Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Living... in a New Orleans convent in an inner city neighborhood.
Profession... nun and now spiritual advisor to a death row inmate named Matthew Poncelet. Scheduled to be executed for the rape and murder of two teenagers, Matthew wrote to Helen to help with his appeal since he can’t afford his own lawyer. As Matthew points out, “Ain't nobody with money on death row.” Helen will have her work cut out with Matthew; he is a racist, a trash-talker, and most likely a murderer.
Relationship Status... developing a love for Matthew – a love like a mother has for a son. Although they seem like an unlikely pair, Helen points out one thing they have in common: they both live with the poor.
Challenge... standing by Matthew despite the criticism she gets from everyone else. The victim’s families are shocked that Helen would befriend someone who carried out such heinous crimes. But Helen believes that everyone deserves a chance for forgiveness, so she is trying to help Matthew come to terms with what he did. As she says, "I want the last face he sees in this world to be the face of love."
Personality... compassionate, courageous, and accepting. Although Helen is a religious official, she is not preachy at all. Her agenda is not to convert Matthew, but rather to accept him as he is and help him deal with his guilt. Indeed, it is a testament to Helen that she sees the good in Matthew; he is not an easy person to like – not to mention love.
Get to Know her in...
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A justice drama based on a true story about a man on death row who in his last days forms a strong relationship with a nun who teaches him forgiveness and gives him spirituality as she accompanies him to his execution. Susan Sarandon won an Oscar for best female actress for her convincing portrayal of Sister Helen Prejean.
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In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean became the spiritual advisor to Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers who was sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana’s Angola State Prison. In the months before Sonnier’s death, the Roman Catholic nun came to know a man who was as terrified as he had once been terrifying. She also came to know the families of the victims and the men whose job it was to execute—men who often harbored doubts about the rightness of what they were doing. Out of that dreadful intimacy comes a profoundly moving spiritual journey through our system of capital punishment. Here Sister Helen confronts both the plight of the condemned and the rage of the bereaved, the fears of a society shattered by violence and the Christian imperative of love. On its original publication in 1993, Dead Man Walking emerged as an unprecedented look at the human consequences of the death penalty. Now, some two decades later, this story—which has inspired a film, a stage play, an opera and a musical album—is more gut-wrenching than ever, stirring deep and life-changing reflection in all who encounter it. From the Trade Paperback edition.
