Prejudice In Reginald Rose's Twelve Angry Men

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Twelve Angry Men play depicts a realistic story of one of the few duties required if you are a U.S. citizen, serving on a jury. What is a completely private affair among strangers, is shown in a realistic case through Reginald Rose’s classic tale. Going in depth into case most would never want to encounter, and shows the true colors of a man. Exploring the themes of prejudice, justice, and father and son relationships.

When most people hear the word prejudice they often think to race, ethnicity, or gender, yet it is not always the case. In Twelve Angry Men though there is the case of racial prejudice, with Juror # 10, “Sure, there's some good things about 'em, too. I'm the first one to say that. I've known a couple who were OK, but that's the exception” (Rose).This is the first instant where Juror #10 realizes that the others in the group are not as racist as himself, and soon that shows. In …show more content…

A kid kills his father” (Rose). The two jurors that stand out as the father figures of the play are juror number eight and juror number three, though both in very different ways. Juror number three from the beginning looks over the boy, being the first to vote not guilty.There were eleven votes for guilty. It’s not so easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first” (Rose). He stands up against these men in a fatherly way forming a bond between the two without them even meeting. While juror number three comes off as the more aggressive figure, since he has been estranged from his young son. “When he was sixteen we had a battle. He hit me in the face. He's big, y'know. I haven't seen him in two years. Rotten kid” (Rose). Bringing in another negative view of the father-son relationships, and the negative father figure of the accused. Bringing all the views of the father and son's relationship theme into view for this