Capital Punishment Sherman Alexie Analysis

Present
In certain moments throughout life, people may know that they are present in the physical sense but may not feel so mentally or emotionally. In Sherman Alexie’s “Capital Punishment,” the speaker spends his or her time going through the motions of their job while their mind is elsewhere, namely, on a prisoner with an imminent death sentence. It cannot be assumed that the speaker is the poet, because there is a lack of sufficient evidence to account for this claim; however, certain facts may lead readers to presume that it is the case. The speaker in “Capital Punishment” is a cook at a jail in which the death penalty is performed, and he or she feels deep sympathy for the man who is to be put to death despite the fact that the man is a killer. The poem does not tell us what ethnicity the speaker of the poem is or much about him or her at all. However, it can be assumed that race is a major issue in this piece. The speaker describes how the Indian killer is to be put to death by the death penalty. He or she goes on to explain that “it’s mostly the dark ones” who …show more content…
Instead of strapping the killers into the chair, they provide the last meals which seems to be a stark contrast to the harshness of everything else happening to them. A warm baked potato, salad, and a glass of ice water would certainly be a comfort to someone who is about to die. The cook takes his or her time preparing the food and making it as perfect and appetizing as possible. The speaker explains that they do not have much to work with, but they do their best. They even hope that a bit of themselves gets inside the killer. This particular part of the poem is puzzling, because why would anyone want to be inside the body of a man who is practically already