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Celeste Munoz

Professor Maura

8 October 2018

Rhetorical Analysis: Just Mercy

“Uh… also, uh… I love you,” (Stevenson 287) were the words spoken by Bryan

Stevenson at the age of 10 to a fellow classmate after teasing his speech impediment. At first

glance, this may seem an insignificant act, brought about by a command from Stevenson’s

mother, but the implications go much further than that. This act and the classmate’s subsequent

response of “I love you, too” (287) were the beginning stages of Stevenson’s own discovery of

what it means to acknowledge one’s faults and apologize for their actions. Forgiveness and

restorative justice are huge roles played throughout Stevenson’s writing, and play a larger role in

the message he is trying to send overall: people should not be characterized by the worst thing

they have ever done, and they deserve to be treated fairly in all circumstances. He wants to

convey that being broken is not something to be ashamed of, rather something to be celebrated

because it is through shared brokenness that people can come together and promote just mercy.

In the chapter “Broken,” Stevenson speaks about the effects his job has on him. By

bringing in the personal details of him feeling, “deeply distressed,” (277) and overwhelmed by

the amount of execution dates coming up, he is making the connection to himself with “ I am

more than broken,” (290.) Here, Stevenson is building a bridge between his experience and the

lives of the prisoners. This builds his credibility because it shows he has been in similar shoes as

the prisoners with his brokenness, and therefore, can speak to how they feel. In the prior

chapters, he does not speak very much about the tolls his job has on him, so readers can assume

that it is not that difficult for him to just continue doing what he is doing. However, by his use of
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personal anecdotes and expressing his emotions then they remember that he is only human. A

person can only take so much, which is another point Stevenson is trying to express about the

prisoners he is fighting for. By using his own stories as analogies for the prisoners’ lives, he is

giving insight on the relationship between justice and mercy. They all still have hardships and

problems that take tolls on them, and Stevenson is saying that by realizing this, people become

more compassionate. He wants to emphasize that compassion and empathy are essential in

recognizing our own brokenness and hardships, and therefore allowing for more merciful

actions. Everyone can find connections and relationships through shared brokenness, and that is

the key to just mercy.

Stevenson argues that the injustice in the criminal system can be merciless and does not

always take into account all that a person has gone through. By not acknowledging each person’s

individual brokenness, he claims, the criminal justice system is failing the people who are

accused. He doesn’t argue that criminals should not be held accountable, rather that more

attention should be paid to them as individuals. Because of his want to bring awareness about the

injustice, Stevenson shifts in tone when speaking about all of the struggles one of his clients

Jimmy Dill faced from saying “I” to “we.” It is worth noting because by using “we,” he connects

the issues to all of his readers as well. It makes the audience feel like they are being called to

help because it is an issue that affects everyone, not just the accused. He also shifts to a more

emotional tone when he details his personal anecdotes. For example, he says, “My years of

struggling against inequality, abusive power, poverty, oppression, and injustice had finally

revealed something about myself” (289). By doing this, he is opening up the channel to

becoming vulnerable, and that in turn, allows the audience to feel vulnerable with him. He goes

on to describe how “shared brokenness connected us,” (289) and encourages the readers to make
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those same personal connections to the victims of injustice in order to go out and feel inspired to

make a change.

Change is also brought up when Stevenson speaks about the dehumanization of

criminals. Stevenson alludes to this issue throughout his book by using emotional diction. He

states, “In their broken state, they were judged and condemned by people whose commitment to

fairness had been broken by cynicism, hopelessness, and prejudice,” (288.) In other words, he is

claiming that there is a broken system of justice and that people accused of crimes do not get the

fair treatment they deserve. In order to further make his point, Stevenson again refers to his

personal feelings when he looks around his office and sees, “each pile filled with tragic stories,”

(288) and the feelings of his clients by repeating the way they were, “broken by war...broken by

poverty... broken by disability…” (288.) These sentences help the audience empathize with all of

the problems Stevenson and his clients have to go through. It sparks emotion in the reader which

he hopes, again, then encourages them to seek out more injustice, and work against it. That is his

whole purpose, and hopes to shed more light on just some of the issues there are in today’s

society.

Overall, Stevenson shares his idea of the need for reform in the criminal justice system

throughout his book. He also wants to convey to his readers to look at people suspected of crimes

in a new, more compassionate light. In doing so, Stevenson’s vision of restorative justice, and

the way forgiveness works in that can be played out. He wants people to acknowledge their own

brokenness and relate that to the injustice many people endure in the criminal justice system.

Stevenson attempts to display this by sharing details of his personal life to appeal to the reader's

emotions, and build his credibility, and has anecdotes where he sharply changes his tone.
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Stevenson wants Just Mercy to be seen as a call to action, and for his audience to step up and

want to help the lives of the people he dedicates his work to.

Works Cited
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Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. Spiegel & Grau, 2015.