|
Sister Helen
The death penalty is still a problem nowadays, no one knows if it is right or wrong.
Dead man walking deals with this very sensitive subject, it is written by Sister Helen Prejean who is a Roman Catholic nun raised in an upper middle-class Catholic family, she grew up in a society divided by race and class.
In 1957 joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille.
Although originally she planned a life of quiet religious contemplation, for some reason she felt she was destined to help people and share and help them, specially the poor.
Even though she was against capital punishment system, Sister Helen was asked if she would be a death row inmate’s pen pal and share something with the sentenced man.
After the the first death row inmate’s death, sister Helen decides that It was enough for her and to stay away from the death house, until in a spiritual retreat takes the decision back and starts to fight against the system.
At the end Prejean gets a real insight of how unfair death row is, and decides to become a full-time advocate for abolishing the death penalty and extend a hand to assist victims’ families. In my opinion, what sister Helen did is right; in some cases the death penalty is completely wrong and immoral and many times punishes people because of race, class economic income, etc.
Like I said in the beginning of the paper: “no one knows if death row is right or wrong”, this is why it is a very complicated topic . . . read more.
|
|