Dead Man Walking

The movie Dead man Walking had several themes throughout the entirety of its course. A common theme that was well distributed throughout was grief and loss. In a way, the entire movie was circled around grief and loss. When Mathew was about to get injected with his medication to die, he told the parents of the woman he killed that he hopes that his death gives them some relief. The father of the son stated that there would be zero chance of him being a grandfather; he would never know what like to have grandchildren. He also stated that his son was robbed of Christmas gathering and birthdays. His son was his one and only son, therefore the family name will not longer be able to be passed along. Throughout the movie, signs that many people were…

This movie has a lot of complex issues in it. Two people are accused of a double murder and taken into custody. But only one of the accused had a good lawyer to get him out of the death penalty. The other accused couldn’t afford a good attorney and he wasn’t completely happy with the representation that he had. So the nun that he had written a letter to, came to visit him in jail. Now the nun was asked by the man accused to help him. People would see this as somewhat of a conflict of interest…

DMW: A Rhetorical Approach Human life is the most sacred phenomenon man-kind possesses, for centuries humans have pondered their existence, and its meaning. Every person’s life has an intrinsic value which should never be taken by anyone, including governmental systems. Capital punishment dates back as far as 17th century B.C. During that time the Draconian Code of Athens, the death sentence, was the only punishment for all crimes. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, “Death…

In her book Dead Man Walking, Helen Prejean had the purpose of showing why it is necessary for people to take action to fix injustice regarding several systems in American society, with her central focus ultimately being the death penalty. She achieved this by using logos, pathos, and ethos to make a well rounded appeal as to why these systems are flawed and why it is one’s responsibility to fix them. Prejean uses logos to open her readers’ eyes to the flaws with the criminal justice system…

Unjust Systems Sister Helen Prejean, in her book Dead Man Walking, uses statistics, stories of injustice, and her childhood experiences to relate discrimination and poverty in cities like New Orleans to the death penalty: both are unfair systems that need to be reformed. Prejean first demonstrates ethos, using anecdotes of her experiences as a white child in the segregated 1950’s to convince the reader of her understanding of discrimination. After ethos, Prejean uses logos in the form of…

Lewis B. Smedes referred to love and justice as water and oil. Although when you mix the two, they still separate. One is denser than the other. Love is felt as an emotion towards something with affection or attraction while justice is claimed to be of peace or moral rightness, or punishment. In the film, “Dead Man Walking,” a man, Matt Ponceletes, is on death row for murdering two teenagers and the raping of the girl. Ponceletes mentioned on his final day, “figures, I’d have to die to find…

Dead Man Walking a movie of a man pleading for his life while on death row. Matthew Poncelet reaches out to a nun, Sister Helen Prejean, for help in his appeal. Sister Helen found an attorney, Hilton Barber, to fight for Matthew’s appeal. At the first appeal for a stay of execution Hilton makes a few very compelling points that make you question the death penalty and how humane it really is. As the movie goes on, it has more moments like that one where you question am I truly for or against the…

Dead Man Walking retells a true story of Sister Helen Prejean, who is a Roman Catholic nun who attempts to bring salvation to a convicted murderer and rapist on Death Row named Matthew Poncelet. Matthew writes a letter to Sister Helen, asking her to take on his case to compile a final appeal, one week before his scheduled execution. She agrees to meet with him, and decides to work with Matthew. Matthew is unashamed to be a racist along with a sexist, and to feel no remorse for the crimes he has…

Dead Man Walking is an article that goes over if it is right or wrong for the death penalty to be a thing. The main argument going one was whether it is more of a good thing or bad, and it came with some statistics to support that. The article goes over the people in prison and if they really deserve the death penalty, and it also talks about what is gained from it, and the overall outcome it could be turned into. This article is full of information and can help sway you to understand why the…

In the film Dead Man Walking they describe the death penalty as a normal punishment. The townspeople were so used to having that punishment that when it came to it they would say it would give them happiness, or make them feel better after the criminal was dead. In my opinion, I could see how it would make them feel better, because to be honest if it was my child that man raped and killed I would kill them with my own hands. But what I don't understand is why give them the freedom of being free…