Our government legal system has been using the death penalty in many states since the system had been formed and right now 30 of our states still have the death penalty instated. It isn't a common news topic because it is only used now in rare cases of extreme charges against individuals. However in media, the topic of the death penalty also isn't uncovered in depth and citizens don't see the lengths that the legal system goes through to execute someone. In his op-ed in the New York Times, Semon Frank Thompson discusses his experience of having to go through the process executing two men in 1994 and how he felt before, during and after the procedure. Thompson specifically addresses his audience by his strong use of diction and tone to explain why he changed his opinion of the death penalty after performing an execution.…show more content… He tells his audience, “I cannot put into words the anxiety I felt about the possibility of a botched procedure,” and his diction was excellently portrayed because Thompson expressed his emotions in a deep way that every one that has read it could feel his fear with him. He also goes through the horrifying process of describing all of the tasks that Thompson and his team had to accomplish in weekly practices for the execution. He “began to feel the weight of this undertaking” through the weeks leading up to the event and the reader feels his struggle with his opposite views with his use of
