“Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty… not guilty.” This quote reveals the courage of one man who chooses to stand up against eleven other men. Twelve Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, is a wonderful and compelling play about a boy who is accused of murdering his father. Jurors are quick to make assumptions about the boy and attempt to put his life to an end. Among other themes, this play is about prejudice, justice, father/son relationship, and one person standing against many (Drohan). In my opinion, this drama should be taught to Maine South juniors as they are getting ready for college. They will be leaving the comfort of their homes and venturing on their own into the unknown and unfamiliar places with a multitude of total strangers. From the play Twelve Angry Men, the students can learn not to judge too quickly, how stereotypes can be misleading, and that every situation can be looked at from a different perspective.
Teenagers tend to be judgemental toward strangers and newly met people. It is disappointing. People start making assumptions immediately after meeting a stranger. Not only that, but racism is still appearing in today’s society. It occurs in this play as well. “There's racism in the air as 12 men sweat it out in a heatwave, keen to get their verdict returned and to go home (Gore- Langton). ” The personality of all the jurors is thoroughly explained. Some of the jurors are very intelligent and others are emotionally unstable. All of them seem to have no interest as to the outcome of the trial. They just want to make it home as fast as possible. “One of the jurors is anxious to get it over with and get on to the ballgame; another remembers a boy of his own, who at just about the same age escaped his authority; a third is a crowd-pleaser, he wants to be part of the majority; and a fourth is a man of reason who has added up all the evidence in his own mind and has found no reasonable doubt of the boy's guilt (Alpert).” It proves that despite the great importance of the case, the jurors are not able to concentrate nor be objective. In the same way, teenagers these days jump into conclusions too quickly and are unable to open their minds and see the real picture.
Another lesson to be learned from the play is that “indifference” can be beyond repair. The jurors never took time to look at the evidence.
“You want to see this boy die because you personally want it - not because of the facts (Juror #8 to Juror #3, Act 2, Rose).”
They simply do not care that their negligence would cause the young man to be executed. Students can learn at this point that it is important that people care and are passionate about others. The majority can be wrong, therefore sometimes it is up to one person to make a difference. People should stand for what they believe, because an individual with a conscience can make a difference.
Not only does it seem like it is unlikely that Juror #8 would stand up for himself like that but it is. “In the 1950s, a study of 255 trials by the Chicago Jury Project turned up no examples of such an occurrence (Aubrey).” Courage is just one of the many points that Maine South students could learn. Students would also learn how to go more in depth and explore in different perspectives. They would also find that the play is very simple to read. There are three acts that amount to 30 pages. There is no swearing but a couple close encounters. The heated dialog between the jurors provides an abundance of detail and it is how the author makes the story intense.
We learn at the beginning of the play that the boy being accused of murder is an 18 year old minority.
“This boy’s been kicked around all his life. You know, living in a slum, his mother dead since he was nine. That’s not a very good head start. He is a tough, angry kid. You know why slum kids get that way? Because we knock em’ on the head once a day, every day. Look at the kid’s record. At fifteen he was in reform school. He stole a car. He’s been arrested for mugging. He was picked up for knife-fighting. I think they said he stabbed somebody in the arm. This is a very fine boy (Act 1, Rose).”
Although all this information is horrifying, without it we would not have known that in fact he did not stab his father. A professional knife fighter that is so much shorter than his father would never stab downwards, the way he was killed.
Never believe what is heard but what is seen. What is seen should be looked at from every angle and every perspective. Supposedly there was only one knife of that kind that was used in the killing. It seems as if it is a little more popular than that given the fact that Juror #8 had the exact same one. What are the odds?

Taking comfort over an unresolved issue is not acceptable. Taking a stand for what a person believes in, even when all the others choose to be indifferent, takes courage and strong will, but it proves to be the only way to make justice be served. Young people need to learn this lesson, they might be able to save an innocent life one day.