Essay On Tom Robinson's Trial In To Kill A Mockingbird

The nature of humans causes us to harm others, but some of us don't hurt others, instead they get wounded physically or mentally by others, those are mockingbirds. Three peoples are mockingbirds in the book To Kill a Mockingbird.

“Thomas Jefferson once said that all men are created equal.” However, for a strange reason, some people do not treat all men equally. Instead, they are prejudiced against certain groups or races. In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, racism is very prevalent in the lives of people in the South. Racism has affected the supposedly unbiased jury, as evidenced by the book. Though the jury found Tom Robinson guilty, there are many reasons why the jury should have ruled in favor of Robinson.

Power is when you have complete power or control over something or someone.The Tom Robinson trial occurred in the 1930’s during the great depression and was a trial called the Tom Robinson trial . A poor white women(Mayella) lures a black man(Tom Robinson) into her house and accuses him of rape. He is took to court and killed all because of power and race when all she wanted was attention.

Yesterday morning, a trial was held regarding an issue of a black man, Tom Robinson, raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. The case took place at the Maycomb County Courthouse which was divided into two levels, black folks in the balcony, and whites at the bottom. The case was conducted by Judge Taylor and a hand-picked jury. The defense lawyer was Atticus Finch and Mr. Gilmer was the prosecutor. The case ended by declaring Tom Robinson as guilty after long hours of jury deliberation.

When Atticus is presented with the rape case of Tom Robinson, he does not turn it down but he also doesn’t bring it up to his children. During the school day Scout and Jem get teased by their classmates about their father, Atticus, being a “nigger lover”. This results in the children questioning their father about

Also Scout asked why Atticus wants to defend Tom Robinson, Atticus says “For a number of reasons, the main one is if I didn’t, I couldn’t hold my head up in this town, and I couldn’t tell you and Jem not to do something again” (Atticus

During the Great Depression there was racism going around the United States. Well in a small city called Maycomb, Alabama where I used to live I was a lawyer. I was assigned to defend an African American ( Tom Robinson) who was accused of raping a white young lady ( Mayella Ewell). I took the case and I tried my hardest to not get Tom in prison. Tom knew Mayella because for years he walked by her house to get to work. I didn't think Tom would be capable of hurting her at all for any reason. Well this case was difficult, but it taught me to fight for what is right because that's what I did.

Atticus still was Jem and Scout’s father. Atticus tended Jem and Scout’s needs. Most of the time Atticus was answering Jem and Scout’s question about why things happened during the trial. Before Atticus already settled down and returned to his normal attitude, Atticus appeared to be depressed and sad. Even though Atticus denies the fact that he is a little bitter, everyone around Atticus knows that Atticus took a hit to the heart, “I’m not bitter, just tired. I’m going to bed.” (Atticus 285). As more days passed after the trial, Atticus started to go back to his original self. However, when Atticus learned of Tom Robinson’s death, Atticus went back to his bitter self. “His hand was in his hand, and his face was white.” (Scout 314). Atticus being bitter and depressed shows that he alone is taking the burden and blame of losing Tom Robinson. Atticus truly believes that it is his fault he got Tom killed. One New Republic respondent, Laura Marsh, blames the way Atticus decided to try and defend Tom, “His defense of Tom relies instead on convincing them that he, Atticus, is honorable. By playing to white prejudices in a system that consistently benefits whites, his strategy does nothing to ‘disturb America’s racial caste system.’” (New Republic Book Review). I disagree because Atticus and everyone in the US in the 1930s knew it was really hard and difficult to change racial barriers in America. This one

However, Atticus knows since Tom is a black man he will not get a fair trail since the jury is all white and since people back then didn’t favor or teach color people this is why Atticus had to defend Tom which was a man who was wrongly accused for raping a white woman which her name was Mayella Ewell ; she was a very poor white woman the oldest of many children which was in her family .

Atticus stands up to his neighbors' racism, recognizing the fact that he is jeopardizing himself and his loved ones to troublesome times. Atticus is faced with a dilemma of having to defend this man or deal with the outcome of it. Atticus is aware that defending a black man accused of raping a white woman will make enemies in the town and bring trouble to his family, but he feels that he has little choice in the matter. In addition to having the outcome to be negative, during the court scene, he had defiantly stands up in the court and announces that Tom has never given him a problem. Deas outburst earns the wrath of Judge Taylor whom afterwards orders him to be silent (Lee 199).

There are plenty of destructive forces in the world that may destroy our humanity, beatdown on our beliefs and criticize our morals: Ignorance, anger, and greed, but none of them are as bad as racism. Racism shows itself in many ways in the book "To Kill a Mockingbird". Some are obvious, but some are more hidden. One obvious detail is Tom Robinson's trial. Another is the bullying that Scout and Jem endured when Atticus was working on Mr. Robinson's trial.

The little southern town of Maycomb was embedded with such rich racism against the population of poor African Americans. Literary critic, Joseph Crespino recounts “In the twentieth century, To Kill A Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism” (1). Racism is clearly shown in Lee’s novel when angry white mobs aim to execute black male, Tom Robison. When word gets around that Scout and Jem’s father, Atticus Finish, is going to defend Tom Robinson in court, they have to deal with racist taunts from their classmates, as visible in this remark, “Cecil Jacobs made me forget. He had announced in the schoolyard the day before that Scout Finch’s daddy defended niggers. I denied it, but told Jem (Lee 99). However, it is not Cecil’s fault he is so ignorant against racism. He is a young child. Little children tend to learn from their surroundings. Cecil had to have been taught from his parents that defending a black man was unsuitable. Again, Crespino delineates “the enduring career of To Kill a Mockingbird as a story of racial justice, and of Atticus Finch as a racial hero, reveals much about American racial politics in the second half of the twentieth century. From 1960’s liberalism…Atticus Finch has been both admired and scorned by liberals and conservatives alike” (2) Atticus’s

In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson is in trial for the supposed rape of Bob Ewell’s daughter, Mayella Ewell. Tom Robinson was on his way home when Mayella Ewell asked him to help her with something. Being a kind man, he went into her yard and started to look for some of the plants he usually dug up for her when she asked him for help. He didn’t find any, so he asked her what it was she needed. She told him a box she needed was up in a place she couldn’t reach. He went in the house and grabbed the box, and after he did Mayella told him the door was broken. Tom Robinson proceeded to look at the door, not finding anything wrong with it. He told her and she jumped on him, hugging him and saying she never kissed a black

However, after witnessing others hardships in the forms of poverty, addiction and discrimination, she grows and develops to be a strong willed, humble and empathic child. Scout learns from her father Atticus how to show respect to everyone regardless of color because everyone deserves equality in life. The trail of Tom Robinson, an African-American man, has been accused of raping a white woman, and race tensions are coming to a

Atticus teaches the children how to not only recognize this problem of prejudice, but also how to defeat it. When a mob of men try to lynch Tom Robinson at the jailhouse and Atticus protects Tom, Scout innocently involves herself in the situation and as a result forces Mr. Cunningham to put himself in Atticus’s shoes. In his moment of realization, he disbands the mob, which saves Tom’s life. Atticus later explains to his children that “A mob’s always made up of people, no matter what. Mr. Cunningham was part of a mob last night, but he was still a man. Every mob in every little Southern town is always made up of people you know - doesn’t say much for them, does it?” (Lee 179). Atticus says this in order to give his children a better understanding of the events of the previous night. He also wants the children to understand that all chains have a weak link, and finding that weak link in Mr. Cunningham