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David Berritto

Dr. Gunter

Texts and Contexts I: Writing as Craft and Inquiry

23 October 2017

At the Death House Door

The documentary At the Death House Door is the story of Reverend Carroll Pickett.

Pickett was assigned to be the death row minister at Huntsville Prison in Texas. His

responsibility was to earn the trust of the inmates, and to tell the prisoners everything was going

to be fine before the execution was to take place. The form of execution at this time in Texas was

lethal injection. Pickett was for the use of capital punishment when he was first assigned his role

in the prison. As time went on he started to rethink that capital punishment was cruel and an

unusual form of punishment. Carlos Deluna a prisoner on death row believes he did not commit

a crime, but the prosecutors did not look at the evidence that supported his case. Deluna was

eventually executed, although some people believe the prison had the wrong person. In this

documentary there are many forms of pathos, logos, and ethos. These rhetorical appeals better

inform the audience and help the reader better understand what goes on when an execution takes

place.

The first form of rhetorical appeal that is used throughout the documentary is the use of

pathos. Pathos creates an emotional response, and it can create an appeal of fear or sadness. This

is used when Pickett creates a choir group. He believes music is a message that brings inmates

minds to a different place. After prisoners sang some of their songs they would even burst out

into tears and let their emotions show. Another form of pathos that is used is when he talks to the

family of Carlos Deluna. This shows the emotions and struggles that a family must go through
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when a prisoner is on death row. Also, the last words of a prisoner are very touching as some of

them tell their families they love them and some of them want to hold on to a loved one as they

are killed. The last example of pathos that creates emotion towards the audience is the tone of the

whole video. Carroll Pickett when talking about an innocent man on death row talks very softly.

This invokes fear in to the audience, that something is not right and something must be done to

create a more humane way of execution.

In the At the Death House Door documentary another form of rhetorical appeal that is

used is Logos. Logos appeals to logic, and influences the reader on why they should believe an

argument. Logos is used when Pickett says that he told the prisoners before the execution that the

process was un painful and quick. He later goes on to find out that through many executions that

he has been telling the prisoners the wrong thing, and that it does not put them to sleep

instantaneously. Also, the method can be very painful. He tells the viewers that lying to the

prisoners is what hurt him the most about his job. This shows the viewers that the form of

execution they were using did not result in a peaceful death, like everyone thought it does. It

shows how prisoners must suffer throughout the whole process. Another way logos is used is

when Pickett says they changed their way of an execution after he retired. The prison would

bring a prisoner in at four and then they would be killed at six. This helps show how a prisoner is

treated unfairly and do not get the right closure that they deserve. This affects the viewers

because these prisoners are people too, and they should be treated fairly like everyone else before

they are executed.

Another form of rhetoric appeal that is used in the documentary is ethos. Ethos is an

appeal to the ethics, and it shows the credibility of the person trying to persuade the audience. In

the video the main speaker is Carroll Pickett. He has tons of experience in the execution process,
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and has seen many take place. Reverend Pickett was in favor of the death penalty his whole life,

but changed his view as he saw executions first hand. He took his job so serious, that it led to an

divorce of his own wife. His involvement in the prison made him never want to marry again. The

documentary told in his point of view shows the audience someone that has been around this

issue. Therefore, the viewers can see his experiences of which he has gone through. Another

example of Ethos is that he saved his tapes of all the prisoners that he went through the execution

process with. This shows the first hand events and his feelings that he had at the time of when it

actually happened. Pickett also gained a relationship with the prisoners, and listened to

everything they had to say leading up to their final execution. The last example of ethos is that

Reverend Pickett was highly involved in the church. Therefore, he wants prisoners to get

involved as he knows how much it can change their lives.

Overall, Reverend Carroll Pickett life was changed when he worked in the walls of the

prison. He gained many relationships with the prisoners, and people inside the prison. Also, it

affected his emotions, and made him change his view on capital punishment. He now fights to

get rid of the use capital punishment, as he believes it is cruel and unusual. Finally, the use of the

rhetorical elements of pathos, logos, and ethos influences the viewers to persuade the way they

see something. Also, these devices can show the emotions and credibility of what is actually

going on.