Written by Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, tells a story of an upcoming lawyer who wanted to help falsely accused individuals get off death row. Stevenson actually wrote this book about himself. As an African American lawyer who graduated from Harvard Law School and decided to move to Montgomery, Alabama in hopes of opening his very own law firm. However, this was not going to be your stereotypical firm. Stevenson purposely made his law office a non-profit to help inmates who were falsely accused of committing a crime that ultimately sentenced them the death penalty. The concept of having a non-profit law firm was very interesting to me because whenever you hire an attorney it is known that you will need to pay…
Turtles give hope “Slower than the rest” by Cynthia Rylant is a realistic fiction about a boy named Leo. In the beginning, Leo and his family are in the car driving Leo yells, “There's a turtle.” The car halts Leo gets out of the car to pick up the turtle. Soon Leo feels happy and names the turtle Charlie. In the end Leo has to make a presentation on wildlife and uses Charlie as an example of a slow animals.…
The character from Just Mercy who has grown and evolved over the course of the story, or from the time we met them is Bryan Stevenson. When we first met Bryan Stevenson in “Just Mercy” he was all nervous about becoming a lawyer and talking to people in jail or prison about there cases or executions. When Bryan Stevenson first started his internship there was a man named Walter McMillian which was Bryan Stevenson first client. Before Bryan even met Walter, he was trying to rehearse his lines to tell Walter he wouldn’t be killed next year. On page 7 it says “I continued practicing my presentation until I pulled up to the intimidating barbed-wire fence and white guard tower of the Georgia diagnostic and Classification Center. Bryan Stevenson…
In the book, If I Die in a Combat Zone…, Tim O’Brien, a Vietnam veteran, gives us his raw, personal story on what it was like to be a soldier in a controversial war. O’Brien was/is a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War and yet he completed his one-year service. He does not shy away from his negative opinions about the war and how in a way the government had let him down. O’Brien leads his story from the beginning in 1968 where he is drafted in Minnesota through 1969 with his homecoming. Throughout the book he is keen on the recognition of his comrades’ deaths, the Vietnamese residents, his daily internal/external battles, and the contemplation of what is bravery/courage.…
In 2010, Laura Hillenbrand released a brilliant tribute to a resilient national hero, Louis “Louie” Zamperini, whose story was not widely known at the time. Fast forward four years and this tribute, Unbroken, has been made into a major motion picture and the remarkable story of the Olympian-turned-soldier has reached the masses. In the book Unbroken, which I read shortly after it was released, Hillenbrand chronicles Zamperini’s epic and, at times, terrifying odyssey. Raised in California, he was the son of Italian immigrants.…
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson gives an inside look at the twisted justice system, and how innocent lives are lost & ruined due to bias and injustice in the justice system. The book reflects on how there is corruption in the courts, how Bryan Stevenson overcame these difficulties to help Walter McMillian.…
He was not ready to meet a condemned man. He was not ready to meet the young children and men on death row. He wasn't ready for reality, he would not be able to save everyone. Stevenson’s nonfiction book, Just Mercy, published in New York by Spiegel & Grau, focuses on a very controversial subject. We easily condemn people in this country and the injustices we create when we allow fear, anger, and distance to shape the way we treat the most vulnerable among us. We have also created a caste system that forces people to be homeless because of previous convictions. The backbone of the book is a man named as Walter McMillian, and he was accused of killing a white woman in the 1980’s. Bryan Stevenson always wondered how and why people are judged unfairly.…
Keira Douglas “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson. Through the experiences of Bryan Stevenson, the visionary attorney who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, "Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption" provides readers with a profound exploration of the complex workings of the American legal system. The book skillfully analyzes the systemic problems marginalized communities face, illuminating the systemic injustices that permeate society and providing a compelling narrative. Stevenson emerges as a ray of hope, fighting relentlessly for the rights of the oppressed and firmly opposing the status quo.…
In the reading “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie, the author describes his own experience of how kids and himself were treated by society during his childhood for being part of a different background. In the reading I noticed how the author shows us ways that he has become the person he is by the influence of his family, particularly his dad who sparked his passion toward reading books. In my essay I implemented an additional family factor other than my father and sister; I included my brother. He impacted how I treat people that are constantly looked down by society. In addition, I have grown from my brother’s death and as an effect I have matured as a person and a writer.…
Bryan Stevenson, the author and lawyer of the book, runs a non-profit law firm to represent those who are put on death row and cannot afford to pay for a lawyer. The book Just Mercy to me is a cry for help. It puts past occurrences of racial profiling that our country faced and is still facing today in the hands of thousands of readers. All of which are true, hard to believe…
Rufus Weylin; a character first perceived as a young, curious and innocent boy, turns in to an over-obsessive and miserable tyrant. In Octavia Butler 's novel _Kindred_, the book revolves around the horrors of slavery in the United States in the early eighteen hundreds. White characters are given absolute power and control over black characters, and treat them like animals, making them live a long life of misery and unhappiness. As _Kindred_ unfolds, it becomes clear that Rufus turns in to a stereotypical slave owner and abuser. With every trip that Dana makes back to Rufus, there is a clear distinction of changes in his personality. He becomes more evil, over-obsessive and cruel as he gets older. In fact, he becomes very much like his father Tom Weylin, which in his childhood he never wants to be. However, this does not excuse the horrible actions that he commits towards his black slaves. Although at his time some white men do have slaves as servants, not everybody does, and not everybody has to. Rufus misuses the power of his freewill, and causes lots of physical and emotional pain to everybody around him. He feels like he is entitled to anything and everything, and gets extremely frustrated when things do not go as he plans. Rufus does not ever take personal responsibility and blames everybody around him for his problems and failures. Rufus Weylin is truly an evil person, which is a result of his personal choice, his over obsessive and possessive nature and his lack of responsibility.…
Many people go their day to day lives assuming that the United States justice system is infallible in assuring swift and concise justice, but that isn’t true. In the novel Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption Bryan Stevenson, leader and founder of the Equal Rights Initiative, exposes the truths behind the misguided and corrupt legal system in place. Stevenson recanting tales of his numerous cases in order to ensure his clients receive legal aid in attempt to rid them of cruel and unusual sentences serves to teach readers of how racism and prejudice controlled the justice system. If I were born differently this novel might have had a contrasting effect on me than it did. Instead, I realized how privileged I was to grow up in a kind,…
Crank by Ellen Hopkins is based on a sixteen year old girl named Kristina, who ends up going down the wrong path during a vacation to visit her father. In this writing the theme is loud and clear for the reader; the horror and risks of illegal drugs, what the “monster” can do to ones life, and how the drugs can set you for downward spiral.…
People have different views of what mercy truly is. One of the most popular definitions is that mercy is compassion or kindness. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson gives us a different but deeper understanding of what the word “mercy” honestly means, however, his experience changed his meaning of it forever. Reading this book also opened my eyes to what the real definition is; Not the one that is commonly known. Stevenson changed my definitions, used key points, and influenced my desire to seek out justice.…
The dignified journey of the chapter “Emergency” created by Denis Johnson, created a concrete dialog of the religion practice Christianity. As the chapter progresses the reader explores the content of the two characters F-head and Georgie, and stimulates the differences between spiritual reality and original reality. Denis Johnson specified the events in the chapter “Emergency” with moments that occur in the hospital in connection to the experiences outside of the work place. However, the main concept suggested that the theme would be the visualization of the seeing eye. Therefore, the interpretation of the theme symbolizes the connection towards the visual concept, and the differences between the realities portrayed in the chapter “Emergency.”…