12 Angry Men: Influence Of Surroundings Essay, Research Paper

12 Angry Men: Influence of Surroundings

A persons surroundings can influence him. In “12 Angry Men” by Reginald

Rose a young mans life is held by twelve men with contrasing views. Eight a

caring man, who wishes to talk about why the other jurors think that the boy is

guilty, clashes with Three, a sadistic man who would pull the swith himselfto

end the boys life. Accroding to Rose, several elements can infulence a jury’s

verdict, such as the emotional make-up of individual jurors.

Many elements can change a jurors decision. Juror Three, who is convincd

that the boy is guilty, is allied with Four who is eventually convicedEights

showing of how the two testimonies given by the old woman and old man are lies,

votes guilty. Three outraged by this exclames “A guilty man’s gonna be walking

the streets… he’s got to die! Stay with me.” (23) But Four sees the truth that

Eight has brought into th light and still votes guilty. Eight tries to convince

Three how the boy is not guilty beyond reasonable doubt but Three does not

listen adn would rather see the boy die. “For this kid, you bet I’d pull the

switch.”(17) This shows how emotionally unstable Three is. He is a grown man

living in a civilized community and would like to see a boy who he does not

even know die by his own hands Eight does not think highly of Three for what he

says about killing the boy and shouts “your a sadist.”(17) which is the

absolute truth about Three.

The emotional make-up of a juror can change his desicision on wther or

not to let a man live or die. When someone is asked judge someone else, shoud

not you look at al the facts to be sure beyond a shoadow of a doubt that the

man who cimmitted the crime is guilty? Yes, a juror should look at all the

facts but some do not, they just judge the person on how that person feels.