1 - Book Club Analysis

 For this week, I want to further focus on the connection between my book club reading of choice, Just Mercy, and its connection to the hero's journey. Despite being a true story, this book does a good job in portraying the journey of the hero, in that the main character of the story, Bryan Stevenson, delves into the problems with the US justice system first-hand. 

In the case of this novel, Stevenson must deal with the unfair discrimination of being a lower-middle class African American in 1983, trying to bring justice to those who were unfairly prosecuted. There is a little bit of a twist in the formula, however, as he says how the justice system increases in corruption since 1983, with more unfair prosecution against African Americans and Women while private prisons increase profits by clamping down on civil rights. The hero’s journey continues from this point, with Stevenson progressing as a character in the story, but the overall situation across the setting does not change for the better. 

While this can be seen as a more pessimistic approach to the structure of the hero’s journey, the rest of the novel shows how this system can be changed. Stevenson can successfully spread his message for criminal justice reform despite all the social and political barriers. 

This analysis of the book shows how the hero’s journey can be structured in a different way than in the conventional manner. This can also be useful in my college essay to change up the storyline and enhance the storytelling if executed properly. In Stevenson’s case, the restructuring of the hero’s journey adds both context and an expectation in the story from that point onwards.