The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer portrays the execution of Gary Gilmore and the events leading up to it. Mailer is found to notable for his portrayal of Gilmore in The Executioner’s Song through the way he tells the storyline behind the murders Gilmore had committed. The Executioner’s Song was primarily made to represent the national debate over the death sentence. Mailer romanticizes Gilmore life, decisions and death by using several rhetorical strategies to apply Gilmore's story to the audience.
Mailer novelized the story of Gary Gilmore as the first person to be legally executed in the United States following the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Gilmores execution occurred in Utah which is centered …show more content…
Mailer uses the background of the Mormon culture to play a role in the novel. Mailer also interviewed everyone who was involved with Gary Gilmore. All his information was based on his interviews with the family and friends of both Gilmore and his victims. This is used to show detailed information and credibility toward Gilmore's life and his numerous crimes. Throughout the first section of The Executioner's Song, Mailer uses deductive reasoning to appeal Gilmore’s case to the audience. He added in the logical process of proving Gilmore to have a right in how he died and why he should be able to through multiple premises that are generally assumed to be true. He used an emotional connection with Gilmore and himself to add depth to the piece. Mailer once said, He "appealed to me because he embodied many of the themes I've been living with all my lifelong." The second section is focused Gilmore's …show more content…
That "we have profound choices to make in life, and one of them may be the deep and terrible choice most of us avoid between dying now and ‘saving one's soul." While writing The Executioner’s Song Mailer wrote with complex wording, strategic placement and overall a vase vocabulary. He wanted to silence the critics who felt that Mailer couldn't write this without bombarding the audience with his informative manner but instead intrigue them to read.With The Executioner’s Song, Mailer had something to prove as he wanted to invert and recreate his image and his complex style of writing into something justifiably easy and smooth to read. He wanted to make sure he didn't resorting to anguished language. He wanted it to be as easy to read as if “A child could parse