# You Felons on Trial in Courts explained — Leaves of Grass

> Chapter companion for Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

## What happens

The narrator identifies with criminals, convicts, and prostitutes, acknowledging his own hidden lusts and wickedness, and declaring solidarity with the outcasts of society.

## Themes in this chapter

### Individuality and Self

The narrator asserts his own flawed humanity and refuses to separate himself from society's outcasts.

### Comradeship and Love

The speaker expresses passionate love and belonging with delinquents, convicts, and prostitutes.

## Character check-ins

### Narrator

The speaker confesses his own guilt and kinship with felons and prostitutes.

## Key lines

> Who am I too that I am not on trial or in prison?

What makes me different from those who are judged and imprisoned?

_The narrator questions his own moral superiority over the accused._

> I walk with delinquents with passionate love, I feel I am of them—I belong to those convicts and prostitutes myself

I embrace outcasts with deep affection, recognizing that I am one of them.

_The narrator declares solidarity and shared identity with the marginalized._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/you-felons-on-trial-in-courts
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters