Oh Sweet Innocent Childhood

You may hang these boys; you may hang them by the neck until they are dead. But in doing it you will turn your face toward the past. In doing it you are making it harder for every other boy who in ignorance and darkness must grope his way through the mazes which only childhood knows. In doing it you will make it harder for unborn children.

 Another important theme for Mr. Darrow, is childhood. Often he uses the word childhood throughout his speech. Even though he is defending teenagers in this trial, he uses childhood in a different context. He uses childhood repeatedly to gain pity from the judge. He also keeps going back to childhood to talk about more and more kids who have awful lives because of a bad childhood, or because of a bad experience.

I feel that I should apologize for the length of time I have taken. This case may not be as important as I think it is, and I am sure I do not need to tell this court, or to tell my friends that I would fight just as hard for the poor as for the rich. If I should succeed, my greatest reward and my greatest hope will be that for the countless unfortunates who must tread the same road in blind childhood that these poor boys have trod -- that I have done something to help human understanding, to temper justice with mercy, to overcome hate with love.

School of War

WAR. It has been around for generations on generations on generations. It will never stop. There will always be a new beginning to war but never an end. This is another main theme of Clarence Darrow- "War."

"For four long years the civilized world was engaged in killing men. Christian against Christian, barbarian uniting with Christians to kill Christians; anything to kill."

During war, it does not matter who is in front of you, all that matters is that you get what you want with survival. There is no ethics, there is no code, do what you must to win. And that is all. Mr. Darrow describes War much more throughout his essay, however he incorporates his theme of war into a new, more profound theme- How school amplifies war. Wars and battles were taught in every school back then and even today, even Sunday school. There is great pride in winning either one. Because of schools, children played war with their friends. A violent life this is, children pretending to be in war from the beginning.  

"We read of killing one hundred thousand men in a day. We read about it and we rejoiced in it -- if it was the other fellows who were killed. We were fed on flesh and drank blood. Even down to the prattling babe. I need not tell you how many upright, honorable young boys have come into this court charged with murder, some saved and some sent to their death, boys who fought in this war and learned to place a cheap value on human life."

This is one of my favorite quotes in the speech by Darrow, because it is so breathtaking with truth is spurted out. With all this war teachings since such a young age, no wonder kids kill like its easy. These kids do no appreciate how valuable a life is. And this is not there fault, this is the society's. The society is the one who made the kids so ignorant. This is basically what Darrow argued to the judge at that point. Darrow is so good at connecting points together, that he almost makes you believe that it is the complete and total truth. He makes such valid points that it is almost hard for you to not trust what he says. This is one of the ways Darrow argued in this speech. 

Crime after the Civil War

"It will take fifty years to wipe it out of the human heart, if ever. I know this, that after the Civil War in 1865, crimes of this sort increased, marvelously. No one needs to tell me that crime has no cause. It has as definite a cause as any other disease, and I know that out of the hatred and bitterness of the Civil War crime increased as America had never seen before. I know that Europe is going through the same experience today; I know it has followed every war; and I know it has influenced these boys so that life was not the same to them as it would have been if the world had not made red with blood. I protest against the crimes and mistakes of society being visited upon them. All of us have a share in it. I have mine. I cannot tell and I shall never know how many words of mine might have given birth to cruelty in place of love and kindness and charity."

 In one part of his Speech, Mr. Darrow gives the Civil War all the credit for the crime, that America and even Europe is experiencing at that time. Everybody knows the Civil War was a time of hatred, disgust, and anger. America did not want to lose and Europe did not want lose. Their was a lot of dreadfulness going on with both sides. Darrow is saying that even after the Civil War ended, people did not forget how to not be angry and to not hate everybody that was not like them. This forgetfulness per say, is the reason that crime is increased. Another one of Darrow's main themee is cause and effect. Darrow, throughout his speech, gives a very popular example cause and shows how this has effected not only his defendants, but also the rest of the world. 

Omar Khayyamm, an Old Persian Poet

At the end of his speech, Clarence Darrow, recites a poem from an old Persian poet, Omar Khayyam. This man, Omar Khayyam was a philosopher, astronomer, mathematician and poet in the 1000s. He is one of the most infuential Iranian men ever, and has been noted to write over one thousand 4-line poems, all included in his posthumous book The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The poem, used by Clarence Darrow, is stated as follows: 

So I be written in the Book of Love,

I do not care about that Book above.

Erase my name or write it as you will,

So I be written in the Book of Love.
  

 Using this poem as an ending point to his speech was a brilliant idea for Mr. Darrow. This poem covienently summarizes everything he was trying to prove in a simple, but heart-warming manner. All Darrow wanted to do was help out other kids that had such a blind childhood that the kids he is defending had. He wants this poem to stick in everybody's hearts. Fight hatred with love, not with hatred. This is one of Darrow's biggest ideas throughout his speech. This idea even built on his other recurring theme, emotion. What he says at the end of the speech, including this poem, invokes emotion from all readers. Even the judge was hit with emotion right on the spot. Emotion and Love- two of Darrows big themes. 

Blog 1: Stanza of Housman

I am writing about Clarence Darrow, a very controversial lawyer, arguing a case for Leopold and Loeb. During one part of his speech, A Plea for Mercy, Darrow recites a stanza from the poem of Alfred Edward Housman. This stanza goes as follows,

Now hollow fires burn out to black,

And lights are fluttering low:

Square your shoulders, lift your pack

And leave your friends and go.

O never fear, lads, naught’s to dread,

Look not left nor right:

In all the endless road you tread

There’s nothing but the night.

 This is a very important trace for the speech because Darrow loves to recite poems and he loves to play the judge. He does it many times in his speech, this is merely just one important one. The importance of this poem in the speech is more than meets the eye. Before beginning the poem, Darrow talks about how these wealthy boys have nothing to look forward to in their lives. Their lives are over. Prison is hardly anything to look forward to. Darrow says that killing them today is actually more merciful to them than sending them to prison. "merciful to them, but not merciful to civilization, and not merciful to those who would be left behind." He then says that when these boys, 18 and 19 yrs old, reach the next stage of their lives, they will however be just people. Right before the poem, Darrow says " I would be the last person on earth to close the door of hope to any human being that lives, and least of all to my clients. But what have they to look forward to? Nothing." Darrow is a master of playing peoples emotions, and he perfectly does this in numerous ways throughout his speech. After doing some research, I actually found out that the judge actually had teardrops coming down his face after certain parts of Darrow's speech.