In this reading unit, ” Stranger than Fiction,” I read the book ”Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson. The book Just Mercy mainly discusses racial bias in the legal system, specifically in Southern states in America. Just Mercy follows a young lawyer named Bryan Stevenson, who just graduated from Havard Law School and moved to  Alabama to fulfill his mission of helping those who are wrongly condemned in a lower social class.

Central Idea- The task for this page was to identify what the author wants us to know about the topic; the central ideas I mentioned were systematic racism in prison systems and the focus on second chances. These central ideas are generally tossed around when Bryan Steveson is working on a case where the condemned person is colored or underprivileged. The thinking represented on this page showcases my specific central idea and one or more pieces of evidence supporting the central idea.

Theme- The function of this page is the same as the central idea since we needed evidence to support the Theme. Instead of finding a central idea, we wanted to know how life works and how we should live. I choose life works best when we treat others with kindness and fairness. Additionally, we should hold hope and perseverance in the face of justice when things feel impossible.

Perspective- The assignment was to identify a subtle argument in our literary non-fiction book and find the opposing perspectives; after this, we chose a side of the controversial topic. My group used my idea that the death penalty should not be used on a perspective page. Then, we prepped for the town hall, where 8-3 debated the topic and cited our evidence. I think this page reflects chapters one through three, where we follow Walter McMillan, a condemned colored man, in and out of the death penalty.

Cause & Effect- We were asked to pick a cause from our literary non-fiction for this page of our notebook. I chose Bryan Stevenson’s [lawyer] legal works and reviewed the entire book since the effects are dabbled everywhere. I found 10 effects of Bryan Stevenson’s work as a lawyer. I listed the 10 effects and gave a short example where I saw them.

Complex Texts- In the complex text task, I picked out two ideas for the chapter 2 stand and used evidence to back my ideas up, along with some additional notes on what punishment looked like in southern prisons from 2002.

Town Hall Notes + Post-its –During the town hall class discussion, each book club was tasked with finding. For controversial topics, pick a side and use evidence to support your perspective. After going up and introducing Just Mercy and our view on the death penalty, we took our seats and discussed the opposing viewpoints of the other book clubs and jotted down questions or ideas to contradict the book club’s speaking. The yellow Post-it note was a question for the Unbroken Book Club, and the green was my book club’s ”should’; statement.

Synthesize pages:

Informative- Through the informative quotes, we can pattern the author using lots of data and names to show us how bad the Alabama prison systems are and how behind they are in society.  Chester had an extremely high rate of poverty, crime, and so on. Another example is it was not till 2008 that most states abandoned the practice of shackling and handcuffing. The author almost uses Logos to convince us of the deteriorating conditions in the southern prisons.

Narrative- These quotes are connected because they are set outside a courthouse, talking about the legal system, people in the prison system, racial bias, and, generally, quotes highlighting the prison and legal system. The courtroom serves as a battlefield for ideals of fairness and accountability, which clash with human flaws. The narrative quotes I pulled from ” Just Mercy” highlight the challenges faced by people condemned.