Just Mercy Symbolism

Great Essays
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption is a book written by Bryan Stevenson, which mainly focuses on his work and that of his clients. Bryan Stevenson points out problems and corruption all over the justice system, ranging from false convictions to racial profiling. He shows what injustice the criminal justice system does to people wrongfully committed and shows how law enforcement is corrupt and how this leads to the killing of innocents. While it’s hard to know how many total innocent people were killed, it’s not hard to find a few to were innocently condemned to death. What was most interesting was his connection with his clients and commitment to see his cases through, this part of the book was its best strength. He shows …show more content…
The major symbolic event was that Walter McMillian was falsely accused and that it happened in Monroeville. Very similar case like in To Kill a Mockingbird, right? Bryan shows his frustration on how the town gloats about the towns famous association with Harper Lee but its ashamed of how they can’t see the message Lee used to portray racial violence. This symbol that Bryan uses is to show how hypocritical people really become when it starts to do with race. One day your town is proud of its connection with Harper Lee and the building named after her but the next day your rooting to get an innocent black man killed because of his skin …show more content…
It talks about a man who fought the corrupt system and gave people hope. He talks about racial profiling and the injustices the court provides. Bryan Stevenson picks apart police by mentioning how corrupt they are and how they will force plant evidence and false testimonies to get you life or even worse death. He tackles problems involving corruption and mentioning stories involving his clients. What also inspires the reader would be his compassionate attitude and his hopeful spirit. When things are dark he will always look to the brighter side. Bryan was not perfect, he had his moments off loss, but its his drive for clarity and conclusions that kept him going. He is not the type to drop after one major loss, he will continue to fight the system and make differences just like he did with Walter McMillian. Bryan sets a theme of life and good, no matter how much racist police officers or judges there are. What’s most important is how he talks when you read the book. You don’t hear anger or rage, but instead you would hear disappointment, and then hope. He was himself a target of racial profiling and still was able to have faith to continue to fight for his clients. Another big example he uses to portray injustice in a sense would be his juvenile cases. He shows how unfair the system can be when integrating kids in prison. He uses an example with a boy named Charlie that was tried as an adult

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Perception is a way of regarding, understanding or interpreting something. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely is a novel where perception is the difference between life and death. The novel is written through the eyes of two high school boys, Rashad and Quinn. Rashad is an African American student at Reserve Officers ' Training Corps who is accused of stealing and beaten almost to death by a police officer. Quinn is a caucasian American who witnessed the altercation and finds out that the officer who beat Rashad is his best friend’s brother.…

    • 1421 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    (“A letter from Birmingham jail) where he explains how he is most of upset with the white moderate, the people who knew and believed how blacks were being treated was wrong, yet they…

    • 165 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson, and he is also the main character of the book. Stevenson narrated the stories about law, justice, kindness, compassion, and love with his personal experience. Stevenson was born in a poor, racially segregated rural. He did not affected by the living environment, and he was positive and became a student at Harvard Law School. Stevenson was holding a determination to struggle for racial inequality and to be equitable and fair with one another.…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essential Questions I find it is important to understand significant historical events that were happening at the time the novel took place because without historical context readers could be confused as to why the protection of a black man is is frowned upon highly in the maycomb community. When a reader understands the history during the time of the novel he or she would understand that this was during the era of the Jim crow laws, and that the black community was segregated and discriminated. An example to further prove this is when during the trial light toned people sat on the first floor in pews or benches, while dark toned people were sitting in the second floor balcony.…

    • 204 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout history, minorities of countries have been faced with oppression. For instance, in America, blacks have often been segregated and punished. One advocator for the end of this treatment was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after a peaceful protest, Dr. King and his fellow protestors were thrown into a jail in Birmingham. In a letter from King while he was incarcerated in jail to the clergy members of the church, Dr. King used rhetoric such as logos, metaphors, and parallel structure in order to show how he thinks his actions were not rash and poorly timed as well as prove why he thinks segregation needs to be stopped.…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Modern Immigration DBQ

    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Defended by Clarence Darrow he was able to help Scopes in his trial since he was the best lawyer in America he was able to win the trial. This is able to reflect the idea of cultural division and how it can still be seen after the 1920’s. The outcome of the trial has led to the idea that urban people see the rural folks negatively. Those rural folks who’ve been living there for a long time are always going to have a hard time accustoming to what’s new. Although, this shouldn’t divide America, cultural division is still…

    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    There are always two sides to an argument, but different people have different opinions on which side is right and wrong; as a result, we can compare a debate or argument as of a coin, due to the fact that it has two sides. When it comes to the topic of judicial system in America, most of us will readily agree that it needs to be reformed. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of who will step forward and make changes to the court system. Whereas some are convinced that no one is going to do anything about it, others maintain that the government will be the savior by making the changes. In the introduction of Just Mercy: A Story of Justice And Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson -an American lawyer, social justice activist,…

    • 1398 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr. led the way towards the end of racial segregation by his irrepressible drive to achieve social change. During his lifetime he endured many acts of discrimination to which he responded by peaceful protest and strong pieces of writing. One example is his letter written after his imprisonment in Birmingham jail because of a coordinated march against segregation. The purpose of his letter was to respond to the clergymen that labeled the march unwise. Martin Luther King uses ethos, logos, and pathos to argue to the clergyman that the strategy of peaceful resistance against discrimination is necessary.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Police treated white people with respect and kept them safe, which gave white people a good idea of them. Yet most people didn 't realize how badly they treated blacks just because of their color. When reading all his examples of how poorly they were treating black people, it made me want to do something about it. I am sure when people read this back then it also made them want to defend…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Just Mercy Analysis

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Is it just mercy, or is the mercy just? The innocent grace the cells of death row across America due to human error, ego and the color of the inmate’s skin. Bryan Stevenson, grew up poor, a descendant of slaves, and his grandfather was murdered in Philadelphia when he was a teenager, maybe these were the factors that lead him to become an advocate for the innocent living on death row. Stevenson writes about his experience defending death row inmates in his book, Just Mercy.…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America’s Largest Criminal Court strives to discuss the corrupt practices that are occurring in the courts of Cook County, Illinois. This book was written by Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, is 272 pages in length, and was published on May 4, 2016. It wastes no time sugar-coating the great amount of racism that occurs in the courts in Cook County, going into great detail as soon as the book starts. All within the first chapter, Gonzalez Van Cleve covers just about every aspect of the people within the courthouse. She discusses judges, security, and attorneys stating that no matter which courtroom she was in, they were always all white.…

    • 1660 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Judiciary also includes police, lawyers, and officials associated with law and order. One corrupt official can corrupt the entire justice system. In the book, Stevenson also talks about a lot of people falsely convicted due to corrupt police and lawyers. One of them is Walter McMillian. “His story was a counter narrative to the rhetoric of fairness and reliability offered by politicians and law enforcement officials who wanted more and faster executions.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prejudice In the Society of Maycomb County “Prejudice is a learned trait. You’re not born prejudiced; you’re taught it.” Charles R. Swindoll once said. This quote relates to the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, because we see how racism in society influences the kids. Jem, Scout, and even Dill realize how the people of Maycomb treat others who are different than them.…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Historical Influences on To Kill a Mockingbird During the 1930’s, there were many changes taking place in the United States. Segregation was still a dominant obstacle, and the economy took a sharp downfall. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses real-life occurrences to build the background for her story. There are many correlations between the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials in the book.…

    • 1098 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He is a victim of the law that classifies human by the color of their skin. He shares his confrontation with the law and shows that the law is unfair. The people behind the law can have racial intent. His life is unstable because he is limited to what the law makes him out to be. Racial profiling is destroying people’s life by unlawfully criminating people with colored…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays