Comparison Of Pride In To Kill A Mockingbird And Into Thin Air

Its prestige stems from the topic it pertains to: racism and the treatment of African Americans. The novel narrates the tale of how a young girl’s father is appointed to the trial Tom Robinson, an African American man who has been falsely accused of raping a white lady, Mayella Ewell. Despite the conclusive evidence, the verdict of the trial favored Ewell, inevitably sending Robinson to prison. The heavily deluded mindset of both the judge and jury opened the eyes of Harper Lee’s readers to the grating truth.

How would you react if you were falsely accused of a crime when all of your life you had been a good man. However, the catch was you were African American.  A white man’s word against your own. What would be running through your mind? This is exactly the kind of question that was running through Tom Robinson’s mind in this novel. During the 1930s, discrimination against targeted groups of society was prevalent, but small victories occurred to combat this issue in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. From Tom Robinson’s trial, to various stereotypes being broken, and the incidents that took place in Calpurnia’s church for colored people. All of these factors contribute to the purpose behind this novel’s meaning.

this story that causes controversy because of his skin color. Is the story’s relevance based on Mr. Robinson and his skin color? In my opinion yes, the book revolves all around his skin color and racism of the time. Tom Robinson is treated unfairly because he was black not because of what he supposedly did. The controversial subject matter in this book is immense in numbers, but out of all them, racism stands out the most. A question that has come to mind after reading this book is, today is racism still a hostile problem and as big as it was in the 1930s? Throughout this research paper I will gather information about racism from the 30s, and also today.

There was no room at the public hitching rail for another animal, mules and wagons were parked under every available tree. The courthouse square was covered with picnic parties sitting on newspapers.” (Lee, 160). The Ewells, Negroes and the defendant, Tom, represent the lower classes, the trial made it clear that when a black man’s word is against a white, the white, no matter the social status, always wins. Atticus understands the fact that winning the trial is very slim to none and he explains that you just can’t give up “They’ve done it before and they’ll keep doing it again and when they do it-seems that only children weep.” (Lee, 213). Despite the man Tom is, the jury must accuse someone of the crime and choose the easiest man to blame, Tom Robinson.

The Evils of Racism, using the Power of words, and growing up pain or pleasure are the main themes of this novel. When you are accused of something you didn't do, it's hard getting out of that situation. Especially the fact that people would side with the person based on his skin color, which was very discouraging for the opposing person. I think in the future we won't have to deal with the racial problems as we did before, because we don't discriminate each other based on skin color anymore. If you were in the shoes of Tom Robinson, how would you feel? Also how would you deal with all of the criticism thrown at you?

Racism was a normal thing in Maycomb County, but out of the entire county Bob Ewell was the worst. “I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella.” (Lee 231) Bob Ewell refers to Tom Robinson as (a) “black nigger” on the witness stand in front of everyone. Clearly, he doesn’t care about discriminating Tom Robinson right in front of his face and also in front of the people that are in the courtroom. “As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life…” (Lee 295). If Bob Ewell had put himself in Tom’s shoes, he would have seen how hard of a life it is for African Americans. He is one who will “cheat black men everyday of (his) life”, because of his ignorance. (Lee 295) Being racist not only hurts the victim, but ruins your reputation and your life.

First Tom, a black man from the book, would be alive if people weren’t cruel. He would never have been blamed for rape and wouldn’t have got brutally murdered by 17 shots in the back. Tom was blamed by Mayella Ewell when she said, “Fore I knew it he was on me. Just run up behind me he did… he chunked me on the floor an’ choked me’n took advantage of me”(Lee, 180). She wanted to cover up the abuse that her father had done so she blamed the poor, kind-hearted, nigger down yonder. If she would have thought about Tom as a person and have been kinder Tom wouldn’t have gone to court and eventually got killed. Also if Mr. Ewell did the right thing and taken the blame for his actions he would have spared a man’s life. Instead he did what Mayella did and said, “I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my

Through Atticus and Tom Robinson, the reader gets a first hand account of the minority’s perspective, the hostility antipathy, that the African American race had to evade everyday of their lives, in work or at school. Hatred for specific minorities, specifically blacks, has been portrayed more through violence instead of civil protests, or even ignorance. Hate crimes became more popular during the protests of the 70’s and 80’s, the hate crime laws were passed in

To begin, "The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box" (Lee 224). Tom Robisnon becomes a victim of racism when he is wrongly convicted. Tom is wrongly convicted of raping Mayella Ewell because of the color of his skin. Jury members only convict Tom because he is black, not because of the evidence presented in the trial. Secondly, "If I hear one more peep outa my girl Helen about not bein able to walk this road I'll have you in jail before sundown" (Lee 253). This is important because Mr. Ewell harasses her on her way to work for Mr. Deas, he does not even let her walk in front of his house, he even threatens her to not go to work. This shows that Helen has had a hard time finding work because she is associated with Tom. If Tom had not been wrongly accused of raping Mayella, then Helen would not face the harsh discrimination from the Maycomb community. All in all, Helen and Tom Robinson have a really hard time because of the effects of racism on them.

Though the black community is sad that Tom Robinson was found guilty they are still faithful that Atticus will protect and defend the black community. Bob Ewell is not happy at all with the way Atticus questioned him and his daughter and the way he defended Tom Robinson. Miss Stephanie says that"this morning Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and told him he'd get him if it took the rest of his life"t Jem's reaction to the verdict is that he leaves the courtroom and cries because he didn't think Tom would be guilty and he feels that it is an unfair verdict and he sees the town in an unfair way. I personally thought that this judging was just a way to seem like society was fair by giving a black man a “trial”. However, I think that they were going to say Tom Robinson was guilty either way.

   The trial of Tom Robinson is central to our understanding of racial and social prejudice in Maycomb. Harper Lee uses Tom Robinson's 'crime' to bring tensions in the town to a head and the author uses the trial as a way of making the ideas behind such tensions explicit for the reader.

Mr. Ewell testified in court that Tom Robinson had raped his daughter, an accusation proven wrong by esteemed lawyer Atticus Finch. This false accusation created a trail of problems for the Robinsons. In Calpurnia’s words, “Folks aren't anxious to-to have anything to do with any of his family,” (Lee, 123). His wife struggled to find work and feed her children, when Tom was in jail. Although all evidence pointed away from Tom, ignorance convicted him. The social status of both families was stationed at the absolute minimum. Mr. Ewell showcased his ignorance by trying to up his family name and hopefully clear the air about his daughter (quote about him finding work). This backfired because he wasn’t a good person and didn’t have the work experience to put him through. His ignorance stemmed as well because he didn’t think about what it would mean for the Robinson

One of the most important events in the book was Tom Robinson’s trial, which was unfairly judged due to the fact that the jury could not see beyond the color of Tom’s skin. The put their own racist opinions ahead of what is right and just. One of the most important events in the novel circulated around racism. However, the most focused on point of Tom’s life was not the only point in his life where racism has been shown towards him. The Ewell’s are a major source of racism towards Tom.

However, this anger presented in the novel is not a negative one. The characters are about to burst out of it and as result they will seek improving their conditions and fighting against this inhumane treatment. Many people agree on the fact that the novel is greatly about anger. For instance, Malcolm Cowely believes that the novel is one among the “great angry books that have the power to spur readers on to protest and action.” ( Cowely, American Tragedy p.382-383)

The Seven Deadly Sins have been around since the very beginning of religion and christianity. Many of the sins play a key role in numerous stories and epics and the moral of those stories usually focuses on avoiding those specific sins. One particular sin has a large role in three books. Greed is characterized as an intense and selfish want for things, such as money and power. People today struggle with greed on a daily basis. It's human nature to do anything to gain as much power or popularity as possible due to their personal greed. Lying and cheating are ways people indulge in their greed whether it be to make money or become more powerful. Greed shows itself in many ways throughout the stories of the Canterbury Tales, Dr. Faustus, and Dante’s Inferno.