Stevenson's Use Of Pathos In Just Mercy By Bryan Stevenson

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“Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done,” wrote Bryan Stevenson. Bryan Stevenson is the author of the nonfiction novel Just Mercy, a true story about the wrongfully imprisoned Walter McMillian. McMillian was put away for murder but did not commit the crime. This is about how McMillian was freed from this accusation. In the novel Just Mercy, Stevenson proves that one bad action does not define a person, and that mercy is important to show when a mistake is made through his use of pathos, logos, and ethos. Bryan Stevenson in Just Mercy uses pathos to prove one bad action does not define a person by using stories and figurative language. As provided in the text, "She desperately tried to revive the infant, but he never took a breath" (Stevenson 199). This shows that Stevenson uses a mother's despair over her child's death to make people feel the pain and …show more content…

As provided in the text, "In fact, nationwide, most women on death row are awaiting execution for a family crime involving an allegation of child abuse or domestic violence involving a male partner" (Stevenson 201). This shows that women are being arrested more and more for harming their children even though it may not be true. Also provided in the text, "Trina Garnett was the youngest of twelve children living in the poorest section of Chester, Pennsylvania just outside of Philadelphia. Chester had extraordinarily high rates of poverty, crime, and unemployment- and the worst-ranked public school system among Pennsylvania’s 501 districts, nearly 46 percent of the city’s children were living below the federal poverty level" (Stevenson 124). This shows that Trina grew up in a bad area and that the poverty she grew up in was horrible. Bryan Stevenson in Just Mercy uses women's rates in prison and poverty in Chester, Pennsylvania to prove one bad action does not define a