Chapters Ten and Eleven Summary and Analysis

Outside the prison, there are television crews and Helen sees Vernon Harvey talking to reporters, saying that every victim should have the satisfaction of watching the murderer's execution. Helen recalls the spasms of Robert's body as he dies as she and the other nuns, present to object to the execution, leave. Helen is interviewed the following day by Peter Jennings for a segment on the capital punishment. Another person being interviewed says he doesn't believe executions should be televised because it would harden those who saw death on a regular basis, but he calls executions "noble." Helen says that the real horror of the death penalty is not the final moments when death actually occurs, but the waiting for weeks or months with the knowledge of the date of your death hanging over you. Helen...