Stevenson, a civil rights attorney and law professor, delivers a powerful message in the excerpt “Broken” from his nonfiction book Just Mercy on society's inherent brokenness. He argues that we as a society are broken, but we should not cast aside other broken people. Stevenson develops this message through tone, narratives, and pronoun use to convey the message to his readers. He commences his speech by sharing a narrative of the night that Jimmy Dill was executed. Stevenson feels intense sadness and anguish, appalled by the lack of compassion he witnessed that day. He states, “When I hung up the phone that night, I had a wet face and a broken heart. The lack of compassion I witnessed every day had finally exhausted me.” This lack of compassion is the …show more content…
Stevenson reflects on his job as a lawyer,” As I sat there, I thought myself a fool for having tried to fix situations that were so fatally broken.” By providing this narrative he reinforces the brokenness of the situation and the people around it. Despite the tragedy of Jimmy Dill’s situation and impending execution, no one cares or feels sympathy for the case. As a lawyer, Stevenson endures the burden of working in a broken system, but as a human, he is just as broken. This is why he is a lawyer to make sure that society doesn’t cast aside their broken people. Stevenson then alludes to the ways society is broken, by doing this he can emphasize how broken circumstances and the broken system cast other broken people aside. He states,” I worked in a broken system of justice. My clients are affected by mental illness, poverty, and racism. They were torn apart by disease, drugs and alcohol, pride, fear, and anger.” Through heart-wrenching and despairing words like ‘prejudice’, ‘cynicism’ and ‘hopelessness’, he creates a serious tone. He then further explains how the brokenness of his clients lends itself to the brokenness of