Friday, February 14, 2020

Blog #8 - Melanie Gates - Period 9 - 2/14/20

2/14/2020
Melanie Gates
Period 9

Aim: How does prejudice affect the perspectives of the jurors?
Do Now: 
For our Do Now on this day, Ms. Peterson showed us two separate pictures, one of a man with a smiling expression and wearing a white shirt, and one of a man making a suspicious expression and wearing a black shirt. Ms. Peterson asked us to analyze the two men and to describe what we thought of them. The answers were as follows:
  • Many of the students believed that the man in the black shirt seemed creepy, suspicious, and distrustful. Some even compared him to a child predator or a pedophile, citing his expression and overall disposition as evidence. 
  • Other students believed that the man in the white shirt seemed warm and welcoming, and overall like a trustworthy man. When comparing the two photos, they would label the man in the white shirt as “The Good Man” and the man in the black shirt as “The Bad Man”. 
  • Some students went even deeper into their analysis of the photos, saying that the white and black shirts were symbolic of our beliefs of who the men were. Some said that because we naturally associate the color black with evil, or the devil, this changed our immediate disposition regarding the man wearing black. Furthermore, we often associate white with purity or God and the heavens, further solidifying why we viewed the man in the white shirt as nicer, trustworthy, and kind. 
Notes:
Today we read pages 32-43 of Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose. 
  • This passage of reading began with the various jurors discussing the possibility of the woman seeing the murder while the el train was passing. They decide that it takes an el train approximately 10 seconds to pass by someone's window, with each car taking 2 seconds. 
  • Juror 8 brings up the point that the el trains are extremely loud, and the building in which the murder took place was right next to the trains, making it highly unlikely that the old man could’ve heard the suspected murderer scream “I’m going to kill you.” 
  • Juror 3 takes extreme offense to this notion, not understanding how the other jurors, especially Juror 8, could call the old man a liar. Tensions start to build between Juror 3 and Juror 8.
  • Juror 9 then brings up the point that the man was very old and walked with two canes, and may have lied about what he had heard in order to gain some attention because he is lonely. Juror 3 is even more offended, and will not get over the fact that some other Jurors (specifically 8+9) are insinuating that the old man lied. 
  • After this discussion, Juror 5 changes their vote to not guilty, making the overall verdict 9-3 in favor of guilty at this point in time.
  • Juror 7 then brings up (in defense of the old man) that it took him 15 seconds to get out of bed and run down the hallway to see the kid “beat it downstairs” after the alleged murder. 
  • Juror 8 then looks into this claim further, doubting that the old man could’ve made it out of bed and walked with his 2 canes to see the boy running away in 15 seconds. He requests to see the apartment layout of the man in order to simulate the conditions. 
  • Juror 8 demonstrates to his best ability the man getting out of bed and walking down the hall, it takes him 39 seconds, considerably longer than the 15 seconds that the old man had claimed. 
  • After Juror 8 becomes more sure of their claim that the old man couldn’t have seen the boy run away and is lying about what he is saying, Juror 3 becomes infuriated and lunges at Juror 8, threatening to kill him. 
  • Act 2 ends at this point, with the curtain closing. 

Ms. Peterson showed us an image similar to this one (below), of an el train running at night: 
This is the model of the apartment (below) that Juror 8 used to justify his claim that the old man couldn’t have gotten to the door in 15 seconds:
Reflection:
Today's lesson was a very in depth and informative one that helped me identify how prejudice can impact the perspective of the jurors. Our Do Now allowed me to reflect on how our own personal biases and our prejudice can impact our views of people that may not even be true. The entire class was making assumptions of the men based on what they were wearing as their facial expressions, which made me think about Twelve Angry Men, because the Jurors have not truly met the suspect or the witnesses, they have just seen them in a courtroom. Throughout the lesson and today's reading I found myself questioning the reasoning and morals behind each Juror, and wondering what could have influenced Jurors 3 and 8 to have such strong views. Furthermore, I found today's reading to be highly entertaining and informative, as there were many developments in the case, and as the audience we are discovering more about both the case and the Jurors themselves. I am extremely intrigued by both Juror 8 and Juror 3, as they both have incredibly strong views and it is clear that there is tension between Jurors 3 and 8 so I am curious to see how that escalates. I think that the purpose of today's lesson was for us to think more in depth about the jurors' backgrounds and their prejudices/biases. All of the jurors' prejudices and views are influenced by their life experiences, and one cannot truly understand someone if they are just sitting in a deliberation room with them. For example, Jurors 8 and 3 both have extremely strong views about the case, but this lesson made me realize that we don’t know why they have these views, or what event/experiences made them feel this way. I think I will use what I learned in this lesson today in both my encounters in literature and life. Today's lesson helped to give me perspective on why other people have their own beliefs, and I think it allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the human condition, which I will implement in both analyzing texts and characters, and also in my daily life as I meet new people and try to be as empathetic and understanding as I can be. 

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