rather than concern for other members of the society. In moments of high crisis On the Waterfront directed by Elia Kazan and Twelve Angry Men written by Reginald Rose both depict characters driven by self interest rather than compassion. However On the Waterfront and Twelve Angry Men both have a character that defies the social norms of self Interest. The play script and film portray similar themes through different devices. The characters within the film and novel cast a similar picture of greed and corruption.

The context of the time and the use of textual form allows the responder to interpret the important ideas within the texts, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” directed by Robert Mulligan and, “Jasper Jones,” written by Craig Silvey. The ideas of equality, opportunity and hardships all rely on their context and textual form to be successfully conveyed. These ideas all add to the notion of the corruptive prevalence of injustice in the world. In the film, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the malignant presence of injustice is portrayed through a similar idea that every person should be treated equally by the law.

In all facets of human life there is a constant pressure. One of the most potent forms of this is peer pressure. It affects how humans make decisions, in all facets of an everyday life. Peer is a force that can bring out the best and worst of humanity. Additionally, in the context of Reginald Rose’s 12 Angry Men peer pressure is used to highlight the best and worst aspects of the American judicial system circa 1954.

“Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past”- Troy Edwards. In To Kill A Mockingbird it gives textual evidence on how racism and justice were used. When African Americans got decremented against, the way we changed that in today’s society is by showing that everyone's equal, everyone has the same right and no race is higher than any other. To Kill A Mockingbird gives multiple examples of how racism was put into action. Tom Robinson was a black man who got accused of raping a white girl.

Justice, or known to some men as revenge, is one of the most ancient values known to man. From historic Hammurabi's code to the U.S Justice System, they are all based on the principle that is a wrong has been committed, it must be made right. Over the centuries, prejudice has violated the principle. These fundamentals have been stepped over and crushed through years of cruel, man-made hatred. The trial of Tom Robinson symbolizes the human nature for justice, while turning a blind eye to the truth because of prejudice, through a historical perspective in Harper Lee’s

Racial Injustice is when you deny someone their rights based on race or background. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the author uses acts of cruelty towards Tom Robinson as a way to convey the theme of racial injustice. This theme contributes to the overall meaning of the novel by supporting the statement: “That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”.(Lee 119) During the 1930’s in the South, African Americans were discriminated against due to their race.

Through the compelling court case of Tom Robinson and other relevant events, Harper Lee reveals that even in the most fair place to obtain justice, the courtroom, injustice has been and still is a part of society. Throughout most of the story, themes of injustice and bias, especially in race and gender, play a major role and impact the outcome of many events that take place. For example, the climax event of the book; the trial of Tom Robinson. Throughout the trial, the lawyer for the defendant, Atticus, repeatedly provides cunning and convincing evidence that shows Tom Robinson could not have been the attacker. Yet, in that time period, time and time again black people were convicted for crimes they did not commit, and Tom is unanimously convicted.

In “12 Angry Men” by Reginald Rose and “Democracy” by Langston Hughes, both speakers want equality and fairness. Although they share the same opinion, both writers speak from opposite sides of society’s borders, and this influences their perspectives of democracy. Rose wants people to think about the decisions they make in a democracy and to treat others equally and be fair, while Hughes just wants equal rights. In Rose’s 12 Angry Men, the theme is to think critically about important decisions in a democracy because your decision can influence someone in a series of different ways, and deciding too quickly is unfair.

To avoid feeling guilty from slavery whites said blacks were bad and began to oppress them. They did this through segregating them, watching their every move, and putting them in positions to commit crimes. Bigger is frustrated because he is not allowed to do anything because he is black. " When Bigger goes out onto the street he sees a poster for Buckley's campaign: “IF YOU BREAK THE LAW, YOU CAN'T WIN!” And, as Bigger knows, if you don’t break it, you keep losing.