Rhetorical Analysis On Just Mercy

Ashley Tinajero

Mrs. Trull

AP Language and Composition

27 December 2022

Just Mercy

The book Just Mercy tackles many different issues throughout the novel however its most notable one being the political injustice that consistently damages people of color and to be specific Americans the author Bryan Stevenson translates this issue through his thoughtful rhetoric and eliciting a sense of hope and sadness within the reader to emphasize the issue of the flawed justice system targeting African Americans and imposing rules that are purposefully set to ensure African Americans do not succeed in trials of any sort. In the novel the main case is that of Walter Mcmillion who is wrongly accused by a white man of murdering a young girl with the blatant

Musical hymns have a long past of being something dear to African Americans as during slavery's most prominent years vocal iteration was the only way they could communicate as they were illiterate and could not simply write them down this also served as a form of hope to them. Stevenson uses this at the beginning of the novel when he is first introduced to a death row inmate as stated in the following quote “He began to sing. He had a tremendous baritone voice that was strong and clear. It startled me and the guard, who stopped his pushing. I’m pressing on, the upward way New Heights I’m gaining, everyday Still praying as I’m onward bound Lord, plant my feet on Higher Ground. It was an old hymn they used to sing all the time in the church where I grew up.” (Stevenson 11) This quote demonstrates how despite the hardships Henry the inmate is facing physically and mentally because having the constant thought of dying over something you know you did not do is most likely mentally draining. Regardless, the author appeals to one's emotions with this because it shows the lasting sense of hope and sadness within the prisoner and encourages the author himself to keep fighting against the corrupt system. Now the next quote relates to another of the side cases explored in the novel that of death row convict Herbert who was a mentally ill man whose life could not be spared as his was a supreme court ruling much more difficult to overcome. However the failure to save his life is what elicits a sense of sadness with the reader and his request of having a hymn playing as loses his life is even more devastating as the following quote states “Herbert had made a peculiar request the week before the execution. He said that if he was executed as scheduled, he wanted me to get the prison to play a recording of a hymn “The Old Rugged Cross,” as he