Juror Eight Murder

830 Words2 Pages

Stormy, rain-filled nights, ear-splitting passing elephant trains, ominous nighttime noises, individuals frightfully screaming, and birds swooping into the sky are the descriptions that create a terrifying night. Murder: the premeditated killing of one human being by another. The act of crime that will determine the fate of the killer. In the movie 12 Angry Men, viewers examine the dynamics at play in a United States jury room in the 1950’s. Twelve diverse citizens are pulled from their daily lives, dressed in button-up shirts and dapper ties, and are summoned to decide the fate of a young boy, either proving him to be ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’, over the murder of his father. Although the jurors make assumptions based on the facts given in the …show more content…

He was the one man keeping the young boy alive since the preliminary vote was tallied at eleven to one. Juror Eight made every point of his persuasion easy to accept and acknowledge. He went about the discussion with the intent to be as logical as possible, appealing to ethics, so the rest of the jury couldn't easily object to his ideas, even if this meant addressing the boy’s appearance and home life, “Look, this boy’s been kicked around all his life. You know, living in a slum, his mother dead since he was nine. That’s not a very good head start. He’s a tough, angry kid. You know why slum kids get that way? Because we knock ‘em on the head once a day, every day. I think maybe we owe him a few words. That’s all.” Juror Number Eight appeals to the facts of the young boy’s looks and life at home with attempts to get the other jurors to visualize what the boy’s life actually is. This is an example of ethos because Juror Eight is pointing out that the defendant grew up as a poor, abused child, and therefore it is only right that the jurors discuss the case seriously. However, not everyone agreed with the ethical appeals coming from Juror

Open Document