12 Angry Man Essay, Research Paper

Twelve Angry Men

Sometimes in life your professions reflect on your personalities. Twelve

Angry Men is an example of where this occurs. Twelve men are brought together in

a room to decide whether a boy is guilty of killing his father. Whether they

brought good or bad qualities from their profession, they all affected the

outcome. The leadership skills of Courtney Vance, the compassion of Dorian

Harwood, and the opinionated Tony Danza affected the actions and decisions in

the jury room.

Courtney Vance is a high school football coach; his position in the jury room

is a foreman. On the football field, Vance acts as a mediator, a leader, and an

organizer. As a foreman for this trial, Vance definitely carries all those

traits into the jury room with him. If it were not for Vance, there would not

have been any order in the jury room. He acts as a coach in the jury room as he

formed fine lines of respect. He acts as a mediator for all of the arguments

that went on in the jury room. Every time, Vance is there to calm everyone down

and gain back order in the room. His leadership skills also shine in the jury

room as well. He controls and leads every discussion, speaking order, voting,

and demonstration. Vance takes on the leading role and handles it well. He also

brings organization into the jury room by organizing the juries, the

discussions, and the votes. With the excellent traits that Vance brings into the

jury room, he allows the trial to run smoothly and effectively.

Dorian Harwood?s profession as nurse also shapes his actions in the jury

room. In the jury room, he acts with compassion and respect. As a nurse he does

the same. His compassion lies in caring for another. He relates that to the

trial by thinking of the boy as one of his patients. He wants him to have a fair

chance at life, and therefore wants him to have a fair trial. In the jury room,

he acts with respect because he is very unsure about the case, and really does

not know how he feels about things. So when it is his turn to talk he passes to

hear the others before he makes the wrong assumption. With these actions he

shows a lot of respect for not only the boy on trial, but also to the other

juries. Harwood definitely shows compassion and respect in the jury room, and

all of these strong traits come from his experience as a nurse.

Tony Danza, a salesman, definitely brings his working traits with him in the

jury room. As a salesman, he is impatient, opinionated, and rude. Tony does not

care about anyone but himself. He shows that he is very impatient by not even

thinking about the trial but rather the baseball tickets that he has for that

night. He just wants to get out of there as soon as he can. He is very

opinionated and that definitely stands out in the jury room. He does not care

what anyone has to say. He has his own beliefs and does not care or want to hear

anyone else?s views. He is also known to be rude, because he shows no

compassion or thought towards the boy on trial and he just wants to get it over

with. He does not even stop to think that someone?s life is on the line, he is

too concerned about his own. Tony?s profession does not give him the best

qualities, as he does not have the best qualities in the jury room.

Courtney Vance, Dorian Harwood, and Tony Danza are three men who are shaped

by the professions in which they live. Their professions give the men certain

qualities, good and bad, that they carry with them into other parts of their

lives. Each man shows these qualities in the jury room and they affect the

actions and decisions that are made.