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September 7, 2006 at 7:33 pm
Melissa Duffield 1
Dead Man Walking
9-7-06
Meld731@yahoo.com
Humanities 1395
Dead Man Walking written by Sister Helen Prejean is a book that deals with many issues that we deal with still to this day. Mainly focused on the death penalty and the question of weather the death penalty is right or wrong, humane or inhumane. Another issue in the book is if the criminals should be treated like human beings with equal rights and if the people that help the criminals should feel guilty for their services.
Sister Helen, a main character in Dead Man Walking agrees to interact with a man, Pat Sonnier who is on death row. Sister Helen starts out by writing Pat Sonnier letters after she receives a few response letters from Pat Sonnier she begins to become intrigued with him because of the kindness and gratitude in his letters. Even though Sister Helen is afraid of everything Pat Sonnier and death row represent she decides to make the long two hour drive and visit with Pat Sonnier as his spiritual adviser. Sister Helen is not a bad person for the choice she makes (to help Pat Sonnier) shi is simply torn between doing the right thing. On one hand Pat Sonnier is a human being who shows obvious emotions: He feels lonely on death row, he feels sad and guilty for the crimes he has committed, and he is thrilled when Sister Helen comes and visits with him. However he is a murderer and a possible rapist, he is a bad man and a criminal. Although at time Sister Helen seems confused (at least to me) about helping Pat Sonnier she is not confused by her thoughts on the death penalty, saying “If I were to be murdered I would not want my murderer executed. I would not want my death avenged.” (21)
Melissa Duffield 2
Dead Man Walking
Pat Sonnier, another main character in the book, is a man who supposedly committed these crimes. I think that Pat Sonnier is a very interesting character. He is known as the “scum of the earth” to the Chaplin and Chava (Colon from the prison coalition) said that these were not his first crimes. However he is appreciative of Sister Helen and the love and support she provides him with. Pat Sonnier also show remorse about what he has done: One of the trusties who would serve food to the prisoners said “He never saw anyone with more remorse than Patrick Sonnier ‘The guy wouldn’t eat when he first got here. He didn’t sleep much. The guy was eaten up by what he did.’” I think that Pat Sonnier was having a good time playing a joke on the two teenagers with his brother Eddie. I think that Eddie was the one who took it to the next level, with peer pressure and trying to prove himself as a “man” Pat Sonnier pulled the trigger in the heat of the moment. However I could be wrong because Chava did say that these were not Pat Sonniers first crimes or victims.
The thing that I find most disturbing about the book is how they describe the way they kill the men on death row, by electric chair. Witness has said that the criminals stay alive for at least ten to fifteen minutes while their flesh and inners burns. “There is a sound like bacon frying and the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh.”(19) How could anyone think that this was humane? Willie Francis was supposed to be killed by electric chair however he did not die right away he actually walked away from it. The first time they tried to electrocute him it did not work so they put him back in his cell and then
Melissa Duffield 3
Dead Man Walking
brought him out later to do it again, this time it worked. Didn’t they ask him how it felt? Was it painful? If so then how could they find it humane?
The Catholic Church plays a big role in this book seeing as Sister Helen is a Catholic. Sister Helen is helping Pat Sonnier the best ways she can by interpreting the religion she practices and trying to figure out what the best thing to do is based on her beliefs. It is interesting how Sister Helen and the Chaplin interpret the religion differently. The Chaplin thinks that the inmates are the scum of the earth and the nuns need to wear their habits, which Sister Helen disagrees with. Sister Helen wears normal clothes and she continues the work she did for Pat Sonnier to help other inmates on death row, “Now as I befriend each new man on death row, I always offer my help to his victim’s family.”
The main thing I like about the narrative of Dead Man Walking is how Sister Helen will be talking about a certain fact or situation and then will go on to let the readers have a little insight into the future by skipping ahead a few years. “He is strictly an old-school, pre-Vatican Catholic, and he shows me a pamphlet on sexual purity and modesty of dress that he distributes to the prisoners. Later I will be source of such stress to this man that the warden will tell me, ‘That old man is going to have a heart attack because of you.’ Later, the Chaplin will try to bar me and other women from serving as spiritual adviser to death row inmates.”
September 8, 2006 at 4:28 am
Jana Churich
Humanities 6 Section 1395
Dead Man Walking Response:
As I read Dead Man Walking I tend to go back and forth about Sister Helen Prejean. The reason I am so conflicted about her personality is because in the beginning she is absolutely naïve to the real world. She actually says, “I resisted this recasting of the faith of my childhood, where what counted was a personal relationship with God, inner peace, kindness to others, and heaven when life is done.” (5) Part of me while I read this got irritated with her. She grew up in what sounds like a pretty affluent town, where white linens, and a supporting mother were evidence of a life well lived in luxury. She was brought up Catholic, decided to become a nun, and well she makes herself seem at first like an innocent, unknowing, yet deemed good by God type of person. After she moves to the projects, and she tells us of how her bed was placed under the window to avoid being shot I felt a relief that she was getting a taste of the real world. (5) As the story progresses and her relationship with Pat Sonnier and the judicial system gets closer, part of me felt sorry for her and the other part was thankful that she embraced her issues. I felt sorry for her because when innocence becomes tainted with the reality of crime and punishment it leaves a certain void in a person. You wonder what her life would have continued to be had she not taken that name and address from Chava. Would she have continued her ascent to peace and heaven without being and advocate for prisoners and death row inmates? My assumption is yes. However, the conflicts and lessons she goes through after taking on Pat Sonnier’s sentence are invaluable to her quest for peace. She finds a certain peace within herself because she is really helping someone cope with struggle and death. It is not a fantasy of “Hansel and Gretel” anymore or a bedside prayer for “poor people who have no place to sleep tonight” anymore. Above praying for his well being, like she would have done as a child, she literally goes back and forth between the prison and the court house fighting tooth and nail to get his clemency granted. She full submerges herself in his story by understanding his crime, his relationship with his mother and brother, as well as really being a person he can talk to.
She struggles between the church’s standpoints on the death penalty, she struggles with the loose ends of the defense case of Pat’s, and she struggles with the fact that she did not consider the family of the victim’s point of view. Even after she speaks to Lloyd LeBlanc she has to call him on the phone to reiterate that she was there to help if they needed it. Prejean says, “I am shocked by what he is saying to me. I feel that I have made a terrible mistake and done hat I was most trying to avoid-adding to their pain.” (64-65) She repeats over and over again that she does not condone Pat Sonnier’s crime several times in the first half of the novel. When she appears in front of the Board, she tries to show “he is not a monster but a human being like the rest of us in the room; that he deserves punishment but not death.” (62) This is evidence of her internal struggle throughout this book. Should she advocate the criminal, or the victim? Is she wrong in befriending someone who committed such crimes? Is it wrong that, we as the reader think she actually enjoys it? “In some mysterious way my living and working in St. Thomas is paring me down to essentials and liberating my spirit,” says Prejean after speaking about the gifts of her upbringing. (10)
Pat Sonnier is not such a complex character in my opinion. We know he is the criminal, and we know by page 55 that he and his brother committed the crime together and that their facts were totally messed up. On one hand these boys grew up in a nice affluent area, where Prejean describes it as “one of the friendliest, most hospitable places on Earth.” (4) Eddie, Pat’s brother, seems to be the town delinquent that is in and out of jail and has a broken love affair with the victim’s boyfriend. It seems that we should be trying to understand his point of view more after all he does admit to the rape and murder of the victims, and clears Pat’s name. On the other hand, I suppose the complexity of Pat’s character is that he has been such a normal person in such a grueling and unthankful prison story, even though he is facing his death he maintains structure within his behavior and attitude. Prejean illustrates this when she describes his hands. “Clean, shapely hands, moving expressively despite the handcuffs as he talks. These hands that made the nice picture frame for me also held a rifle that killed.” (28) If I were in his position I would hate the world, freak out, and probably expedite the execution due to bad behavior. Well, maybe I wouldn’t but that is what my perception of a death row inmate would be. On the contrary, part of the reason why Helen Prejean thinks they can win his hearing at the Board Meeting, is because for more than six years Sonnier demonstrated good behavior.
I think Pat should have been granted clemency. When Eddie confesses to the murder you just feel this hurt inside. Pat seems like such a good person, and there are good people fighting for his right to live, and it all seems like it would have never happened if Eddie would have confessed earlier. There was a poor defense case during his trial. They never examined the blood or matched the semen to prove rape, among other things neglected within the evidence of the case. But Pat was there, he was involved, and ultimately we know he pays the price for it. The question is what was his motive? I think he was motivated by his brother. I think Eddie has the dominant personality of the two brothers, and Pat was victim to his own insecurities. I believe that it was not premeditated to rape and murder the victims; rather he and his brother were out joyriding, if you will, and causing a raucous. The situation got out of hand, they tried to cover it up, and Eddie saved himself. “He seems remorseful about the killings, but I can tell his most tangible regret is his own fate behind bars. Self-survival seems to dominate his moral horizon.” (41) This was Helen’s impression of Eddie as he confessed to the murders.
The most interesting part of this story is the conflict between the church and the judicial system. Helen Prejean goes through this debate first. She initially says that the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille were committed to “stand on the side of the poor” then she finds herself arguing that point with, “we are nuns, not social workers, not political.” (5) This goes back to what I said about her internal conflicts. Her father was a lawyer, she grew up going to Catholic schools, having money and rights not knowing anything about the poor, yet she prayed for them as a child and vowed to protect them as an adult. Within the town of St. Thomas there are internal conflicts of black versus white and dirty police officers. “New Orleans logged more complaints against its police than any other city in the country.” (9) So like Thomas Moore said in so many words, first we create criminals by denying them education then we punish for that which they do not know. Most of the citizens at the time, in the South, were Christian or Catholic. If they followed the bible then the death penalty would be wrong. “Jesus Christ, whose way of life I try to follow, refused to meet hate with hate and violence with violence.” (21) This is contradicted when Prejean speaks to Mr. LeBlanc. Mr. LeBlanc clearly wants to see the death of his son David avenged. But he says, “Sister, I’m Catholic. How can you present Elmo Patrick Sonnier’s side like this without ever having come to visit me…?” (64)
My next point is that the scene where they are all meeting with the governor shows some interesting conflict between church and state as well. First, Bishop Ott says, “that the death penalty is a simplistic solution to a complex moral issue and that executions signal to society that violence is an acceptable way of dealing with human problems.” (56) Then we hear about the Governor’s issues with religion. He somehow manages to let the general public know that he has a disbelief about the resurrection of Christ. This “bad press” causes him to show indifference to the death penalty and creates a committee, or Penalty Board, to give him advice in the matter. He admits that he tries to distance himself as much as possible. I find it not surprising that this book tackles this issue. There are so many contradictions within the church itself that when you add in to it the legislation of a state that has struggled with the moral issues of segregation, the death penalty, tough crime, etc. everything just gets so complicated. All the evidence shows that if you are Catholic, and you are a pronounced Republican, and your voters are most likely also Catholic, that you should follow the rules set forth in the bible, and the teaching of Jesus Christ. Except it seems in Capital Punishment debates.
September 8, 2006 at 8:03 am
Anita Vanderberg
Week 1: Dead Man Walking Pgs 1-55
Due: September 10, 2006
Anita_Vanderberg@comcast.net
ONLINE Section 1395, Fall 2006
I found I did not want to put Dead Man Walking Down. I was so drawn into the story written by Sister Helen Prejean. The fact that she is a Roman Catholic Nun stunned me a bit. My mother was Catholic; she has had little love to give in her heart or soul for years. The Catholic Church excommunicated her due to her divorce. I have always thought that she could have survived the divorce perhaps, but she was stripped of her faith and that was more than she could endure. The church would not help her even though she had five young children and no way to support them at the time. I see that the Catholic Church has both sides of life and death covered. They are against abortion and believe a life is important, but don’t want to get their hands dirty and personally take care of babies. Also as I understand it, more people have died in the name of god. If there is a god I cannot imagine he would want his children to be tortured in his name.
It was nice for me to know that the Catholic Church was taking major strides to be part of a reform movement. That the church had documents that showed a focus on “social encyclicals”. That the Catholic Church was willing to practice social justice for the poor meant they must face the wrath of the wealthy. Due to these decisions we were given Sister Helen.
I have long wanted to visit San Quentin as I have lost years due to some of my family members residing there. I have been uneasy and unsure about actually going, as I am not sure if it will be healing or not. Even though I was very young I have always felt guilty that I could not write a letter or do anything to help them. I was too young to know where they were or why. When Sister Helen wrote about how much a letter meant to Pat it certainly made me cry. In fact the life that Pat expressed to her is frightening and in no way is this system looking to rehabilitate. My brother at one point was in a cell across from Charles Manson. My brother’s crime . . . three strikes, one joint, a bottle of pills, another bottle of pills and off one goes. Why in the world would someone who had a drug addition be put anywhere near Charles Manson?
I did not think about the guidelines to be allowed into a prison, but how Sister Helen described it I would have paused at the final requirement. How amazing that she continued on through all her fears and overcame them. Due to her strength, giving nature, and her selflessness she looked and acted outside the box and questioned whether a person who commits a heinous crime deserves to be tortured to death? Along this journey she discovered a system in desperate need of revamping.
Anita Vanderberg
Week 1 Dead Man Walking Pgs: 1-55
I too had mistakenly believed that if one were sentenced to Death Row, there had been numerous hurdles to leap over legally, before such an order was handed down. I was shocked that the Electric Chair was literally burning someone alive. I had always thought it was a quick painless death. The description of such a death is in my opinion definitely cruel and unusual punishment. If Dr. Kevorkian has a humane method of releasing people from this world, shouldn’t we be using his method if the majority of our society wants to continue the insanity? The fact that we are taking good honest healthy people and putting them in a predicament of killing someone seems so wrong. I would not want to be responsible to killing anyone especially if I knew how rigged the system is. Aren’t we supposed to have the right to a competent attorney and guilt beyond reasonable doubt? What happen to this belief?
I am not clear yet why Pat was involved in the murder. I believe that when he stated to Sister Helen that he had not touched the girl that was true. I also believe that it was the brother who killed the two teenagers. I believe that Pat knew his brother Eddie was violent and had spent his life protecting the younger boy. He might have walked away and Eddie snapped.
That there had been prior assaults by the two of them seems odd. That other teenagers had been attacked in a similar manner except for the shooting, and did not go to the police does not add up for me. That they were not killed does not make sense either, as they would have been able to identify the brothers too. If one is lucky enough to survive a kidnapping, a girlfriend being raped and a gun involved in this horrendous experience, none of the other victims thought it was important enough to notify anyone?
What motivates a human being to do such a crime in my opinion a lot goes back to childhood traumas, mental illnesses, abuse, poverty, etc. Pat was a model prisoner and that has to be incredibly difficult to accomplish. There were harsh times for his family but he did seem to have a love for both parents. His mother having to finish off the rabbits while the boys walked in front of her on the way home so the family could eat, is not something any of my family or friends would want to endure. We just want to go Whole Foods or Safeway.
Pat did indeed show sincere remorse for the crime committed, For some families such as Lloyd LaBlanc’s, he would later explain to Sister Helen what such an apology means. For me, I lost my father before I was ever able to meet him. He was stabbed to death in Santa Rosa at the age of 70. My second youngest sister was very close to him and she went through all of the events, which led to an arrest, a trial, and a conviction. I personally am relieved that this person will not be able to kill again and as I understand it he will not be
Anita Vanderberg
Week 1 Dead Man Walking Pgs: 1-55
given a parole. Having this man killed will not bring my father back and it would involve another person pulling the switch and others to sit and watch.
I do feel that there are unhealthy individuals among us. I believe our societies create them though. If more money was spent on children and that were a priority and concern, our world would be safer. I had the pleasure of working with a group of children in my son’s third grade class years ago. There was a group of 5 children who were all black and considered a bit difficult and disruptive to the class. The teacher had inquired if I would perhaps come and work with them and give them some special attention.
These children lived in a rough neighborhood and had been taught some tough lessons in their short lives. I have no teaching credentials or professional training on how to work with children. Two of the boys had a fistfight that first day and I wasn’t prepared that. I did diffuse the situation and made them laugh, but I did not feel qualified. It came to be one of the most memorable times of my life. I was so amazed at how smart these children were and that no one was seeing that. They just needed attention and someone to work with them in the way they needed help. These children needed kindness, hugs, laughter and hope. It was then that I realized how twisted our world was. If you keep a person down and make them feel worthless and useless, the reality is they will grow up and only know anger.
Anger will be released one way or another. I believe that to survive in this world you must feel connected and have attachments. If one has nothing to live for they have no care, life means nothing. If one does not have hope to change their lives, feel success at some level, have the love and support somewhere, what can we as a society expect to happen?
September 8, 2006 at 11:54 pm
Commenting on Melissa’s peice – the first to post. I like your questioning humanity and death. I have watched the movie and written my outline and read part of the book and this is something that I too talk about in my paper.
Anita – I like your view on the church in your first paragraph and especially your last sentence of it. I myself am not catholic and do not practice any religion but I do believe there is a god or atleast hope for one.
Jana – I think her naiveness is what allows her to be brave.
September 9, 2006 at 12:12 am
Ben Basque
9/7/06
Human 6 1395
Dead Man Walking
Week 3
The book Dead Man Walking brought up many of the same concerns that I personally have about the death penalty. Prior to read this book and starting this class I probably would have said that I believed in the death penalty, but I have some concerns about it. My concerns were not formulated; they were just a vague feeling of unease. As we read Foucault I have tried to formulate what my concerns are. As I read Dead Man Walking I was able to see that some of my concerns about the death penalty do in fact happen.
Sister Helen is a caring person who takes her role as she sees it to serve the poor in Christ’s name. She, like many of us, was naïve about what poverty can do. She was sort of aware of inequality in our society, but not as it applied to laws. She was raised in a loving, supportive, devout Catholic family. Her family was upper middle class with a few live in servants. Her father was a lawyer. Growing up she did not really pay attention to the legal system. She, like me, just assumed that the law was the law, no matter who you are. She assumed that even if someone was poorly represented that there was “someone” that oversaw that justice was carried out fairly and to the letter of the law. Sister Helen was a nun who did not originally see the struggles of the poor as anything other than financial. She “did not want to struggle with politics and economics. We are Nuns, after all not social workers, and some realities in life were, for better or worse, rather fixed-like the gap between the rich and the poor.” (5) She soon came to believe that to claim a neutral face at injustices, would be in actuality, to up hold the status quo-a very political position to take, and on the side of the oppressors. (6)
The murderer, Elmo Patrick Sonnier is a white tattooed Cajun man, who was raised in poverty, by a mother that he felt loved his younger brother, but not him. He sees himself as a trouble maker. Sister Helen had assumed that he was black, since the majority of Death row inmates in Louisiana were black.(11) Sonnier appears to have a hard time imagining that he is worth anyone’s time or trouble. My guess as to how Sonnier ended up being first a bully and then a murderer is that as he grew up he had no self worth and felt powerless to change his circumstances. As he got older his resentment and anger grew. Prior to the murders he had done other crimes and just prior to the murders he and his brother had committed violent acts against other young couples. Some of those crimes were done with the brothers dressing as security guards. I don’t feel that this is a coincidence. I feel that they saw the uniform as a symbol of power and respect. Respect and power were both missing in the Sonnier brothers lives..
I find the whole story both spellbinding (I read the whole book, because I couldn’t put it down) and disturbing. The most disturbing part to me is the fact that the Arch Bishop is allowed to write a letter for the prosecutor so that jurors will not feel guilt about sentencing death. He does his own disclaimer that his views might not represent the Catholic Church, but no one higher in the Church speaks out and clarifies this statement. Another thing that I found disturbing was that through the appeals process, if a mistake is found from earlier in the process, but not addressed, it can not be considered. That is not justice that is a matter of connivance for the judicial system. I found it interesting that people along the way were clear that they were not sure of the right to kill, yet they went with the group. That is alarming, an example of that was the Governor, and he even changed the law so that the Governor would no longer be responsible for signing the death warrant. He transferred that responsibility to the sentencing judge; this is a job that is still done by the Governors in other states. (57)
For me this book and the facts it presents makes me a strong opponent of the Death Penalty. Until the Death Penalty can be applied to all people, regardless of their standing in a community or in society, and with a clear set of circumstances that apply to all people, I see it as unconstitutional. Laws were not made to apply to only a few; they were made to apply to everyone. To me the issues of the death penalty are not whether it is torture or painful, punishment by my definition is painful. My issue with it is that it does not apply to all people. I am not sure how I feel about man, any man playing god by taking a life. If killing is wrong then it is wrong
September 9, 2006 at 7:28 pm
Page 1
Crystal Pardo
Dead Man Walking – Part 1
September 2, 2006 – Week 3
Pardofam4@sbcglobal.net
American Cultures 1395
Sister Helen Prejean grew up more fortunate than most people. She always knew that black people were considered lower class, but that did not matter to her. At the age of twelve for the first time in her life, Sister Helen Prejean realized how blacks really were discriminated against. One day while riding a city bus she witnessed a black woman being kicked and yelled at by the bus driver. As an older woman, Sister Helen Prejean developed a passion in working with people less fortunate than herself. She began working at a housing project of poor black residents. Because of her passion, one day she was asked by a man who worked for the Prison Coalition if she would be a pen pal to a death row inmate. Sister Helen Prejean accepted because she assumed that a person on death row fits the same category as the poor black people she was already helping. Sister Helen Prejean was a spiritual advisor in a sense that performs her good deeds as a work of mercy.
As Sister Helen Prejean developed her relationship with the death row inmate whose name is Elmo Patrick Sonnier, she discovers that this man is not a poor black person like she had anticipated he was. Sonnier was actually a white male who grew up in St. Martinville where nobody expected a murderer would come from because of the good reputation the city had. Wanting to help this inmate, Sister Helen Prejean eventually finds herself wondering why she is doing so. She did not want to see Sonnier tortured by being put to death, but she could not get over the fact of what he had done and the families he had hurt because of his crime.
Sonnier seems to be a lonely person who did not have too many friends other than his brother. He seems unsure of himself before the murderer and even more so now that he sits on death row. Sonnier does not seem to have the characteristics of a cold blooded murderer. He had been in trouble with the law before, but nothing that would make him seem as vicious as he was the night of the murder. As time passes and his execution date grows closer, Sonnier becomes scared of what is to come for him. He confides more in Sister Helen Prejean as a comfort to himself because he is realizing that someone is there for him through his final days.
My first thought as to what would make someone do such a crime was that these two men were intoxicated on more than one thing. Being drunk, high or on methamphetamines is normally the case when a situation like this happens. Sonnier seeming to be a loaner or not having many friends may have taken part in why he was posing as a security officer on “Lovers Lane” knowing that people would be coming his way. Stress and revenge is other reasons that could have provoked the situation, because the brother did mention that
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Crystal Pardo
Dead Man Walking – Part 1
the boy that was killed had the same name as his ex-girlfriends new boyfriend. Not that any of these reasons are acceptable for what these men did, they are just reasons that came to mind as to what would have triggered their actions.
What I find interesting about this story is that a woman like Sister Helen Prejean would make herself available to Sonnier as a friend knowing that the relationship they will have is going to be very short and that she would even consider the relationship knowing what he had done. Most people who think of inmates are scared of them and would never think of entering a prison. I know I was my first time when I had visited someone there, but after having the experience I had a different opinion. Prisons are in a way over generalized as horrible places because they hold people that have done bad things, but think about the people that have never been caught. What if a person like Sonnier was walking the streets and you never knew what he had done. Would you fear him, probably not because you didn’t know anything right?
The part that I found to be disturbing is that the two brothers were at first going against each other for the blame. If they were both responsible then they both should have said so, but if only one pulled the trigger then they should confess. In the long run the brother tried to change his story to save Sonnier but the judge was not buying it. What people may not understand is that if there is not one person to blame then everyone may get charged with the crime where if someone claims what they did the other people involved get fewer charges. I also found it disturbing that the brothers had raped the female victim and the brother claimed that the girl was “willing” to have sex with him. I could see her maybe doing so in fear for her life, but for him to think of her actually being willing to do it made me think what a sick pig that guy was to believe she even wanted it.
The Catholic religion plays a huge part in this story for many reasons. The criminal was raised in the Catholic religion and went to Catholic schools but he did not like the nuns that taught him, Sister Helen Prejean is a nun for the Catholic religion, the victims families were also Catholic and their children attended Catholic schools and the criminal (Sonnier) turned to the Catholic religion more as his relationship with Sister Helen Prejean developed. It’s funny how people who weren’t very religious before or even religious at all turn to god when they are in prison. I guess it’s true what they say…. Jesus is our savior!
September 10, 2006 at 12:03 am
Jade Dant
Dead Man Walking #1
9/9/06
italianbooty143@yahoo.com
Online 1395
Imagine knowing the exact day and time you die and there is no escaping it. I don’t know if I could walk that hall of prison to the chair where I know my fait is nothing more, but a painful death. Dead Man Walking is an excellent book so far and I find it hard to put it down to read other class material or sleep. Sister Helen Prejean was the woman who took responsibility of “spiritual advisor for Pat Sonnier (one of the killers). Sister Helen is a nun of course and is kind at heart. She doesn’t condone the violence Pat has done, but she sticks with him till the end showing nothing, but compassion. Sister Helen lived a sheltered life, who just recently is living in a poor neighborhood helping out those that are needy. Sister Helen becomes really attached to the life of Pat and doesn’t want to see him die at all. Though she doesn’t want him to die she has an internal struggle because she didn’t call the young teenagers who were murdered parents, and now she was comforting the killer. Helen says, “Then it comes to me. The victims are dead and the killer is alive and I befriending the killer”(21).
Pat seems to be a gentle man who made a huge mistake of following his younger brother’s actions. Pat lived in poverty where his brother and him would have to hunt for dinner. Pat committed many burglaries; I don’t believe to just get money, but to just survive. Pat was just a poor trouble maker who didn’t have much direction as a child and now he is on death row waiting to die. Pat is very polite to Sister Helen and always is gracious for the time she spends on him. Pat says, “That I [Sister Helen] have come into his life out of the blue like this, and thanks me profusely more the making the long drive
Jade Dant
Dead Man Walking #1
to come and see him”(29). Pat is also a lonely man who has never really felt love for a woman so he clings to Sister Helen’s kindness, not sexually but just for companionship.
I have absolutely no clue as to why Pat committed this crime, but I know that Eddie is the one who pulled the trigger, but Pat went along with it. Sometimes people ar
shocked inside the moment with adrenaline and they know how bad of thing they are doing, but can’t find a way to just stop. I truly think Pat was like a deer in the headlights and couldn’t believe it when Eddie pulled the trigger. I find it interesting that Pat never says why the kidnapped the kids, maybe to rob them. The most disturbing facts so far in the story are about people who were executed and what happened. For instance, “The force of the electric current is so powerful that the prisoner’s eyeballs sometimes pop out on his cheeks…The prisoner often defecates, urinates and vomits blood and drool…Sometimes the prisoner catches fire”(Prejean 19). At some points the prisoner would take 17 minutes to die, or the young 17 year old who wouldn’t die from it at first and they had to go another round later on. Now, that is just plain torture to be electrocuted over and over. I find it interesting, but really sad that the governor was still going to kill Pat even though Eddie confessed to doing the murder.
The church always seems to find its way into every story or everything in that matter. For one, it was a nun, Sister Helen who came to Pat to help him basically die with a clean slate or hopefully forgiveness. The church apposes the use of capital punishment because they believe it is just murder in another form and the true judgment comes in heaven. The bishops and pope are very influential to the government because of their
Jade Dant
Dead Man Walking #1
position near the bible belt. I guess that is what happens on death row, being so close to death you can’t help but want to believe in another lifetime especially heaven.
I found it disturbing that the mentioned how the Supreme court dealt with the insane. The narrative says, “And recently Louisiana courts had to decide whether death-row inmate Michael Own Perry could be forcibly injected with antipsychotic drugs to make sane enough for execution”(50). Now that really sucks, so if you’re insane they will just declare you sane to execute you. Then the D.A has the power to decide whether one lives or dies. There was a white man who killed four people, but just got two life sentences because it would cost too much to press for the death penalty. Well other then that the whole story is interesting.
September 10, 2006 at 12:54 am
Matthew Phillips
Dead Man Walking
9/10/06
bobomrp@yahoo.com
American Cultures 1395
Sister Helen Prejean is a caring, curious, and modern nun. When she is enlightened about the realities of the poor in this country she is compelled to do all that she can to help. Coming from a middle-class upbringing, she breaks away from her comfortable reality and moves into a poor housing project in St. Thomas, La, and teaches high-school dropouts. When she is asked to be a pen-pal to a prisoner on death row she does not hesitate to accept, as if it is nothing at all. She is genuinely giving. She does not stop with just writing to Mr. Sonnier, but begins to visit him at Angola Prison, becomes an integral part in his campaign to have his sentence commuted, and ultimately becomes his spiritual advisor. Her goal is not just to occupy some time for a man sentenced to death with some reading material, but to truly understand and help him. She is able to look past the appalling nature of the crime he participated in to help spare his life. It really becomes an almost all-consuming endeavor for her, but she doesn’t give it a second thought. It is her life’s work to help those less fortunate.
Pat Sonnier seems to be a simple-minded man with a troubled past. He grew up poor, bounced around between parents, and was only educated to the eighth grade. His life had pretty much consisted of making ends meat and staying alive. I get the sense that he is genuinely sorry for what happened and that he is telling the truth when he says he did not shoot the victims or rape the girl. Prejean gives the impression that Pat’s brother, Eddie, is the one with the anger management problem. Pat is very protective of his family and is willing to try to help his brother by coming up with the plan that they both would say they were the one who committed the murder. The plan failed in part due to bad legal representation. I think that Pat understands that he deserves to be in prison, but that he does not deserve to die because he tried to help his brother. He understands the gravity of the situation and is very remorseful.
I am not sure why Pat Sonnier was involved in these crimes. I think that his brother may have psychological issues and maybe Pat was just trying to make sure his brother would not go too far. I think that he would protect his brother at all costs. From what I have learned about Pat I can’t imagine that he willingly participated in the kidnapping of multiple couples, rape, and murder.
What I found most interesting about the book is the amount of facts and statistics about the prison system and capitol punishment that Prejean incorporates into the telling of her story. It really lends to the argument against the death penalty. It is appalling that almost everyone on death row is poor, which lends to the position that the criminal justice system is not fair and equal in its prosecution and sentencing. The fact that having one lawyer over another could easily mean the difference between life and death. The fact that having a public defender in a capitol punishment case almost certainly means death. I also could not believe the racial discrimination. If a black person kills a white person they are sentenced to death, while if a white person kills a black person they are not. You have to wonder if there is such a thing as a fair trial at all. If there is no such thing as a fair trial, how can the death penalty be an honest option?
The Catholic Church does not seem that unified in this book. You have Sister Prejean with her modern view of things and the prison chaplain with his old school view. The Catholic Church seems to sometimes be against the death penalty and other times testifies in court in favor of the death penalty. I am not sure what role the Church will have in this book except the fact that Sister Prejean is a nun.
I think that some of the most powerful parts of this book are the detailed descriptions of the executions themselves. The descriptions are extremely graphic and disturbing. I can’t imagine how any court could say the electric chair was not cruel and unusual punishment. Thinking about how prisoners were literally cooked to death and the fact that it was not instant, but rather took several minutes, turns my stomach. So far this book is sending a very powerful message against capitol punishment.
September 10, 2006 at 2:29 pm
Melissa: I too found it interesting how Sister Helen suddenly skipped ahead. However, I didn’t like it. She gave away that Patrick utimately dies at the Electric Chair early on. I feel it would have been more interesting if she led us on the same journey that she was feeling as she stood by his side.
September 10, 2006 at 4:04 pm
Patrick Sonnier went to the electric chair maintaining his innocense in the death of Loretta Bourque and David LeBlanc. While he asks forgiveness from Mr. LeBlanc in his last words, he says nothing to Mr.Bourque. (93) He never actually apologizes for his part in the heinous crimes or takes responsibility for his role. Leaving this world, he wants only forgiveness for himself. I would imagine that as a grieving, angry parent seeking justice and some small amount of personal satisfaction that hearing Sonnier’s weak last words and witnessing this death by electrocution did not come close to producing the satisfaction that these men needed. Mr. Bourque was clearly looking for something other than what he heard when he asks, “What about me ?” in response to Sonnier’s last words.
Sister Helen and Millard who do not support the death penalty are clearly shaken by the chain of events that took place that night. Millard’s comment about “how shamefully secret the whole thing is” sums up his feelings. He feels that if the people in Louisiana could see what the state did, they would throw up; which Sister Helen did. Sister Helen was simply overwhelmed by the whole process. She was forced by her own sense of duty and commitment to Sonnier to witness a process that she adamantly does not believe in. She also had to deal with the fact that she had come to love Sonnier. Although I do not completely agree with Sister Helen’s convictions about the death penalty, I do respect the woman’s dedication and ability to follow her heart and stand her moral ground.
Dawn Rash
Dead Man Walking
Sister Helen later poses the question, “Who killed this man?” The answer is nobody. (101) Every person from the governor to the witnesses was just doing their job. When Sister Helen talks to Phelps after the execution, he says that absolutely nothing was gained. (102) He doesn’t believe that executions prevent crime and that the criminal justice system produced the death penalty when it is to the prosecutions advantage. He does not make the law, he only carries it out. I find it interesting that even the man who he hired to be the executioner assumes an anonymous name in a verbal contract rather than written. The whole process is designed to protect the rights of person to be executed as well as the family of the victims. (105)
One major difference in the movie Dead Man Walking and the book is the manor in which the criminals were executed. Sonnier was shaved bald, strapped to an electric chair and with his face covered, (93) while he is zapped with three major forces of electricity. Matthew was put to death by lethal injection while starring into the eyes of Sister Helen. While both methods of death are horrible, the movie chooses the path less likely to shake the audience. Matthew had a full head of hair, while Sonnier looked like a bird without feathers. (90) Watching a man drift off to death is a lot less shocking than watching a man’s fingers curl up backwards. The execution scene in the movie was filled with a sense of love between Sister Helen and Matt. She was proud of Matt’s ability to own up to his crimes and work up an apology to the family of the victims.
Another difference from book to movie is that Sonnier maintained his innocense from start to finish. The book gives the message that there may be a mistake in executing the wrong man. Eddie admits to committing the murders, even in a letter to the governor. (84) The character of
Dawn Rash
Dead Man Walking
Matt admits to rape and killing the victims in the movie. This gives viewers the feeling that execution is clearly justified.
In the movie, Matt has a relationship with his family. His mother is present at a hearing, as well as bringing his brothers to the death house on execution day. She is depicted as weak and ineffectual in the movie. The movie does however try to make Matt appear to be a caring big brother figure. The book on the other hand makes it very clear that Sonnier does not want his mother anywhere near the jail. She is a character that Sister Helen deals with on the side.
The victim’s family are more prominent in the movie. Their tragedy and struggles are brought to light such as the way that they were treated throughout the process. They had minimal rights and felt that they were denied access to documents and answers that they were entitled to regarding their cases. Sister Helen on the other hand was more involved with the victim’s families in the movie than in the book. In the book, she regretted not reaching out to the families sooner. In the movie she clearly tried to help. It was clear that she was morally on the opposite side of the fence regarding the death penalty, but she tried to be there for all concerned.
I think that Hollywood in it’s usual style tries to please everyone in the political climate of the day. They took Sister Helen’s book and made a beautiful movie that satisfied the supporters of the death penalty, but raised questions as well. The movie made Matt’s character a person who was both despicable for the crimes that he committed, yet somewhat personable because we had to understand why Sister Helen could possibly care about this person. In the end, I think that Hollywood tied it up in a neat little package. Matt got what he deserved, but the reality of the
Dawn Rash
Dead Man Walking
circumstance of Sonnier’s death was somehow softened in the process. The secret of execution by electrocution is still as secret to the general public.
September 10, 2006 at 4:09 pm
Dawn Rash
Dead Man Walking
Sept. 4, 2006
Dawnkrash@hotmail.com
Humanities 6 online
Patrick Sonnier went to the electric chair maintaining his innocense in the death of Loretta Bourque and David LeBlanc. While he asks forgiveness from Mr. LeBlanc in his last words, he says nothing to Mr.Bourque. (93) He never actually apologizes for his part in the heinous crimes or takes responsibility for his role. Leaving this world, he wants only forgiveness for himself. I would imagine that as a grieving, angry parent seeking justice and some small amount of personal satisfaction that hearing Sonnier’s weak last words and witnessing this death by electrocution did not come close to producing the satisfaction that these men needed. Mr. Bourque was clearly looking for something other than what he heard when he asks, “What about me ?” in response to Sonnier’s last words.
Sister Helen and Millard who do not support the death penalty are clearly shaken by the chain of events that took place that night. Millard’s comment about “how shamefully secret the whole thing is” sums up his feelings. He feels that if the people in Louisiana could see what the state did, they would throw up; which Sister Helen did. Sister Helen was simply overwhelmed by the whole process. She was forced by her own sense of duty and commitment to Sonnier to witness a process that she adamantly does not believe in. She also had to deal with the fact that she had come to love Sonnier. Although I do not completely agree with Sister Helen’s convictions about the death penalty, I do respect the woman’s dedication and ability to follow her heart and stand her moral ground.
Dawn Rash
Dead Man Walking
Sister Helen later poses the question, “Who killed this man?” The answer is nobody. (101) Every person from the governor to the witnesses was just doing their job. When Sister Helen talks to Phelps after the execution, he says that absolutely nothing was gained. (102) He doesn’t believe that executions prevent crime and that the criminal justice system produced the death penalty when it is to the prosecutions advantage. He does not make the law, he only carries it out. I find it interesting that even the man who he hired to be the executioner assumes an anonymous name in a verbal contract rather than written. The whole process is designed to protect the rights of person to be executed as well as the family of the victims. (105)
One major difference in the movie Dead Man Walking and the book is the manor in which the criminals were executed. Sonnier was shaved bald, strapped to an electric chair and with his face covered, (93) while he is zapped with three major forces of electricity. Matthew was put to death by lethal injection while starring into the eyes of Sister Helen. While both methods of death are horrible, the movie chooses the path less likely to shake the audience. Matthew had a full head of hair, while Sonnier looked like a bird without feathers. (90) Watching a man drift off to death is a lot less shocking than watching a man’s fingers curl up backwards. The execution scene in the movie was filled with a sense of love between Sister Helen and Matt. She was proud of Matt’s ability to own up to his crimes and work up an apology to the family of the victims.
Another difference from book to movie is that Sonnier maintained his innocense from start to finish. The book gives the message that there may be a mistake in executing the wrong man. Eddie admits to committing the murders, even in a letter to the governor. (84) The character of
Dawn Rash
Dead Man Walking
Matt admits to rape and killing the victims in the movie. This gives viewers the feeling that execution is clearly justified.
In the movie, Matt has a relationship with his family. His mother is present at a hearing, as well as bringing his brothers to the death house on execution day. She is depicted as weak and ineffectual in the movie. The movie does however try to make Matt appear to be a caring big brother figure. The book on the other hand makes it very clear that Sonnier does not want his mother anywhere near the jail. She is a character that Sister Helen deals with on the side.
The victim’s family are more prominent in the movie. Their tragedy and struggles are brought to light such as the way that they were treated throughout the process. They had minimal rights and felt that they were denied access to documents and answers that they were entitled to regarding their cases. Sister Helen on the other hand was more involved with the victim’s families in the movie than in the book. In the book, she regretted not reaching out to the families sooner. In the movie she clearly tried to help. It was clear that she was morally on the opposite side of the fence regarding the death penalty, but she tried to be there for all concerned.
I think that Hollywood in it’s usual style tries to please everyone in the political climate of the day. They took Sister Helen’s book and made a beautiful movie that satisfied the supporters of the death penalty, but raised questions as well. The movie made Matt’s character a person who was both despicable for the crimes that he committed, yet somewhat personable because we had to understand why Sister Helen could possibly care about this person. In the end, I think that Hollywood tied it up in a neat little package. Matt got what he deserved, but the reality of the circumstance of Sonnier’s death was somehow softened in the process. The secret of execution by elecctrocution is still a secret to the general public.
September 10, 2006 at 8:50 pm
Donna Blanchard
Dead Man Walking, part 1
September 10, 2006
moxiedonna@gmail.com
Human 6, Section 1395
Dead Man Walking is a firsthand account of the death penalty by Sister Helen Prejean. Sister Prejean is asked to become spiritual advisor to an inmate sitting on Death Row in Louisiana’s Angola Prison. It is through this simple act of kindness that she meets Elmo Patrick Sonnier and both Sister Prejean’s and Patrick Sonnier’s lives are changed.
Sister Helen Prejean grew up leading a sheltered life far from the poverty and crime that she chose to live among after having a spiritual reawakening. Sister Prejean grew up knowing little of racism and poverty, hatred and crime. Her parents were loving and her childhood idyllic by most peoples’ standards. Prejean followed her heart and soul and devoted most of her adult life to God and His works. She moved to the St. Thomas Housing Development after her reawakening and spent her days teaching unwed mothers and other high school dropouts.
Patrick Sonnier grew up on the opposite end of the spectrum as Sister Prejean – uneducated and poor. He is exactly the type of person one expects to find in prison. Most people would believe Sonnier to be hard and cruel. Sister Prejean felt the same way when she first saw his picture: “He’s not scowling exactly but there is something about the bushy eyebrows and the way they slant downward”. (14) It could be argued that because of his upbringing and lack of education that Sonnier was marked for a life of crime.
It would be easy to say that Sonnier committed the crimes because of his upbringing – the “poor white trash” aspect. It could also be easy to say that he didn’t know any better. But just because a man comes from a broken home and has a troubled childhood doesn’t automatically make him a murderer. At this point in the book I can’t give an informed opinion on why I think Sonnier killed David LeBlanc and Loretta Bourque. I honestly can’t stomach Eddie’s reasoning that he killed them because David was the name of Eddie’s ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. It seems a little trite. Did he and his brother Eddie kill them because they were jealous of their happiness, their innocence, their young and rosy outlook on life?
The Catholic Church keeps a priest at Angola Prison for the inmates. According to Sister Prejean, the priest is elderly and tired. He is distrustful of the inmates and tells Sister Prejean that they will try to con her. He believes that Sonnier and the other Death Row inmates are the “scum of the earth” and that Sister Prejean only has an obligation to help him receive his last rites before death. The priest is “old-world” and believes that Sister Prejean should wear her habit while visiting the prison so as not to incite the prisoners with her blatant disrespect of authority. During Sister Prejean’s fight to keep Sonnier alive, she contacts the Archbishop of the New Orleans’ Catholic Church and entreaties him to ask the Governor to grant clemency. The Archbishop does get in contact with the Governor, who agrees to meet with Sister Prejean and other death penalty objectors.
Although many people would say reading about the murders themselves is the most disturbing part of this book, I would have to disagree. I’ve read and heard about much more senseless killings – though murder is essentially senseless and depraved. The most disturbing part of this book to me thus far is the account of electric chair mishaps that have occurred over the years. The idea that nearly 2,000 volts of electricity can shoot through a person’s body for an extended period of time but living through it is a horrific thought.
Dead Man Walking is very interesting to me for different reasons. I’ve always been interested in reading about the penal system and the death penalty. I also enjoy reading “true crime” accounts. But reading about the death penalty from someone who has witnessed it firsthand and knowing how hard Sister Prejean sought to save Patrick Sonnier’s life even though she abhorred the murders he committed is truly a wondrous thing. How many other people would be willing to do the same thing? How many God-fearing Christian people would risk their credibility and reputation in the religious and political worlds to save a murderer’s life?
September 10, 2006 at 9:19 pm
David Bynum
Human 6 Section 1395
9/10/06
medic811@sbcglobal.net
Dead Man Walking Part I
I cannot fathom the thought of having six days to live nor can I Imagine life without any of my family members. Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean takes you through her experience with our capital punishment system and her relationship with inmate Patrick Sonnier. Dead Man Walking provokes thought about our capital punishment system and the inner conflict of justice and mercy.
Sister Helen’s journey begins when she is asked to correspond with an inmate, Patrick Sonnier, on death row. Patrick and his brother Eddie have been convicted of a heinous crime; they are accused of murdering two teenagers along with rape. At first Sister Helen is shocked at the horror of the crime yet “the sheer weight of his loneliness, his abandonment, draws me” (22). Her instinct and training lead her to “sense something, some sheer and essential humanness, and that, perhaps, is what draws her [me] most of all” (22).
Sister Helen looks beyond the crime and tries to see the humanity in the situation. The average citizen probably can’t see beyond the horrific crime and Patrick deserves death but Helen does. She puts herself in the victim’s families place and thought how she “would respond to such a disaster. But Jesus Chris, whose way of life I try to follow, refused to meet hate with hate and violence with violence” (21). Helen took on the responsibility of a murderer because of her religious beliefs. Her beliefs taught her to love and help everone no matter what the situation; it “is a Christian work of mercy” (25).
Helen’s Christian mercy led her to become Patrick’s spiritual advisor. After communicating with him for a while, Helen eventually meets Patrick in person. She “expected Charles Manson-brutish, self-absorbed, paranoid, incapable of normal human encounter” (31), but instead she found a very likeable man. One would expect Patrick to be stoic yet he portrays genuine feelings for his family through conversation and with Helen.
Although Patrick is very likeable, Helen cannot understand why he committed these crimes. For quite sometime Helen never asked him about the teenagers or the incident. Eventually they began to discuss the crime but Patrick denies doing the killing. He admits to being there but explained that his brother snapped and killed them.
Helen eventually takes on the plight of saving Patrick because a human life is a human life. She learns that he could not afford a quality defense and “they get the kind of defense they pay for” (47). Why did his brother get life in prison and Patrick awarded the death penalty for the same crime? At this point, I can’t help but think of the expensive OJ Simpson case.
Through Helen’s experiences with Patrick, she learns that our justice system is flawed and “joined the fray against social injustice” (31). Society caters to the people with money and a certain skin color. It doesn’t benefit the poor and the needy. In addition, she discovers the cruel and inhumane way prisoners are put to death. I was also disturbed by learn that it took so long to kill someone via the electric chair or that an inadequate defense makes such a big difference.
Helen reached out to Patrick on a humane level. She looked past whatever drove him to commit these acts and saw a soul to save. I see Foucault’s influence in Helen. She was able to free her thoughts and consider all sides in this controversial battle. She “in no way condone[s] his crime” (56), but “what will we accomplish by killing him” (56) is the question to look at.
September 10, 2006 at 11:02 pm
Ryan McGraw
Human 6
Dead Man Walking
The best line that describes Sister Helen in this story is, “…one piece of moral ground of which I am absolutely certain: if I were to be murdered I would not want my murderer executed.”(21)
To truly understand Sister Helen we have to understand her childhood. Her and her friends made fun of black people and poked fun at the less fortunate. She recalls in the story when she used to ride the bus. She would be dared to go sit with them for five seconds, and then would always end up running back to her seat giggling. (6) Although this sounds cruel for an educated young girl, she did not know this was wrong. She grew up in a religious environment surrounded by God and his moral influence. She grew up surrounded by a loving family, Catholic schools, and a perfect lifestyle with black laborers whom she always seemed to have a connection with. “I say…I watched and listened as they swung axes in fluid motion and moaned bluesy songs and swapped stories about women and drinking and going to jail. This was life so raw, so earthy, so uncushioned…so enduring.”(7) These childhood experiences led her to develop a void in her life that kept growing. It was after the time she listened to Sister Marie Augusta Neal speaking about God’s will, his will for the rich people to help the poor, that she became enlightened. “Something in me must have been building toward this moment because there was a flash and I realized that my spiritual life had been too ethereal, too disconnected.” (6) She came to New Orleans to help poor people find a better life. Ever since, she has made it her life’s work to help poor people and the lower class society.
When thinking about Helen and her relationship to Patrick I find it very odd that there are not more specific religious aspects in her writing. For example, there are not enough Psalms said, or bible jargon that makes me feel like she is a good spiritual advisor, rather a close friend. Patrick has had a spiritual advisor that had talked to him in bible jargon yet when he wrote to Sister Helen he asked that she talked to him like a normal person. “Sure, we can just talk regular, I tell him. It’s the only way I know how to talk”.(13) I understand she lives by the way of the God, but her account of how Pat is living and how she is helping him is more down to earth than my impression of what most Nuns should say. Helen first engages communication with Patrick in skepticism, because she knows her moral duty is to help the misfortunate. “And Jesus’ challenge to the nonpoor, she emphasized, was to relinquish their affluence and to share their resources with the dispossessed.” (6) When Sister Marie Augusta Neal says this, it shows me two things; first how her moral duty is defined by god, and secondly how I perceive a good spiritual advisor should speak.
I don’t believe that she has taken any type of responsibility for Patrick, only for her own actions. Her presence may suggest she has taken some sort of relationship to this man whom she hardly knows but I don’t know about taking responsibility. I would say she has taken it upon herself to fill the void she had from her childhood and be a true spiritual advisor for someone worse off than she is. My definition of responsibility would be for her to take ownership of why Patrick killed two people and ended up in jail. I don’t believe she is being misinterpreted but I think using the word responsibility is not specific enough to define exactly what she is doing for this man in jail.
At first when I heard children, rape, murder I almost turned myself off to the character of Pat because I know this was a true story and it made me sick to my stomach. I know how twisted people can be, and then nice to your face to get what you want out of them, especially in jail for that matter. The more and more I heard about him the more I started to not hold a grudge against him and just listened to what he had to say.
The idea that Pat never asked for help led to me to believe there was more to him than my first impression. He never preached to Sister Helen about what’s negative in his life such as the murder, why he did it, and prison life. Instead Pat kept his head up and acted like a human being that could use love and compassion in a time of need. Sister Helen says, “I abhor the evil he has done. But I sense something, some sheer and essential humanness, and that, perhaps, is what draws me most of all.” (22)
I am anxious to truly find out what he has to say for himself regarding the murders, because I hate being mixed up when it comes to something so important to the reading. Pat may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I find myself wanting to hear more about what he has to say. I understand why Sister Helen chose to befriend him. In my opinion she wanted to understand him and get to know what was going on inside his head and why he went astray. I am very anxious to find out the real deal behind what he planned to do with the kids. Was just an error or something that just went horribly wrong? It is very hard for me to have an opinion about his involvement in the murders because I truly do not feel I understand what happened that night, and for that matter I don’t even know if Sister Helen does either. If I really had to guess I would say that one of the brothers is ultimately crazy and they had an idea to dress up as cops, strip search some kids, possibly sexual acts and then move on. Something really threw them off the deep end. Patrick does not seem to have a temper, but that could just be because of the calm demeanor he has adjusted from being behind bars. Any circumstance that leads to a white man being convicted by a jury, put behind bars, and sentenced to death row means something terrible had to happen.
It was very interesting to hear people from the same religion with different opinions about such a strict subject as the capital punishment. I find it very interesting that even though everyone is taught to read the same bible and have the same thoughts about man and the way of life, that they can have such different views of death. After all, it was under my impression that God does the judging, not humans.
Now the reality of it is that the Church’s position is that actually back in time there was a relationship of justice and the Christian gospel. (5) My favorite quote when speaking about religion has to be when Sister Helen says “We were nuns, not social workers, not political.” (5) Sister Helen is dubbed his spiritual advisor for the duration of Pats stay behind bars and she plays a very important role in doing so. She is allowed to stay later then a normal visitor and she is allowed to be there at his death. Her past translates into her love and compassion for the poor and misfortunate, which in turn fortifies her beliefs for God and his love and compassion for all. What I find ironic is that Patrick went through catechism as a child, so he was taught the word of God and then grew up to be a criminal. When they hit him on the hand with a ruler, “Whack, whack, whack” with a ruler in grade school, I think they taught him violence. “God is love, remember that.” said Sister Prejean as she recalls this story from Patrick. (12) The reason I chose my first quote is because Sister Helen shows me how important the church’s role in capital punishment has been. I am still uncertain if I would feel the same way.
September 10, 2006 at 11:16 pm
Erin Sheridan
Dead Man Walking Assign. #1
Assign. Due Sept. 10, 2006
erin2020@comcast.net
Online American cultures 1395
Sister Helen Prejean is the reader’s narrator and moral conscience as the author of Dead Man Walking. Raised Catholic myself, I identified with Sister Prejean a lot. I feel like her being raised a devout catholic, in a moralistic supportive Catholic family, and her positive experience in her faith had a lot to do with her strong feelings of moral conscience and feelings of responsibility to help right the wrong she encountered, by identifying with, and showing compassion towards the “underdog” of society. When I was a student in Catholic high school I went to hear Sister Prejean speak at our neighboring all boy school’s gym. She gave her speech from a small plastic chair on a wide stage in an even wider room behind a skinny black microphone. As miniscule as she may have look up on that wide-open stage, she held her place up there and the whole audience’s attention with her strong beliefs and convictions and entertaining stories filled with wise insight. Here is a woman that admits she had no direct experience with poor people as a child and didn’t witness the violence of racism until she was 12, yet is able to give a powerful and clear voice to those with none. I don’t think Sister Prejean is the effective social activist she is today solely because of her being Catholic, but she admits that, “I came to St. Thomas as part of a reform movement in the Catholic Church, seeking to harness religious faith to social justice.” and that originally she felt, “I didn’t want to struggle with politics and economics. We were nuns, after all, not social workers,” (page 5, top paragraph). What really enlightened Sister Prejean was when she connected the poverty stricken community at St. Thomas, New Orleans to “Jesus’ challenge to the nonpoor… to relinquish their affluence and to share their resources with the dispossessed.” She expressed that, “Something in me must have been building toward this moment because there was a flash and I realized that my spiritual life had been too ethereal, too disconnected.” (page 6 Top-center paragraphs). It is also clear that Sister Prejean’s strong moral conscience plays a roll in her drive towards social activism as well. She is always “wondering” what it is like for others, or how it would be if she were in their positions, referring to her conscience she says, “I know I am trying to help people who are desperately poor, and I hope I can prevent some of them from exploding into violence. Here my conscience is clean and light.”(page 21, top paragraph).
We meet Patrick Sonniers as a kind and surprisingly complacent inmate on death row. I find it interesting that he answered Sister Prejean’s letter within two weeks of receiving it, when he hadn’t been answering letters from anyone else. I think Pat was an angry person, rightfully so when I consider his troubled past, but he was ready to forgive the one person he was most angry at, himself. He saw hope in Sister Prejean hope to redeem himself in his own eyes. It’s obvious he is a remorseful prisoner. I can’t imagine the self-discipline he must have had to not
Erin Sheridan 2
incur one offense while he served his prison term. I think Pat Sonniers is the intersection at which the injustice and poverty at St. Thomas meets a real human face for Sister Prejean to humanize her cause in the embodiment of Pat Sonniers. He represented the cracks in society that lead to chaos and uncertainty in the people’s lives that generally results in violence towards themselves, others, or both. “ His mother went on welfare because his daddy never did come through with child support and the welfare check would run out and they’d be hungry and he and Eddie would hunt deer and rabbit.” (page 29, bottom paragraph). Generally when a person has to kill an animal to eat food, there becomes a numbing of the savagery involved in killing; it’s killing for survival. The combination of tough love, killing as a way of life, and the lack of control lead to Pat Sonniers misfortune, I think Sister Prejean saw the inability in Pat Sonniers to change his life before it was too late and felt sympathetic.
I found Sister Prejean’s personal views on the role of the government interesting. In today’s government, the church is considered separate and therefore allowed to have influence on the private lives of its citizens. They take care of the homeless, sick, and poverty stricken. So Sister Prejean points out, where does the government have the right to take people’s lives? “…my brain tells me, the part that studied civics in high school, the part that wants to trust my country would never violate the human rights of its citizens.” (page 28, top paragraph) she goes on to say two pages later, “For me, the unnegotiable moral bedrock on which a society must be built is that killing by anyone, under any conditions, cannot be tolerated. And that includes the government.”(page 31, bottom paragraph). Here we get a taste of Sister Prejean’s feelings about the role of government. In chapter three we learn about how difficult our government has made it for poor people to seek justice, “ Every person is supposed to have a constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel, but the courts, by imposing such impossible procedural strictures have reamed out that right to an empty shell.” (page 47, center paragraph). I found this entire book, but especially this chapter very informative. I didn’t realize how unfair this country treats poor people. I found the information disturbing along with the account of the executions by electric chair. The record of seventeen years old Willie Frances’ survival of his first execution, and subsequent time spent alive before he was eventually killed, the most disturbing. I am glad that she included these items though, because people should know this.
The obvious role of the Catholic Church in this book is Sister Prejean’s role as Pat Sonniers “spiritual advisor”, which means, “(her) job is to help this fellow save his soul by receiving the sacraments of the church before he dies.” (page 25, center paragraph). Ironically though, I think Sister Prejean is most effective when she breaks from the traditional role of the church, i.e. not wearing a habit, and not quoting from the scriptures all the time, just real human to human interaction. So although the vehicle for Sister Prejean’s work may have been the Catholic Church, her real work was done from her own kind heart.
Erin Sheridan 3
What I found most compelling was Sister Prejean’s views on the Catholic Church. When the chaplain at the prison hands her a “pamphlet on sexual purity and modesty of dress” she simply says to herself, “He is strictly an old-school, pre-Vatican Catholic” (page 25, center paragraph) I find this comment interesting because I wondered how she reconciles the “old school” ways of the church i.e. anti-feminism, crusades, with her progressive ideals. It seems to me she represents a new voice of Christianity in the Catholic Church, expressed here, “Jesus Christ, whose way of life I try to follow, refused to meet…violence with violence. I cannot believe in a God who metes out hurt for hurt. Nor do I believe that God invests human representatives with such power to torture and kill.” (page 21, center paragraph). It’s a refreshing ideology to hear from a Catholic, and I myself agree.
September 10, 2006 at 11:22 pm
Ryan, I liked the quote you used at the beginning of your essay to describe Sister Helen. It seems like she is a very strong person, and that quote makes her seem invincible. Most of us, want to see revenge on someone who hurts us or someone we love. Here she is being noble. I agree with what you said about responsibility. There are times when she admits that she feels like she has committed the murder because she is so involved with Patrick, Eddie, and their case, but I agree that it is not necessarily ownership. Good job, on your essay I liked it a lot.
Melissa, I am glad you brought up the point about how Patrick feels remorse about killling the two kids. I think his remorse, hit attitude, and his good behavior is what makes me wish that he did not get the death penalty. The way Sister Helen describes him, makes you actually like him. You begin to pull for his cause during the book, and I don’t know about you, but I was kinda insulted the way the victims parents talked to Sister Helen cause I think she is doing the right thing.
September 10, 2006 at 11:38 pm
Donna – When I read your responce and it said you thought there were much worse senseless killings and deaths, I have to say i felt the same way. I feel like there could be much worse things that could be written about, but the detail of what happened to him was really deep, thats why I think this was much more disturbing then it really seems. I like it.
Anita – I couldnt agree more with your words, “If more money was spent on children and that were a priority and concern, our world would be safer.” I grew up in a very rich neighborhood and went to a relitively poor highschool. I admire you taking your time to help those kids. I remember giving some of my time to make friends with people that just needed someone there to talk to and just be around. Its amazing how cureall just being a listening ear is.
September 11, 2006 at 12:02 am
Gillian Betz
Dead Man Walking Sister Helen Prejean
Sept. 10, 2006
Gbetz85@yahoo.com
Human 6 -1395
Sister Helen Prejean starts out unaware of how deeply she will become involved with Elmo Patrick Sonnier. She has dedicated her life to helping the poor, the underprivileged, and the forgotten, and Patrick Sonnier fits the bill. Although Sister Helen Prejean starts off naïve as to what prison, death row, inmates, lawyers, state laws, etc. are really about, she learns a lot and stays dedicated throughout. It takes a strong person to go against the norm and help someone who most have turned their backs on. She knows that what he did -no matter how big or small his role- was wrong, and he should be serving a life sentence, but she gives it her all to save him from electrocution. To me this shows that she believes in justice for everyone involved in the situation, and yes what Patrick Sonnier did was absolutely terrible, his punishment should fit his role in the crime. She’s a strong woman, going up against the church at times, and politicians, and standing firm in her beliefs about what truly happened, and showing that she believes that no matter how heinous the crime, Patrick Sonnier is human and should be treated like one.
Elmo Patrick Sonnier, and his brother Eddie Sonnier, grew up in a broken home. Their parents fought constantly, and separated when they were young children. Patrick Sonnier grew up poor, often times hunting rabbits, opossums, and deer in order to help feed his family. At age 12, his father took him to a bar and got him drunk. Whenever he was in trouble, his father was there to help him out, but he wasn’t a very positive influence on Patrick Sonnier’s behavior, and attitude towards women and the law. Patrick Sonnier was a loner, and when he did get girlfriends, his relationships mirrored that of his parents. He was an alcoholic, had no education passed the eighth grade, but he has a strong work ethic. All of this combined to make Patrick Sonnier the person that he was. He didn’t have respect for the law, he didn’t know how to have a real relationship with women, and he had instincts for survival. These aspects of his personality and life lead him to be a rapist and eventually to take place in a murder. Because his life was out of control, rape and murder made him feel powerful. Some time after the murders, Patrick Sonnier expresses remorse for his actions, and the way that he interacts with guards and Sister Helen Prejean make him seem like any other human being. These qualities are what draw Sister Helen Prejean to him, his gratitude and his vulnerability. He grew up disadvantaged and never had focus in his life, this leads to his eventual behavior.
It is my opinion that Patrick Sonnier committed these crimes because he didn’t have the basis for real relationships with other human beings, he needed a sense of control and power in his life, and he had grown up not respecting the law. It takes a lot of hatred for those around him to commit the acts that he committed, and the graduation from rape to murder is proof of how angry and out of control he really was. I believe whole-heartedly that Patrick Sonnier was jealous of the men for having relationships with the women that he raped, as well as jealous of their lifestyles and the privileges that he was denied. By making the men helpless while he raped their girlfriends, Patrick Sonnier could feel powerful over both of them, and make them feel as weak as he himself felt in society.
So far, my only complaint is that Sister Helen Prejean jumps around a little bit. She starts off telling us how she came to be involved with Patrick Sonnier, and then tells us that he ends up being executed, and then goes back to her first encounters and her struggle to save his life. It isn’t that big of a deal, but I would have enjoyed it more if we didn’t find out about his execution until the end of the book. I find Sister Helen Prejean interesting because she isn’t the stereotypical nun. She is dedicated to her cause, she gets to really know the people whom she is trying to help, and she truly and honestly cares about what she is doing. Though I am not completely naïve when it comes to politics, I am nowhere near involved in them. It disturbs me how politicians can play with the lives of men and women on death row. If it is election time and people want more executions, then there will be no pardons given. To me this is sickening. What about that is not cruel and unusual? I understand that the men and women on death row -most of them- are there because they have committed atrocious crimes, but they are still human beings, and it is completely wrong to play with their lives. If some people will be pardoned, then anyone in the same situation deserves to be pardoned as well, “the people” should not make those choices, the people who know the facts should.
I believe that the Catholic Priest at the prison looks at the inmates as children and/or as animals. I do not believe that he sees them as human, and certainly not trustworthy, or worthy of saving. The Archbishop of the Catholic Church in New Orleans, La. Does talk to the governor on behalf of Patrick, and gets Sister Helen Prejean a meeting with him, the church doesn’t make any effort on its own. In my opinion the Church is as political as the politicians about whom and when they will help.
September 11, 2006 at 12:06 am
Dina McCarthy
Dead Man Walking #1
09/10/2006
dmccarthy5@sbcglobal.net
American Cultures 1395
In the beginning of Dead Man Walking, Chava Colon from the Prison Coalition asks Sister Helen Prejean to become a pen pal to a death-row inmate; her response is “sure”, without even a second thought. The changes that begin with Prejean’s decision to correspond with Patrick Sonnier is a small part of a larger personal and religious transformation that has brought Prejean from a contented middle class childhood to the profession of a nun to life spent helping the poor in a violent public housing project in New Orleans. Prejean’s decision to work with Sonnier is just the beginning of a series of life-altering changes.
Sister Helen began her prison ministry in 1981 when she dedicated her life to the poor of New Orleans. While living in the St. Thomas housing project, she became pen pals with Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers, sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana’s Angola State Prison.
Prejean’s relationship with Sonnier and her life in the St. Thomas housing project are closely connected to her faith and her relationship with the Catholic Church. I believe that Prejean’s religious beliefs are at the center of her storyline, and it is her personal reflections on the challenges they encounter and the guilt and confusion she faces that make her story so distinctively affecting.
In addition to describing her relationship with Sonnier, Prejean describes the larger social context of poverty and inequality. The execution of Patrick Sonnier is just one facet of the general social injustices she describes; there is also the hopeless poverty of the St. Thomas housing projects, the cruel lack of concern of politicians, and the unfair distribution of government resources. Sister Helen calls into question the fairness of the American judicial system and the social and political framework that support it. To a large extent, race determines, not only who is poor and who is rich, but also who will live and who will die.
Sister Helen Prejean condemns the killing of human beings within a government and society that allow it. She says that she is absolutely certain that if she were to be murdered, she would not want her murderer executed, she would not want her murder avenged, especially by a government who cannot even be trusted to control its own bureaucrats, collect taxes equitably, or fill a pothole, much less decide which of its citizens to kill. (p. 21). She discusses the effects of poverty, race, political agendas and injustices of the American legal system on a death sentence verdict, while questioning societies moral justification of its actions. Sister Helen Prejean argues the death penalty is morally wrong, based on the inequalities of the law. An extreme majority of those on death row are, what one would, consider under-privileged, or poor.
Upon Sonnier’s request, Sister Helen repeatedly visited him as his spiritual advisor. In doing so, her eyes were opened to the Louisiana execution process. Sister Helen Prejean seems to be a caring and compassionate person who finds herself drawn in to Sonnier’s intense feelings of abandonment, he is lonely, he doesn’t ask her for anything, he just repeatedly expresses gratitude for her care. She finds herself realizing that he is human and that humans make mistakes, and she wants to understand him and help him make peace with himself by taking responsibility and asking for forgiveness for his actions. One of the most moving things she does is offer to be there, at his execution, so that he can die looking in to loving eyes, she says “I will be the face of Christ for you”. Her support, her dedication, and her faith are astonishing.
Sonnier seems to be somewhat uneducated, he never finished school; he grew up in a broken home, unsure of his place in this world. He is unsure of accepting Sister Helen at first, because he relates nuns back to those who taught him catechism in grade school, he would get in to trouble and they would whack his hands and knuckles with a ruler, or the spiritual advisor that he had who spoke to him in scriptures, and he couldn’t even understand enough to communicate. He was pleasantly surprised to find that Sister Helen just “speaks regular”. (p. 12). It also puzzles me that while this man supposedly committed these heinous acts of violence he is a model prisoner. He seems to need attention; he wants to someone to listen to him, care about him and love him, he needs approval. I’m not exactly sure of why he committed these crimes, but as I read further I am hoping to discover why.
The Catholic Church plays an important role in this story because it’s the foundation by which Sister Helen lives. She sees the good in people; she searches for the answers from God and wants to work as a spiritual advisor leading people down His path of forgiveness and redemption. On the other side, Sonnier had a negative impression of the Catholic Church as he felt abused by the nuns in catechism, and related his only experience as an adult to the nun that first visited him and only spoke in scripture. Sister Helen opens his eye to real faith, shows him through care and love that he can be forgiven and can be with God when he dies.
This book really opens your eyes to the America’s capital punishment process. I’m not sure how anyone can firmly support the death penalty when there are so many factors to consider. I personally can’t say that I object to or support capital punishment, I can only say that in this case, Sonnier seemed to truly feel remorse, maybe he could have been reformed, maybe he would not have ever hurt anyone again, but maybe he would have. That’s the most difficult part; how can anyone be sure that someone who could commit a heinous crimes such as rape and murder will truly never do it again?
References
Sparknotes.com
Prejean, H. (1993). Dead Man Walking. New York: Random House
Prejean.org
September 11, 2006 at 12:07 am
Sarah Bellomo
Assignment#3
Dead man walking
9/03/2006
a8006@aol.com
Humanities 6
Sec#1395
Initially when I started reading this book I felt like the woman whom is trying to find out who she is. She talks about many different types of things she encounters and the different views that she has on life. She seems to have had a specific set view throughout her life. As the story goes on, she seems to get more and more open to other views. She also seems to feel very happy to embrace change. She learns a lot of things in her line of work as a nun. Different ways to help society, and the world. When she firsts starts corresponding with the murderer, Pat she seems anxious and scared. The curiosity so obvious from her. I feel that the way it was expressed in the book is that she learns a lot about herself as a person from the experiences she had encountered, and from her correspondence. She is growing in this process.
The murderer, or should I say who we initially think is the murderer is way different than I though that he would be. He doesn’t come off as anything but normal. He has remorse for a crime that he didn’t even commit. The fact that he was willing to sacrifice his own life in order to save his brothers is crazy. He made the deal that actually cost him his life. This is similar to a lot of people though. There are a lot of people who sit in prison with sentences for crimes that they did not commit. It shows a prime example for a
Sarah Bellomo
Section#1395
Assignment#3
Pg2
Large majority of inmates housed in prisons today. Specifically, the people who are sentenced to life or death. There are a lot of inmates whom have been found not guilty in these situations.
In this particular book I think that there are a lot of things that are disturbing. Not only disturbing because of the way they are presented, but because in regular life they are not only true but also continuously are happening. When the book speaks about the way that the law is organized and how it is like closing doors which only close one way, and only once, this is so true. People only get so many chanced for appeals, and so many people mess up their chances by not having the right testimonial material. Or not having the right resources in general. I feel that with so many people living sentences for wrongful charges, things should definitely have changes made.
What I really liked about this narrative is the way that it is written. The personal experience makes it that much more interesting and easy flowing. I hate reading, and I have not wanted to stop reading this book yet. The way that the woman’s curiosity flows throughout the book is enlightening. It is just as if one of us, as regular people were to be in that situation. The only difference being that we are not spiritual advisors nor nuns. I can personally connect with the way that she is brought in by the system. There are so many things for us to learn about the criminal justice system, the way that it is run, and Sarah Bellomo
Section#1395
Assignment#3
Pg3
What we need to do as everyday citizens to bring changes to our system as it now is. The book reflects faith and optimism among knowledge and capability. These are all things that can not only be held in comparison against what this book is about, but be held up against what and how we live our lives like. So far this is a really good book. I hope that it continues in this fashion.
September 11, 2006 at 12:17 am
In response to Jana Churich…
I agree withyour interpretation of Sister Helen. It seemed that the beginning was mostly about how nieve she was and all that she was learning from things around her. SHe was fighting with what sh4e knew and what she was faced with in her life at that time. However, she seemed willing to learn no matter how treacherous these acts were. I liked your essay!
September 11, 2006 at 12:19 am
In response to Melissa Duffield….
Forgive me if I am wrong but it seems like u haven’t really read in to the book. ALthough these are all good points that you are making, it is not really what happened in the book.
September 11, 2006 at 12:51 am
Melissa Cook
Dead Man Walking
9/10/06
eskimomissy@comcast.net
Human 6 Section 1395
I watched the movie when it first came out and when there was a lot of hype around it. The most memorable thing that I remembered was end scene when Sean Penn is led to the execution room, and the guard yelled out “Dead Man Walking.” Watching the movie again and reading the book for the first time was much different this time. Judith Thorn asks some questions that I will try to answer.
“What sort of person is the woman who accepts the responsibility for the murderer?”
I found myself asking this question reading the first 55 pages of the book, over and over again. First of all I think that she is a self-less woman. She puts other people’s needs before herself even if the person, like in this case is a murderer. For most people, especially for me this would be hard. I would assume that she draws her power of self-lessness from her relationship with God. I also think that she is a strong woman to hold strong to her beliefs of helping this individual even when she comes under criticism from other people and the murdered children families. I think that I would have crumbled a long time ago and not made it to the execution.
“What sort of person is the murderer?”
I want to say that he is an evil person, but there is much more to him than that. I have a hard time finding any compassion towards this man, especially after reading the book, watching the movie and reading the Dying to tell article. The man has no remorse of his crimes and the many killings that he has admitted to doing. It almost seems like he is proud of them because it makes him an outlaw and tough. He blames killing Faith Hathaway on the drug spree and the many nights without sleeping, and even then he claims that he didn’t do it, and that he was just an accomplice. On the other hand this man has had a hard life. He barley has any education, and he grew up in a home where he idolized his father who was incarcerated for various crimes. It seems like he had to model something and with no other education he modeled a life of crime and was proud of it. So due to circumstance I would say that Robert Lee Willie (Pat Sonnier) was an evil person.
“Do you have any inkling why he committed these crimes?”
Well I feel that I have touched upon this in the section above a little bit already, and all I have to say is that he knew no other way of life. He grew up poor in the bad side of town. Crime was all around him and even in his home, as stated in Dying to tell. “The Willie family had a long history in this neck of the woods, always with a few rough edges but only recently on the wrong side of the law.” The article also talks about the difference of crimes committed by Robert’s father John and himself. “John was the type of individual who would strike out in fear if he thought that somebody might hurt him, but he didn’t go out and seek people to hurt:…Whereas Robert, as it turned out, was a type of individual who would go out and seek somebody to inflict harm on.” In the article it talks about Robert’s drug usage in relation to his crimes. “The modern-day drug user is considered by law enforcement officials to be more volatile, more unpredictable and more violent than the alcoholic, so his crimes escalate to unspeakable brutality and unnecessary cruelty. Says John Willie of his son, “He got hooked up with the wrong group, using drugs and drinking too, and I guess that led him to the crime he did.”
“What in this story do you find interesting or disturbing?”
I find it interesting that Sister Helen Prejean takes upon herself to save Robert Willie (Pat Sonnier), not only his soul but him as well. She even gets involved in the legal aspect of saving him. She even calls the attorney who puts together an argument to present to the parole board. She reads the transcripts of the trials, she speaks at the meeting of the parole board, and she even speaks to the governor himself at a press conference. I find her interest in the legal matters interesting because she spends a lot of time trying to save his life, but she doesn’t spend the time trying to console the victim’s families for their loss. It’s like she is so single minded in this matter, it doesn’t make much sense to me. I also find the comment made by the attorney Millard, “It’s not a fluke that 99 percent of death-row inmates are poor. They get the defense they pay for.” I don’t know much about the legal on goings today but if you look at the O.J. Simpson’s trial I would say that this statement is true. I know this topic can still be a hot topic, but I believe that O.J. was and is guilty. They found him on the run, with blood all over his truck’s carpet and no alibi, however he hired the best legal defense that he could and basically got off. I believe if he was poor he would be sitting in jail right at this moment.
“What is the role of the Catholic Church in this book?”
This one was a little harder for me to answer. I believe the role of the Catholic Church in Dead Man Walking was to first and foremost to console Robert Willie (Pat Sonnier) in his last days on death row, but the most important role was to bring capital punishment into the lime light. For better or worse there is a death row in the United States. There are people being put to death for crimes that they have been convicted for. If you were like me before this class I didn’t give this topic much thought. I knew there were bad people and as long as I stayed away from them then I would be okay. By writing this book Sister Helen Prejean brings death row to life. She tells the other side of the story, the one of the inmate and his trial and tribulations during his last days. See lets us see that there is a real human being behind the bars. The book was so popular that it got made into a movie. Susan Sarandon did so well in the movie that she won the 1995 Oscar for best Actress and Sean Penn received an Oscar Nomination for best Actor that same year. So obviously the book and movie made it into mainstream America and touched more people’s lives than just the people involved.
September 11, 2006 at 1:52 am
Shalome Atkinson
Dead Man Walking Part 1
9/10/06
isisonafullmoon@hotmail.com
Human 6 ONLINE
You know it has been years since I have seen the movie “Dead
Man Walking” Nor do I really remember it.. But, I do remember that I
liked it very much. That being said I will get to the book. Finding it very
hard to put it down. What I would like to start out with first is the beautiful,
giving,loving, and caring soul of this womenHelen Prejean. How many of
us (you & I) could honestly say we could take the resposibility for this
murderer? I would like to think that I had that kind of a soula true human
deep deep down. Trusting fully in her higher power, throwing her
hands in the air with the wieght of it all and handing it over and excepting
that she is no longer in control and what is to be will be. You know I would
be more than glad to write a death row inmate but, to carry the whole load
giving myself up I just dont know. And I dont know that there are that
many real humanitrians . That is what Kind of person it takes to take the
responsibilityof a muderer.
As being a felon myself and I must say that the crimes I commited
were, not murder but as far as a being on my record it is the considered
like the 4th worst crimes to commit. Unemployeble at this time because of
them .Well, and My broken back. But, I can not apply at a job that does
any background check Sadly enough, I have to say that yes I commited
those crimes but what kind of person I was when I did was not the same
person that I am now. So what kind person would commit murder? I dont
know? I am not in Pats shoes nor is anyone else only he walked in those
shoes. When I read the story I really lean towards the brother “Eddie”
have been the one to pull the trigger out of rage so intense he could
not control it. We as humans bless us just are not perfect.. So again
What it would take to make a murder I do not know. We may all have it
in us.
What I find very sad and a little distrubing is the
burdens that both of these two men carry. Pat and Eddie
both carry the burden of the two young ones who were
killed and how their familes may feel. Eddie carries
the burden of maybe he did pull the trigger and his
brother will die for it. Pat the burden of dieing for
a crime he may not have commited. Not only The burdens
of the adult life but, the burdens of their young lives.
Though Pat spoke of family life with a smile at times
it seemed to be a burden also?
As for me I am not one to call religions. But, obviously
this women was of catholic church. A sprirtual person
to me it does not matter what your faith (this is my opinon)
if you have something to believe in for the good and better
and it works AWESOME! In this case it was the catholic
church and a women so strong spiritually. Look where
It got those men? Something of love, kindess, caring
and faith! Wow the powers that be must have been
proud.
September 11, 2006 at 1:54 am
Sorry guys something happened to word process??
September 11, 2006 at 2:24 am
Page 1 of 3
Todd Eastman
Dead Man Walking (Part I)
09/10/06
todd.eastman@comcast.net
HUMAN 6 American Cultures, Section 1395
I must admit that I watched the movie “Dead Man Walking” prior to reading any of the book. Frankly, I found the movie much more entertaining. The book is very dry, with all of the discussion about case law reviews and how the appeals process works.
My take on Sister Prejean is that she was an extremely sheltered and naïve person. It is obvious that she is very caring, and she struggles with the concept of societal “right and wrong” versus the church’s version. She had a good heart, and probably exhibits all the attributes that a proper Catholic nun should have.
I’m not quite sure that I would say that she “[accepted] the responsibility for the murderer.” I think it would be more accurate to say that she accepted responsibility for society’s use of the death penalty. Not in the manner of condoning the death penalty, but more in the manner of being a part of the society that has turned their back on the poor and underprivileged.
As for the murderer Patrick Sonnier, I found the description of his character in the first part of the book to be very bland, whereas the movie did a much better job of filling out the character and making him a real person. The book seems to cast Sonnier as more
Page 2 of 3
Todd Eastman
Dead Man Walking (Part I)
of a victim, while the movie casts him in a more believable role of being underprivileged, poor, and anti-social. Both the movie and the book has so far left me with the impression that Sonnier was feeling regret for what the crime did to him, versus what the crime did to the victims and their families.
Even after watching the movie, I still don’t have any real understanding of why he committed the crime. But that is the case with many criminal acts. For those who abide by society’s laws, it is hard to understand why anyone would commit this type of crime. Perhaps he was acting out against that part of society where well-to-do families can have happy lives, with teenage love and bright futures to look forward to. Things that he and those in similar circumstances don’t have.
One of the things that disturbed me about this story, and the entire death row process, is the number of appeals and the formalities that must be adhered to. It almost seems as if society is toying with the convict, giving them false hopes for reprieval, only to dash their hopes again. Moving them from one ward to the next, then to a specific room. Even the practice of shouting “Dead Man Walking” as they escort the prisoner to his fate.
Page 3 of 3
Todd Eastman
Dead Man Walking (Part I)
Besides taking the convicts’ life, they also seem to work very hard to take away their dignity as well.
The role of the Catholic Church in the book is complex. The fact that the parents of the murdered teens were Catholic, and Sister Prejean herself was Catholic, places the contradictory attitudes of the Church in the limelight. “Thou shalt not kill”, except when punishing a murderer. “An eye for an eye” but only if you take that edict to a certain degree. The very idea that one can commit the most heinous of crimes, yet be absolved and forgiven by God and the church if you play by the rules. All of these contradictions are inherent in most organized religions, not just the Catholic Church.
September 11, 2006 at 2:42 am
Anita -
I’m not sure about the rest of the country, but the electric chair is no longer used in California. The “accepted” means of execution is exactly what you were asking about – Kevorkian’s method is lethal injection, and the state uses a modified version. I think it is outrageous that now even this method is being called inhumane. I recently had to have my dog euthanized and was there with him every second. He never suffered one bit.
Jade -
I’ve also wondered how those on death row can manage to keep any dignity and walk to their execution. On page 35, there is a good quote from Albert Camus that gives a pretty good explanation. I also found it interesting that prisoners are offered a sedative to keep them calm, and that they have to measure the size and weight of a prisoner to determine how many guards it will take to control the prisoner if they become combative.
One final note. Sonnier preferred to go by his middle name “Pat” [Patrick] and not his given name “Elmo”. If my first name was “Elmo” I’d probably be a pretty angry person too.
September 11, 2006 at 2:48 am
Jereme Robinson page 1
Dead Man Walking
September 2, 2006
Human 6 Section 1395
The woman who accepts the murderer, Sister Helen Prejean, is a confusing character in my views. She starts out her life in kind of bubble where she really doesn’t know what is happening in the real world. She is totally naïve to the world around her and what is really happening, which I can’t blame her for the type of life style she was raised in. She even admits it on page 6, “we grew up in a spacious two-story house, well educated in Catholic schools, and traveled extensively across the United States, Canada, and Europe”.
Sister Helen Prejean saw violence and the real world for the first time when she was twelve. “I was twelve years old the first time I witnessed physical violence against a black person” (7). As she became older she became a nun. As a nun she learned different way to help out people and society, which in her case she decided to help out a man on death row. She went through a lot of chance during the time she started talking to Pat Sonnier. I think it was a culture shock when she found out what he was on death row for, but later on I think she finds happiness within herself for helping a man cope with his death and struggles behind bars on death row.
Pat Sonnier, the murderer, is a very easy person to understand. His inmate number 95281, death row, at Louisiana State Penitentiary. We know that Pat and his brother Eddie committed a crime on November 7th, 1977 where they shoot a teenage couple in the head with a .22-caliber rifle. The two said they committed the crime but when police interviewed the two boys they had way different stories, making me believe that one of the brothers, Eddie, was really the murderer. The brothers lived and grew up in a wealthy
Jereme Robinson page 2
Dead Man Walking
area, but Pat’s brother, Eddie, seemed like he was the town’s teenage trouble marker. He has been in and out of jail at such a young age. To me I think that Eddie had a very strong influence on Pat and controlled the way he thinks and controled his emotions. I believe that Pat was a victim of his brother because he was motivated to join Eddie in the crimes.
I find something’s very interesting and disturbing in the book so far. I find it interesting how they really go into what it’s like for Pat to be sitting on Death row waiting for his life to be taken. The things I find disturbing is the way the book gives examples of what happened to people when they received the death penalty. “On May 5th, 1990, as the state of Florida killed Jesse Tafero, flames shot six inches from the hood covering his head”(19). I’m ok with the death penalty and believe it is necessary in some cases but stories like that I really don’t need to hear or visualize. I also find in disturbing that on May 2, 1946, Louisiana attempted to kill a 17 year old boy and he didn’t die the first try but they finally die on the second attempt.
The Catholic Church is one of the main key points in the book. Sister Helen Prejean is Catholic and was raised in the church to become a nun. Her beliefs are truly the sole reason she is attempting to help Pat. Most people that don’t believe in god and church would not care about a man that murdered two teenagers. Her beliefs go along with the church beliefs in the death penalty and not being a supporter in killing a man in prison.
I find the narrative to be interesting in the fact that it bounces around a lot. The book started talking about the life on prisons and then went into her life growing up then back to the prisons. The narrative keeps you on your toes and makes you really have to pay attention to details.
September 11, 2006 at 3:16 am
Jaclyn Lawson Page 1
Response to page 1-55, Dead Man walking
Due date: September 3, 2006
Jaclynr8ret@aol.com
Human 6 sect 1395
Response to Reading
The women in the story that accepts the responsibility of becoming a pen pal to an inmate on death row is a devote catholic nun. She is scared at first and questions whether she should but eventually decides to take the opportunity learn more about the criminal justice system and “Harness religious faith to social justice”(Prejean 5). She is given a stack of files relating to the inmate of whom she will become a pen pal of. She briefly overviews the files and begins writing Elmo Patrick Sonnier, or better know as number 95281, Death Row, Louisiana State Penitentiary Angola.. Unlike many of the men on death row, Elmo was a white male who shot and killed to teenagers after they abducted them and raped the girl. His act was not committed alone, but with the assistance of his brother who was also on death row.
Once he receives the letter he immediately accepts the offer and responds. In the meantime the nun tries hard to imagine how someone could commit such a heinous crime. She wonders if “Maybe violence is natural to him. Maybe he’s a brute.” ( Prejean 11). She finds such an act impossible to ration. She soon discovers that he comes from a poor broken up family where he never really opened up to anyone. She is very concerned with the parents of the murdered teens and if they would be upset to
Jaclyn Lawson Page 2
Response to page 1-55,Dead Man walking
Due date: September 3, 2006
Jaclynr8ret@aol.com
Human 6 sect 1395
know that someone actually wanted to converse/communicate with the murderer of their kids. She is very compassionate!
The nun of course is catholic and was raised in a catholic school as well as the victims of Elmo Sonnier. The nun states that there are many things about life that she questions but one thing is for sure…”that if I were to be murdered I would not want my murderer executed.”(Prejean 21) So she knows that she doesn’t believe that the punishment at stake for her client isn’t something she agrees with. Her title is spiritual advisor for extended advantages to Elmo but he tells her that the main reason that he enjoys their talks the most is that she isn’t constantly shouting bible verses as him.
They continue to write each other and she visits him once a month. In the mean time she is determined to get his case looked at to cancel the death row sentence. She soon finds that the poor will get what they pay for, meaning that because they have no money to hire a lawyer, they have no chance!
I feel mixed emotions toward the death penalty. I predict that she will be able to get his case looked at and his sentence changed and him off of death row.
September 11, 2006 at 3:26 am
Amanda Ferroni
Dead Man Walking
9/10/06
aferroni@gmail.com
American Cultures 1395
I really enjoyed this book. Dead Man Walking didn’t change my personal perspective on the death penalty, but it did show me another perspective to take into account. Sister Helen Prejean is a high moralist. But not necessarily the morals that one would expect a devout woman to have.
Sister Prejean seems completely dedicated to her vocation. As far as I’m concerned, that vocation is helping, guiding, and showing love to those who need it. A teacher who becomes an activist. How much time does she dedicate to writing and eventually visiting one man? A man who was convicted of killing two people and terrorizing countless others because he could? And yet, Sister Prejean cares about him, listens to him, and helps him. Why? Because it’s just who he is.
Elmo Patrick Sonnier (Pat) is introduced to us while already on death row. He has just opened up to outside communication and after not corresponding with strangers for the duration of his incarceration, does write back to Sister Prejean. Sister Prejean reaches out to some man who has created heinous crimes and ends up giving him hope and helps him find inner peace.
One of the things that I find really interesting about this story is how Sister Prejean depends on herself and her own thoughts and feelings when dealing with helping a man on death row. She doesn’t necessarily use the religious institution as a tool to tell her how to think and act. Another perception that this book offered to me that I didn’t have before reading it.
I find the corruption of the political system disturbing although not necessarily surprising. Just the lack of follow through when Eddie claims he was in fact that one that killed the teenage couple and not Pat. That would have made Pat an accomplice to a murder, but not a murder and he wouldn’t have been put on death row. Most everyone involved, with the exception of Sister Prejean and a few select activists that side with her seems indifferent to putting a man to death. Even when Eddie, who was also present but only got life in prison, confesses fully.
I think the catholic church holds less importance than Sister Prejean’s own morals as far as this book is concerned. While the church has taught her some of her morals, she’s more into following her own heart than into following teachings. That is something that makes me respect her as a storyteller and a person in more ways than I quite understand at this point.
I wasn’t able to just read the first 55 pages. I needed to know what happened to Pat, Eddie, and what Sister Prejean felt and thought and it all. This is a really good book. I have the movie at my house, waiting to be watched. I’m worried watching it will take away from the story, as I think a lot of movies do. But I also think it was important to read the book before watching the movie.
Sister Prejean wrote that book so it is her memories, words, and thoughts exactly as they were. The movie is an adaptation of the book and not directed by her. We’ll have to wait and see how much of Sister Prejean comes across when acted by another woman.
September 11, 2006 at 3:34 am
Todd Eastman….i agree with the comments you wrote. It drives me nuts when people sit her and say the death by lethal injection is inhumane. I mean this men and women that are on death row for killing someone and i’m sure when they murdered these people it was imhumane and mean.
September 11, 2006 at 3:40 am
Melissa – I see where you are coming from in the point that his wishes he never did those horriable things to the teenagers but he did commit the crime and take two mothers and fathers kids life away from them. I’m sorry but this type of crime just isnt one that i can sit here and say ” what a nice guy, he doesn’t derserve to be on death row”.
September 11, 2006 at 4:03 am
Neuman, Corinne: Dead Man Walking Part I
Page 1
Corinne Neuman
Dead Man Walking, Part I
September 10, 2006
yourmomismad@yahoo.com
Humanities 6: Section 1395
At first reading Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean appears to be very naïve and ignorant to her surrounds and environment. However, as I read farther into the novel I further concluded that she is naïve but also that she really seeked out to understand and is extremely open-minded and non-judgmental.
It took a lot of courage for a woman such as Sister Helen, to accept a position that required her to live among the projects in the New Orleans. According to her, “they were practically the only whites – all women.” I was surprised that they did not become targets of a riot, but perhaps it was because they were nuns that kept them safe. Becoming segregated from the common race or gender in a community is frightening. It reminds me of a time that I agreed to drive a group of Guatemalan farm workers in the Canal district of San Rafael in order to see their families. Once we were there, I decided to walk to the market for a pack of cigarettes. I could feel everyone watching me, Hispanic men were whistling at me, and I felt a wave of fear and vulnerability hover over me. Sister Helen must have felt similar, and the other nuns must have offered some security to her.
Neuman, Corinne: Dead Man Walking Part I
Page 2
Sonnier is a person who grew up in poverty and dropped out of school by eighth grade. He was constantly in trouble, was denied health care, and moved often. “Mamma couldn’t do anything with me and she’d have Daddy come get me out of trouble.” Sonnier respected his father, and learned to love work through him.
The beginning of the relationship which Sonnier and Sister Helen share begins with blindness to the crimes that was committed. Sonnier does not tell, and Sister Helen does not ask, although it continues to disturb her. It is not until Sister Helen reviews the case files provided by Chava, that she begins to absorb the case history. Elmo Patrick and his brother, Eddie Sonnier were both involved in the crime and had contradicted each other. Both cases originally sentenced both brothers to death, was later overturned, and once again sentenced Elmo Patrick to death but not Eddie. (Page 16) However, it later turns out that Eddie was the true triggerman in the deaths, and Elmo Patrick continues to plead innocent. After reading about Patrick’s innocence, I looked up a website http://www.ccadp.org/Sanq.htm created for Death Row inmates. I looked at page after page, and every death row inmate has his or her own story. Some tell about their crimes, others don’t. However, almost all of them are pleading their innocence.
In this novel, the role of the church is put into an interesting place. Sister Helen was assigned to St. Thomas as part of a reform of the Catholic Church, “seeking to harness religious faith to social justice,” (page 5). At first Sister Helen did not agree with the reform, but then she realized that “her spiritual life had been too disconnected.” The church is who asked Sister Helen to become pen pals with Sonnier. Why did the church want to reach out to death row, and why did they choose Sister Helen? Did they know Sonnier was doomed to death, and wanted to give him the opportunity to come to peace, accept responsibility, and ask for forgiveness? Did they know Sister Helen was best for the job, because she was so open-minded and courageous? However, the church also provides support to the suffering families. I suppose the church is probably one of the only entities that would be able to support both the offender and the victim’s family. Through the relationship built between Sister Helen and Sonnier, Sister Helen is able to teach Sonnier to respect God and to seek strength from prayer.
The crimes that Elmo Sonnier Patrick had been committed to death for occurred in St Martinsville, Louisiana, “which makes the murders all the more vicious, because St. Martinsville, at the center of Acadiana, is one of the most friendliest, most hospitable places on earth.” (page 4). This quote really struck me, because I believe that the public considers similar crimes differently depending on where they occur and who is involved. Why? According to the NISSMART report conducted by the OJJDP in 2002(www.ojjdp.gov), 58,200 children are abducted by strangers each year, and 40% of those are found deceased. I compare those statistics to those cases that get media attention: Jessica Lunsford, Polly Klaas, and Elizabeth Smart. Its hard not to see the similarities, all are from respected communities, and all are white females (www.pollyklaas.org).
September 11, 2006 at 4:29 am
Dear Jana,
Excellent point on the lack of evidence! They did not mentioned that they had tested blood or semen samples, nor do I recall that they did any testing on the gun residue that would be on Pat’s or his brother’s hands, along with fingerprints. It was indeed a shoddy defense with numerous errors and an investigation that was not handled correctly.
I also agree with you in the thougth that Pat should have been given clemency after Eddie confessed. It is as if the system is set up more that someone must die for a crime and it really doesn’t matter who. Perhaps the powers to be feel that society will feel safer and so what’s so wrong about statistically killing a few innocent individuals. That a man could maintain his temper and stay out of any altercation for six years in prison cannot be an easy thing to do. It does not match up that he snapped in the woods and this is why an investigation should be completed with upmost care in the handling of evidence.
The conflict with the Catholic Church and Sister Helen seems not to be that they are not confused, but that separate sectors are emerging, and those clinging to the past would naturally find it easy to execute anyone. They do have a long history of torture, disregard for the poor, and power and money seem to be what it was all about. Power gave them control over the masses. I see that Sister Helen was of a progressive group who were taking their faith in a new direction of true care for those in need, balance and a desire to that action and participate in the world as it is today.
I can certainly see where it would be difficult for any of us to know what the right thing to say to a family of such a visious crime. It is without a doubt something that will encompass their lives forever. As you noted the comment made by Mr. LeBlanc on how could Sister Helen “not have come to visit him”. I feel she was unsure how he would preceive her assistance to Pat. She kept stating this was all new to her and she did not defend her actions, she accepted their criticism and sought to find a way to ease their burden as well.
September 11, 2006 at 5:05 am
In the true story “Dead Man Walking” filmed in 1995 by Tim Robbins with actors Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, and the book written in 1993 by Sister Helen Prejean, the true story of a tragic case involves the murder of two teens and rape of one girl. The roles of a nun, Sister Helen Prejean; the convicted murderer, Elmo Patrick Sonnier a condemned man sentence to death; the church and the state reveals the product of a poor mans trial.
Sister Helen Prejean, Patrick Sonnier’s spiritual Advisor, is a naïve and gullible person; however I believe that this characteristic allows her to make brave decisions. Growing up Prejean lived a very sheltered lifestyle. “Poor people occupied a land somewhere out there with Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel.” (6). Her family had colored servants that lived in a small cabin behind the main house. The servants never used the family bathroom. This was just the way it was for her, but she did not think of them as any less of a human being. “I did not consider the “colored” people who worked for us as poor. They were just, well, “colored” people doing what “colored” people did.” (6). Growing up Prejean was totally oblivious to what was really going on in the real world: prejudice, segregation, and biased political and legal acts. The black kids had to sit in the back of the bus on the way to school. “It was a great dare for a white kid to go to the back of the bus and sit with the blacks for five seconds. I had taken on the dare more than once.” (6) Sister Helen says. Helen was not afraid of “colored” people. After all they never harmed her so what was there to be afraid of?
Sister Helen Prejean had never been in a prison before, until deciding to meet with Patrick Sonnier; an inmate on death row sentenced to capitol punishment for first degree murder and one count of rape. The Chaplain warns her of the type of people she is about to get involved with and to always keep her guard up. “These people are the scum of the earth.” (25). He tells her. “You can’t trust them” (25). First of all, no one should ever trust anyone they do not know in this day and age unless you personally know the person, assuming they are a human being. Human being meaning a person with morals and feelings. Who is to judge a person as one that can or can not be trusted? Prejean is an open minded person who does not allow the chaplain’s influence to affect her judgment whether or not Sonnier should be classified as a human being verses a monster or “Scum of the Earth” (25). Now Prejean’s naïve characteristic has turned into an open minded characteristic. She is aware of the dangers. She has been warned of the possible con artist’s stories and yet she still wants to meet him. I think she is curious. Curiosity in her situation makes her brave. She is scared, but she knows that if she never meets him she will never sleep soundly wondering whether or not he is really the monster everyone makes him out to be or if there was something she could have done to save his life. Sitting with the black kids in the back of the bus was not so bad, in Prejean’s point of view the chaplain was daring her to proceed with her intentions of meeting Mr. Sonnier on Death-row. The moment someone tells someone else they shouldn’t do something that is daring what do you think they will end up doing?
As for Patrick Sonnier, well I don’t think we will ever know what kind of person he really is. Sure he is the daring type, but probably not so much the caring type. His profile reveals that he was not as fortunate as Sister Helen in his adolescent years. He proved himself as a hard worker before prison, a well behaved prisoner in a structured and controlled environment, and a human being with feelings before his death, but he was never given the second chance to prove himself outside of prison. He claims that he was messed up on drugs and had been awake for days before committing or contributing to his crimes. Several people entertain themselves with drugs for many reasons, most of which are because they are lonely or it is because there are pressured into it by there peer’s. In Sonnier’s case I believe it was loneliness. He tells Sister Helen, “I was always a loner growing up. I have never had so many friends.”(28), during her first visit and after receiving letters from several old classmates on Sister Helens behalf. The fact that his brother was his accomplice instead of a friend shows that he did not have many or any friends of his own. There are several characteristics that other people label Mr. Sonnier with, but very little does he label himself which makes it hard evaluate him as an individual.
It does not surprise me that people are quick to judge others by their background and past events. Nor does it surprise me that that as Millard, one of Sonniers last hopes as a defense attorney, says “ It’s not a fluke that 99 percent of death-row inmates are poor.” (47). Actually I find it quite disturbing that such a serious crime would be allowed by the courts to have such non experienced representatives when the deciding factor is life or death for the defendant. In Louisiana the only prerequisite for a defense attorney to defend such a case is that they must have at least five years legal experience which does not have to be criminal legal experience. Having worked in an asbestos litigation firm, no offense, but I would hate to have one of those attorneys represent me in such a case. I might as well strap myself in the electric chair. It is bothersome to know that such evidence or lack thereof could be overlooked in Sonnier’s case. For instance Sister Helen finds according to the transcripts that no blood or seaman test was performed to prove who the actual rapist was. I would think that this would be a crucial test for the case in order to rule out the fact that any third party may have been involved.
Once Sonnier’s defense team had exhausted any and all possible chance to overturn his case he realized that he would indeed be serving his death sentence in the electric chair sooner than later. The Chaplain made it clear to Sister Helen that “Your job is to help this fellow save his soul by receiving the sacraments of the church before he dies,” he says.” This is the main role of the catholic church. Every catholic involved in this situation can agree on this fact. Everything else is interpreted each to his own from the bible. Sonnier has the right to his last possible wishes and prayers and he chose Sister Helen as the person to help him pray for those in his last moments.
Mr. Leblanc and Mr. Bourque sit in the foyer “expressionless”(93) awaiting the death of Elmo Patrick Sonnier. Sonnier addresses Lloyd Leblanc in his last words asking for his forgiveness which he accepts after Sonnier tells him “ Mr. LeBlanc I don’t want to leave this world with any hatred in my heart. I want to ask your forgiveness for what me and Eddie done, but Eddie done it.” Sister Helen says that Mr. Leblanc’s eyes were red looking after he passed and I assume it was because he realized that another’s death did not bring his daughter back and to see a possible innocent man die because of it touched his heart and made him feel confused and cry.
The book and the film were pretty close in retrospect, but I found that as always in the book there was much more detail and explanation of the legal procedures involved in a case such as Sonnier’s, references to other cases, and most interestingly experts findings in neurology of how the electric chair affects the human body. It is beyond me that the constitution categorizes this as a humane way to go. I would rather be hung. Decapitated or not I would not want to walk back to my cell after the first electrocution failing only to have to go back and do it again.
September 11, 2006 at 5:19 am
A person who accepts the responsibility for the murderer is someone who is naïve to the situation, is compassionate for humanity, or is required to by law. “I stepped quite unsuspectingly from a protected middle-class environment into one of the most explosive and complex moral issues of our day, the question of capital punishment.”(intro) Sister Helen Prejean fell into the category of being naïve and then her compassion for humanity kept her there for Patrick Sonnier. She had no idea that being a pen pal would have her later supporting an inmate on death row, but when she talked to the inmate and saw that he had no hope, her compassion caused her to reach out to him. Sister Prejean didn’t see a murderer any longer, she saw Patrick Sonnier-a man…a man who was in pain.
In the first Chapter, we read a lot of statistics about our society and our prisons systems. “In 1989 37.3 million working Americans, accounting for 39 percent of total tax returns, received incomes below $15,000.” (Page
Sister Prejean talks about how it’s easier “for a teenage boy to ‘run a bag’ of cocaine down the street for an easy twenty bucks. (If he gets an after school or summer job, his income will be deducted from his mother’s AFDC check).” It is because of these kind of statistics that our prison systems are so full. “In 1980 about 500,000 Americans were behind bars; in 1990, 1.1 million…” (Page 9).
Through the church (the Catholic Church in this instance), the justice system gives the inmate an opportunity to “save” himself before he’s killed. But do all people want to be “saved”? The chaplain of Angola Prison, where Patrick is held, seems to either not want to be working there or, perhaps, the work he does has just hardened him. “The chaplain says that ‘these people’, I must remember, are the ‘scum of the earth,’ and that I must be very, very careful because they are all con men…” (Page 25). Sister Prejean is entering this experience with fresh (naïve?) eyes and an open heart. Right now she does not see Patrick as “scum”, but will she? Will she ever question what it was that led her to meet him?
Why should the murderer be spared his life when he so readily took another? There are two unknowns here that I believe continues the controversy of capital punishment. One, the person got his or her anger out during the murder and realizes they have done wrong. “I will go to my grave feeling bad about those kids.” (Pg. 38) If the person knows they have done wrong then they will be forever in sorrow and that will be enough punishment for them to live with. Or two, the person is still angry and is a danger to the society. If the person is still angry and hurt, it is society’s responsibility to not let a dangerous person out. There is no way of knowing that redemption has been made with a murderer.
On page 38, we learn that Pat’s brother, Eddie, was also involved with the murders. It was their plan (Eddie and Pat’s) to each say that the other one committed the murders, that way the police would not know who had actually done it. A murderer is a person driven to insanity by layers upon layers of hurt and anger, callused to the value of humanity. Any sane person wants to live without killing someone; they want a normal life. If we look at Eddie as a sane person before he committed the murder, then what would drive Eddie to kill another person? Eddie wanted to be “normal”, he wanted to marry the mother of his child but when he asked her to marry him she told him she already had a new boyfriend. Eddies hope of having a normal life was crushed by this new boyfriend named David. The young man Eddie killed was also named David. “…the two Davids blurring, the gun in his hand. Snap”. (Page 42)
On the other hand, the justice system looks at a murderer as a person who has gone past the point of sanity and now is no longer human. A family has lost their loved ones and now justice must be served. There is no room for compassion in the justice system. “If the jury can see your client as a human being, no matter what terrible crime he or she may have done, your client has a chance to live.” (Pg. 47) If the murderer is seen as a person, compassion is shown and there is no death penalty. I find it hard to believe that people can look at another person as an animal that needs to be put to rest.
September 11, 2006 at 5:25 am
I had my name, class,etc at the top of each page-not sure why it didn’t post that way. Also, not sure why the smiley face came up in the second paragraph! It’s supposed to say (Page 8).
September 11, 2006 at 5:27 am
After reading the first part of Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Preheat, I was very conflicted. I didn’t know whether or not I should like her. She is supposed to be a Catholic nun whose life is dedicated to helping the poor. However, she has decided to befriend a murderer. This made me wonder what kind of dark soul she really had. Then I began thinking about it. I can’t really judge this woman because I have never been in her position. Maybe if I was to begin writing to a prisoner who has murder someone I might also form a connection with them.
“The sheer weight of his loneliness, his abandonment, draws me. I abhor the evil he has done. But I sense something, some sheer and essential humanness, and that, perhaps, is what draws me most of all” (page 22). After I read this passage I felt like maybe there is another side to criminals than their bad one. I have always been interested in prisons and criminals, I love watching documentaries on them. But I have never really thought of talking to someone who resides in a prison. It makes me wonder what we would talk about. And what questions would be appropriate to ask them. It reminds me of when a friend of mine came back from Iraq; I wasn’t sure what we could talk about. I wasn’t sure whether or not it was proper to ask him if he killed anyone or what the war was like. But maybe it would be different with a prisoner, because they committed the crime voluntarily.
Another thing that I thought is that maybe Sister Helen felt that she could help Elmo Sonnier have a more peaceful death. Maybe she felt that if he had one person in the world that actually cared an inkling about him it might make it a little easier for him coping with his demise. If I were writing to a death row inmate that is what I would hope for. I would hope that someone I would be bringing them a little bit of light in their otherwise bleak lives. However, I don’t think I could ever go and meet the person I was writing to. I believe that writing letters is a more intimate and personal relationship. If I were to see the person face to face I am sure all I could think about would be the crime that they committed and that I would no longer want to associate with them.
I think that a big part of Sister Helen befriending Sonnier has to do with the fact that she was raised in a Catholic church. I was raised in the Catholic Church and I was also taught to be kind to people, no matter what; And to forgive people if they ask for your forgiveness. I don’t think Sister Helen was able to forgive Sonnier but she was able to be kind to him and befriend him because it was the way she was taught to do things.
September 11, 2006 at 5:27 am
Ok…last try…should say (page eight) not page smiley face.
September 11, 2006 at 5:35 am
Matthew – i agree with you when you talk about lawyers and our systems. It is amazing what a good lawyer can do.. look at OJ simpson.. Michael Jackson..If a lawyer doesn’t want to put the time and effort into a case, the suspect usually suffers.. and yes, it can mean the difference between life and death. Like you said, most inmates are poor and cannot afford a quality lawyer. How is that fair?
Todd- I am glad you wrote about “thou shalt not kill” and “an eye for eye” because I felt the same way and wanted to tie those in. How can you have it both ways? It seemed like Helen way trying to solve that moral contridiction but could not.
September 11, 2006 at 6:55 am
Anna Johnson
Dead Man Walking: part one
September 8, 2006
Madrocky25@yahoo.com
Human 6, Section 1395
Sister Helen Prejean performed numerous acts of devotion through faith to the people in society whom lived a life of poverty and knew no better than what the worse can bring. She didn’t separate herself from the less fortunate, she lived in their neighborhoods, conversed with them, taught their children, and learned what hardships they must face everyday. Helping those in need of guidance and recovery was her main foremost ambition in life. Her concern for the well being of the underprivileged led her to a curious relationship with a death row inmate that was few and far between. Sister Prejean intensely communicates, through her writing in Dead Man Walking, her experiences with convict Elmo Patrick Sonnier and the harsh realities of criticism she faced in the South during that time.
Sister Prejean was no stranger to the lavish life of the wealthy however there was always the question in the back of her mind of whether this was a justified life to live. She saw the differences between her life and the poor black groups in community and at home. Her family employed black people and she recalls feeling drawn to them in her early years while watching them work outside the home. “This was life so raw, so earthy, so uncushioned, yet so vibrant, so tenacious, so enduring.”(7) She was able to see an inner hope, energy and capability these people contained.
Her life as a nun was committed to “stand on the side of the poor,” (5) and bring prospects of faith to these communities. She had seen the best and worst of life and felt it was her duty as a Catholic to preserve the better for all man kind, no matter who they are, where they are, or what brought them there. She was asked to become a pen pal with a death row inmate and accepted without hesitance. She figured his life must not be so different than the lives she dealt with everyday. She lived in the poverty-stricken communities and dealt with death and violence on a consistent basis but this could not prepare her for the relations about to begin. She had certain innocence to the world, hoping that everything could be fixed, all had good in it somewhere, and people care for each other.
She began her contact with Sonnier through letters then traveled to meet him on Death Row. We begin to see her passion for human life and her non-judgmental approach to others. She respects Sonnier, “I begin to think of him as a fellow human being, though I can’t for a moment forget his crime.“ (13) She gives him hope in knowing that someone can care and help. “I wan to visit him because he has no one else and visiting prisoners is a Christian work of mercy.” (25) Sister Prejean has the heart and inspiration to listen to Sonnier and give him faith like nobody else showed. Her involvement with Sonnier proved to be a brave task. She had to deal with the majority of society rejecting her good faith in this man and casting her as an outcast. She in no way made excuses for his actions but tried to make people look deeper into him as a person, not “scum.” Sister Prejean felt strongly in her beliefs and the good nature of others. She held true to this even knowing of Sonnier’s crime, “For me, the unnegotiable moral bedrock on which a society must be built is that killing by anyone, under any conditions, cannot be tolerated. And that includes the government.” (31)
Anna Johnson
Human 6 Section 1395
Dead Man Walking pt. 1
Sister Prejean’s relations with Sonnier grew more personal with each letter and each visit within the ten years of their contact. She became closer than anyone else in these years and learned a great deal from and about Pat Sonnier. His past revealed insight to possibilities of how and why he ended up on Death Row and the situations he faced. He grew up in the pleasant town of St. Martinsville, Louisiana with his mother, father, sister and younger brother; yet they did not live the joyous and wealthy lives of others. They were exposed to the harsh realities of life and death at a young age to insure their survival in the community. The parents separated, they were deprived of the finer things in life and often had to hunt for that night’s dinner.
“I was always a loner growing up. I’ve never had many friends,” (29) Sonnier tell Sister Prejean at one time. He changed schools some seven or eight times and moved back and forth between his parents home. He hardly had a chance to become interested or involved with the other privileged children. “From the age of nine, he says, he was on probation with juvenile authorities for burglaries, disturbing the peace, trespassing.” (30) He enjoyed working with his father and the time they spent together. Sister Prejean sees, “he has feelings for his father, I can tell by the way he speaks of him…” (30) His father died of liver cancer at the beginning of the hard times to come in his life.
Sonnier was jailed at Angola once before for stealing a truck. From this point on he lived a life as a delinquent and was forced to face many problems. This was all he knew in life: how to screw up, disregard anything but for his own good, and learn to deal with the consequences. Pat and Eddie, his brother, were never given the chance to succeed from the community. They mirrored the troubles of the black people from Sister Prejean’s neighborhood. They were cast out, judged, and rejected as normal functioning members of society. They were stuck in this lifestyle and it almost seemed inevitable for him and his brother to travel down this tragic path.
Sonnier persona as a Death Row inmate was quiet contradictory to the actions of his crimes. He is not, “brutish, self absorbed, paranoid, incapable of normal human encounters,” (31) as Sister Prejean anticipated while thinking of men like Charles Manson. He was very thoughtful, welcoming, grateful and scared of his situation. He was a confused man. His childhood affected his values and ability to act upon right and wrong. He agreed to write and meet with Sister Prejean because it was “just too hard.” (12) “He only says how glad he is to have someone to communicate with because he has been so lonely.” (22) Sonnier shows hope when with Sister Prejean. He cares for her and her companionship because she chose to befriend him and become his “spiritual advisor” even under his conditions. Sonnier was not given the opportunities of most growing up and this affected him. In prison he lent another inmate some cigarettes for the second time, even thought the inmate didn’t return any favors. He believed the guy deserved “one more chance,” perhaps the one more chance he wished for in his life. (18)
A common thing that brings Sister Prejean and Pat Sonnier together is their faith and dedication to the Bible and the Catholic Church. She has based he whole life on the Church and using it’s guidance to help others find salvation. Sonnier may have found the guidance of God at the end of his life but it gave him hope in what he had left. He had
Anna Johnson
Human 6 Section 1395
Dead Man Walking pt.1
little direction earlier in life and the Bible and Sister Prejean brought that to him. Sister Prejean adds Psalm 107 in a letter to Sonnier stating, “It was written for you.”
“…Some, driven frantic by their sins,
made miserable by their own guilt
and finding all food repugnant,
were nearly at death’s door.
Then they call to Yahweh in their trouble
And he rescues them from their sufferings…
He snatched them from the Pit…” (40)
Sonnier used this and many others from the Bible to help him through his time waiting to be walked to his death. It was another way for him to communicate with Sister Prejean; almost another world for him to live in, a world of good and lending hands, somewhere far different from that of Death Row.
“…I am contemptible,
loathsome to my neighbors,
to my friend a thing of fear…
I am forgotten, as good as dead in their hearts,
Something discarded.
…as they combine against me,
plotting to take my life.
But I put my trust in you, Yahweh…” (40)
Dead Man Walking shows the reader the unpleasant part of people’s lives that so many turn their back on. The Death Row inmate is being exposed; being so closely involved in the feelings, life and mind of those on the accused end is rare. The bad side of a suspect is usually the only known aspects, not their past growing up, their beliefs, and opinions about their situation. A deeper look is made into all aspects of this situation, some are good and some are still disturbing. Sister Prejean certainly became involved in the topic, stating facts about the poor in America and the injustice that is placed upon so many able bodies. It is hard to read of the unfair treatments between classes of people and more so between the government and the poverty stricken. Sister Prejean shows so much hope in others regardless of who they may be. Although the story is tragic, it is refreshing to read about someone who cares so little for her own condition and so much for everyone else.
September 11, 2006 at 10:41 am
Amanda –
I too read the entire book. I just wasn’t able to stop after the first 115 pages. I will admit that the movie was a bit disappointing at first but it turned out to be an interesting concept to me. I agree with you regarding the Catholic Church not having a huge presence in this book – not nearly as much as I thought there would be seeing as Sister Prejean is a nun and a very religious person.
Ray-
I have to say that I disagree with your sentence about the justice system seeing a murderer as someone who has gone past the point of sanity and is no longer human. During my time in law enforcement, I worked in a jail and have come face to face with people who were accused of murder. The people I have met are as sane as you or I. One specific person comes to mind – he was intelligent but very cold and very cruel, almost to the point of being sadistic. I also have to say that as someone who has lost a friend to murder, I looked at his killers and wanted them to suffer the same fate as my friend. I think most people who lose someone close to them in a senseless act would feel the same way.
September 11, 2006 at 5:17 pm
Todd – yes the moral contradiction and interpretation of the bible is different for every one but I think you say it best when “thou shall not kill.”
September 11, 2006 at 5:20 pm
Ryan – way to go on exlpaining responsibility of the woman who “FEELS” as though she committed the crime but is not the actual owner of such act.
September 11, 2006 at 8:16 pm
Their are many contradictions in the bible to “though shall not kill.” Sister Helen brings this up many times throughout the novel.
Donna: I agree with you when you say, “I also have to say that as someone who has lost a friend to murder, I looked at his killers and wanted them to suffer the same fate as my friend. I think most people who lose someone close to them in a senseless act would feel the same way. ”
I can put myself in those shoes, and imagine the feelings of wanting revenge “justice.” But, at the same time I can side with Sister Helen in saying that putting someone to death by means of capital punishment doesn’t make it any better. Once the murderer has been put to death, the pain will still linger.
September 11, 2006 at 11:35 pm
I would have to disagree that Patrick Sonnier felt bad for his crimes while first on Death Row. His emotions didn’t seem real until Sister Helen Prejean came into his life and when he knew his time was coming closer to end his own life and at that point I feel he was feeling sorry for himself. I also agree that the ending should have been him being executed just like in the movie which I too liked more than the book. “Eye for an Eye” was mentioned but in this case where there are two criminals it is hard to make the one person actually responsible receive their punishment. I also agree that our system is quick to make someone responsible for a crime, but there is no justice out of that. A case may be closed but the real killer could still be free while an innocent person is paying for it. The evidence was a real good point, even though this took place some time ago it should have still been a huge piece in the story. And after the men had been caught other people came out saying that they had been suduced by the same men, but was there proof of that?
September 11, 2006 at 11:50 pm
For this weeks assignment on the second part of Dead Man Walking one of the questions is how did the murder die? Could someone just clarify that it is asking how did the execution end or am I way off the subject?
September 12, 2006 at 6:04 am
Hi Todd,
Maybe I am confused, but in the book I believe there is a description of death via an electric chair. In the movie they did a lethal injection, but the description of that death was that the witnesses did not see what was going on inside, as the muscles that would normally react are unable to. Thus, the individual is actually suffering a cruel and unusual punishment, you just don’t see it. I believe that Dr. K’s method is a peaceful exit as I don’t see too many people signing up for a painful ending. If they wanted pain they would insist on enduring the suffering of the illness they were dying from, or have more fun with old age that is stripping them of their dignity and leaving no quality of life for them. Please don’t get me wrong, it is indeed difficult to have pity for anyone who could commit such a crime. From my personal experience though, having the man who killed my father given a lethal injection would not take away the pain or lessen the loss. I would not want to see him suffer and die. That would make me like him and require some other individual to kill as he did. I do appreciate the fact that he will never be allowed parole and will end his days in prison. I do not want him to be mingling with inmates who are not violent and dangerous as he is either. We just create more problems. Again, maybe my memory is off, I am kinda old
September 12, 2006 at 6:37 pm
Kimberly,
I have to agree with you about writitng to a death row inmate. What would we talk about? I don’t know where I would start or what subeject to bring up. I know I would be more than curious what they were on death row for and if they were sorry for what they had done. When Juith said at the face to face meeting that we could write to an imate as our community project, I wondered if I could actulally do this.
September 12, 2006 at 9:47 pm
Melissa- I agreee with you that the Catholic religion plays a big part in the book. You can see that Sister Helen closely follows her religion and is very serious about it. I like the way that she never tried to push religion on Pat or Eddie, but that she did offer them comfort in the fact that she was a spiritual woman.
September 12, 2006 at 10:16 pm
Hi Missy:
I have written to a death row inmate at San Quentin. Its interesting. I received a response last week. I didn’t know what to say at first, so I just said that. I asked what it is like to recieve a letter from the outside, is it like a slap in the face? He responded that “it is like a breath of fresh air.” He told me a lot of inmates get hung up on reality television, but he prefers not to.
September 14, 2006 at 5:52 pm
Jana Church- You made a good point of the fact that Sister Helen wouldn’t have become such an advocate for prisoners without the death of Pat Sonnier or even meeting him. . We know that Pat helped commit those crimes, but it is odd who well mannered Pat was and how thankfull he was to sister helen, I wonder if all that was due to the fact he was going to die soon. You also brought up his poor defense, I think the system is messed up when one who is poor receives such a bad defense causing him his life.
You also brought up what Thomas Moore had said, first we create criminals by denying education, then we punish them for which they do not know. This can be connected to Michel Foucault and how death was a punishment used on the poor who were starving and stole things from others because the King couldn’t provide for his own people. Today we punish the poor for being the person we created and that is rediculous.
Crystal- You brought up how Sonnier was posing as an officer at Lover’s Lane or whatever and he knew that trouble was going to arise from this. Though Pat was into this mischieve that landed him a spot on death row amongst other things, he was totally different to Sisiter Helen and how polite he is. I think that Pat acted like that around his brother, but deep in his heart there is a gentle guy. You wrote about Eddie and how he said that the girl wanted to have sex with him while she was rapped. I does show how Eddie thought about women and it takes a sick person to rape someone else so i think if anyone were to get the chair it should be Eddie.
Dawn Rash- You talked about “who killed this man?” It is so true that everyone did their part in the execution, but who really killed him. In a way the state sets each person with a deed to help distribute any burdon of killing someone so that everyone could go home and not lose an ounce of sleep. Could i do the job without thinking i killed someone? I don’t know.
September 14, 2006 at 7:06 pm
So i just got done with dying to tell, and the movie a couple of days ago, and all the stories differ. So i Sister Helen Prejean wrote Dead Man Walking and it was a totally different acount than the movie or Dying to Tell, which to believe i don’t know, but the facts presented in the movie and Dying to Tell are just plain terrible and if those are true that Robert Williams (Pat Sonnier or Mathew) was an absolutely terrible person.
September 15, 2006 at 6:57 pm
I went to hear Lt. Crittendom speak last night and I feel like it really shed some light on how the prison system works in California. I find his take on it very interesting. This man has worked at San Quentin since 1988, and in every position you could imagine, but currently works with the Death Row inmates and warden. He was able to give the audience first hand accounts of what people are like who are executed, how people end up in jail, and why there is such a disturbing rate of return in our prison systems, especially here in California. Basically, he said there is no “conspiracy” against poor people, or minorities (a minority himself), rather the injustices and cracks in the system are just the way things have evolved in order to be the most functional given the current funding and situation of the justice system today. I liked how he described a prison like a “little city”. I never thought about who profits from prisons, and the answer is the same as who profits the most from today’s society: Corporations. They supply the light bulbs, toilet paper, etc. that keep that “little city” running. So if there are more people in prison they make more money, if there is a high rate of return inmates then they make more money consistently. I think that is where the conspiracy is. Anyway, I found it interesting that Lt. Crittendom had overseen all the executions that have taken place since 1988 and could remember the names of these individuals as well as their crimes. He used some of them as examples, pointing out that the crimes these condemned individuals had commited were vicious and they showed little understanding of the effect of their actions. I know that innocent people end up on death row, but not too many here in the state of California, and we are fortunate enough to have good resources for inmates seeking defense counsel on death row. The main area of need as outlined by Lt. Crittenddom, is matainence and funding towards the condemned housing (death row) unit of the prison (there is only one stone wall that is not earthquake proof separating the yard of inmates from marin county, among other important issues), as well as more preventative action in this country in the form of education oppurtunities for young people, and team sports which he said are the things that if implemented when a child is young, will help guide them to make better decisions and give them the feeling of being able to better control their circumstances. I wish everybody could have been there last night because this is just a small piece of what was a very detailed and compelling conversation. One last thing I think was interesting, Lt. Crittendom said “the devil is in the details” and I think this is a great way to look at the criminal justice system.
September 15, 2006 at 10:47 pm
Jana-Your paper was very well put together. I especially liked the line: “I felt sorry for her because when innocence becomes tainted with the reality of crime and punishment it leaves a certain void in a person.” I agree with that. I feel that when Sister Prejean decided to befriend Pat Sonnier, he opened her eyes to a life style that she knew nothing about…and her life would never be the same after meeting him. And while perhaps there was a void in her after that (a void of innocence, of unknowing, of naivety) I think she was also a little more complete. Good, bad or indifferent, Sister Prejean’s relationship with Pat made her a different person.
Matthew-I too was shocked at the amount of statistics in Dead Man Walking! The first few pages alone contained enough information to overwhelm a person (or to make them want to research it more). A lot of the stats were pretty shocking to read….so many people living with such little income, how it makes more sense for a person to sell drugs then to get a “normal” job, the amount of people in our prison systems!
September 17, 2006 at 5:12 am
Ben~
I thought that your paper was well written and clear about where you stand on the death penalty. I also thought that I was a strong supporter of it, but also somewhat questioned what it truly accomplished. I am still on the fence about it, though I agree that killing is wrong, and wrong for all, I still somewhat feel like if someone were to take the life of one of my children, I might feel better knowing that if they died they absolutely could not hurt my family or anyone else again.
September 17, 2006 at 5:52 am
Mathew- For me the book with all of the stats. was more persuasive against the death penalty, because it was able to reach my sence of logic and fair play. The statstics about the demographics of death row inmates and the fact that even if it can be shown that you may be innocent during an appeal, but if it was not challenged by the rules it is inadmissible makes the death penalty something that needs serious revision so that it can be applied in an equitable way
September 17, 2006 at 6:00 am
Anita- I agree with your take on the Catholic Church not wanting to get their hands dirty. I think that this example applies in many religions. It is big commitment to support people in need for the long hall and it is easier to say that you stand for something, but much harder to actually show that commitment.
September 18, 2006 at 4:23 am
Jana,
I was struck by your take on Pat’s motive for the crime. I think that you have great insight. I never thought about why he was there in the first place. Eddie must have been the dominant personality. Plus being his mother’s favorite could have put pressure on Pat to stand by his brother no matter what.
Ben,
I too was a hard core believer in the death penalty before this class. It’s not that I am opposed to it now, but I feel that the system needs alot more work. We can’t execute the wrong people and just say, “oh, well”