Benjamin J.

Parks
ENG 111 CB MWF 9:05
Ms. Meg Prichard
11 December 2009

A New Perspective—The Courtroom

Background

Lauren is sitting in the galley of the courtroom watching the military court hearing when Tom
Cruise calls Jack Nicholson to the stand (Lt. Kaffee and Colonel Jessup respectively). Her
brother, Lance Corporal Harold Dawson, is one of the Marines on trial for the murder of Private
Santiago. She is texting her best friend Nichole as she overhears the dialogue between the two
adversaries.

Lauren
OMi God! I'm @ dis cort hearin & it's fkng crazy!

Nichole
wuz goin on? hws yr bro?

Lauren
He's fyn...I cUd cut da tension n hre W/ a knfe. dis Lt. Kaffee guy is d
attorney defending my bro n he's realy focusd.

Nichole
dats gud. you tnk he'll win da trial?

Lauren
Ya 4 sure...He jst screamd @ da Colonel! He basicaly accused him
of bn gLty!!!!!

Nichole
O sht! w@ did he sA bac?!?!

Lauren
He's ripping Lt. Kaffee 2 pieces ryt now... tlkN bout hw he hs
"responsibilities" n stuf... dis guy S intimidating. hs Iyz r glued
2 Lt. Kaffee!

Nichole
Damn dis guy sounds lk a bad (_!_) fckr.

Lauren
He finx hes so mch btr thN Lt. Kaffee.....SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! d COLONEL
jst CONFESSED 2 ORDERING da cod RED!!! MY bro S INNOCENT!
Nichole
orsum! Let's celebr8 wen u gt hom!

Lauren
4 sure. IL cll u l8r! Peace ot.

Writer’s Memo

The new audience in this dialogue is really one of the only options in a courtroom scene.

I chose to portray the view from the courtroom galley from the perspective of the defendant’s

sister, Lauren. I chose to write it in a texting format between Lauren and her best friend Nichole

as the scene was taking place so I could instill a normal person’s perspective and rhetorical

analysis skills in the text.

Obviously, I chose a modern, relaxed diction through the text message format. There

really is no body language except for a brief description of Lt. Kaffee and Colonel Jessup’s

actions.

I feel that this approach is successful because this would relate to many teens and texters

today. Many people use this language on a daily basis, thus complaints from conservative

parents, teachers and old folk run rampant. This not only addresses the rhetorical description of

the scene, but also takes an ethnographic approach to describing the dialogue.