dead man walking essay

The characters of Sister Helen, Matthew, and the victims parents all went through these changes during the movie for different reasons.. Sister Helen's feelings changed because she saw a

Dead Man Walking

People in society today have changed their feelings

towards humanity and

religious practises This change is seen clearly in the movie

“Dead Man

Walking.” The characters go through changes in their view of religion and their

feelings about human morality and humanity towards each other The characters

of Sister Helen, Matthew, and the victims parents all went

through these changes

during the movie for different reasons

These emotional changes that the characters went through are very common

Everyone changes their ideals and morals depending on their

situation

Matthew's ideals changed because he feared that he was going to die alone

Sister Helen's feelings changed because she saw a side of Matthew that no one

else was able to see The parents of the victim “Hope” were filled with revenge

because of what Matthew did, not why he did it The father of the victim “

Walter” was very sympathetic, he understanding of what Matthew was going through

SISTER HELEN

Sister Helen was very unsure about what she was doing in life She

became a nun to give back to the community which gave her good Christian morals

and values By becoming a nun she was able to teach others to respect life and

become more like Jesus (A Son of God) As a child Sister Helen was taught to be

very supportive and to give this support to those who needed her help

When confronted with Matthew, Sister Helen tries to see the good in him

and show him the respect she believes he deserves She believes that there is

good in all man and that every person deserves respect Sister Helen

understands that what Matthew did was wrong, but she also knows that every

person is worth more than their worst act, and that ,“No man deserves to die

.” In Sister Helen's mind every man deserves a chance From insight into her

background and Christian upbringing Sister Helen is able to see and feel for

Matthew as a person and not as an object of “ scum or as a monster ”

The media's understanding and the victims parents

understanding is that

Sister Helen believes that Matthew was wronged by the system They feel like

they have been betrayed by a God's messenger (Sister Helen) To them Sister

Helen is on Matthew's side by helping him find God Sister Helen

is being torn

apart because she does no want to hurt anyone's feelings She is compassionate

and sympathetic to everyone's feelings, but does not mean to hurt any by her

actions of helping a murderer find God

At the end of the movie Sister Helen wants Matthew to see

a face of love

(Hers) not one of hate and resentment (The Victims Parents) This means a lot

to her because she has seen Matthew the person no longer Matthew the monster

Sister Helen felt compassionate towards Matthew because of the person he had

become through getting to know her and understand what she

believed and wanted

MATTHEW

At the beginning of the movie Matthew is rude and abrupt

to Sister Helen

that's what happens on death row, “ you start to hate and resent everyone.”

Matthew never thought that he would be visiting with a nun Soon Matthew trusts

Sister Helen and persuades her to help him by filing a petition not to kill him

by lethal injection This was a turning point in his attitude in understanding

right and wrong Matthew thinks that he got screwed by the

system that's why

he's going to die, not because he did something wrong Matthew never had anyone

that really cared about him except Sister Helen Matthew was always lonely and

only cared about number one ( Himself ) By talking and sharing with Sister

Helen he starts to understand what he did was wrong

Matthew's mother was asked to pled for his life This allowed the media

and the parents of the victims to see him as someone's child much like their

own, and to explain that he was good boy not a monster She explained in court

that he had, “ had a hard life but he was a good boy.”

Matthew wanted to

protect his mother and not let her see him on trial for what he did Matthew

wanted to keep his pride by not seeing his mother crying for him

He wanted her

to be happy and to not worry about him This compassion is

crucial to the total

change in ideals and morals that Matthew has now (After knowing Sister Helen)

Matthew was going through a lot of changes now that he was going to die

within a week His understanding of life and humanity changed drastically from

being a racist, saying that all the Black are victims and keep having slavery,

to feeling compassion to everyone Many of these feelings are because of his

understanding of human life, as his life nears the end This changes are all

caused by the situation he is in

At the end Matthew hopes that the father of Walter (the victim) can

forgive him and accept that he knows what he was wrong and should

be punished

for it, but not punished to death Hope's farther does forgive him at the vary

end of the movie As for the parents of Hope, Matthew hopes that his death makes

them happy even after the death of their son Matthew also

accepts

responsibility for what he did and Sister Helen explains to him that by doing

that he is now a son of God and can die with dignity This is what was needed

for Matthew, as a person