Ethos Pathos Logos In To Kill A Mockingbird

Tom Robinson enters To Kill a Mockingbird accused of raping Mayella Ewell but leaves To Kill a Mockingbird dead. Atticus Finch the defendant in Tom Robinson’s case and the father of Jem and Scout, did not fail Robinson, Robinson’s family or his own because he tried his best to prove that Tom was not guilty. For example , Miss Ewell explained that the attacker in her testimony, Tom Robinson had force himself on her, began to hold to her by the neck and hit her repeatedly after she asked him to bust up a chiffarobe for her. Heck Tate, the sheriff and witness of the trial had said Mayella only had bruises on both the neck and right side of her face, this now raised a red flag for Atticus. For Robinson to beat Miss Ewell repeatedly on the right side of her face he would have to use his left arm which got caught in a cotton gin years before. The disability that Tom Robinson had created great evidence for Atticus’s defense but didn’t work because of the unjust community they both live in. Maybe it would have worked if the trial was held in a courtroom that is built on justice for all, not just for the white.

Tom Robinson’s character exemplifies the mockingbird because he is a black man who is denied justice based on racial prejudice. After Mayella Ewell accuses Tom of rape, there is no way for him to be judged fairly because the narrow-minded, white townspeople are unable to get past their prejudices towards blacks. At his trial, Tom’s lawyer, Atticus, argues,

Mr. Finch starts his argument by presenting the facts of the case, trying to logically prove Tom Robinson’s innocence; he does this through the rhetoric and the use of logos. He begins by presenting medical evidence that supports Tom Robinson’s case. Atticus verifies that Tom uses his right hand and that Mayella Ewell’s facial injuries strongly suggest a left-handed assailant. Through the cross-examination of the witnesses, Atticus shows that their jumbled stories bring up serious questions about the crime. To anyone in modern times the proof he presented would’ve won Mr. Robinson freedom, but despite Mr. Finch’s best efforts to supply logical evidence, the jury did not immediately believe Tom Robinson.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus defends Tom Robinson in court, delivering one of the most famous fictional speeches in history.In his closing remarks he utilizes logos, hypophora and pathos.

Harper Lee, the writer of To Kill A MockingBird, builds an argument on how the jury in Maycomb court can acquit Tom Robinson, an African American who is the defendant in the court case; he has been accused of raping a white woman. She builds an argument through the character of Atticus. Maycomb is a town with racism and Atticus, a lawyer from Maycomb, defends Tom Robinson in the court. Harper Lee uses convincing elements, clear facts, and she arouses negative feelings from jury to support her argument.

Atticus Finch was involved in a very controversial case that arrived in Maycomb county. During this case, Atticus, a white man, was chosen to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson was accused of raping and abusing a white female, Mayella Ewell. In the 1960s, southern life was divided between colored and non colored people. Atticus’ challenge was to convince the white jury and a white judge that Tom Robinson was shall not be pleaded guilty. This challenge was difficult to complete, hence why Atticus was unable to convince the jury even though he put up a good fight. Within that fight, he used different types of appeals that were able to persuade the jury in a variety of ways. Atticus used the appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos

Bob Ewell and Mayella both pointed out Mayella's wound the the right side of her face, a wound that would have to have been afflicted with someone's left hand and accused Tom of hitting Mayella. Atticus then asks Tom to sign his name and concludes that he is right handed. The jury thinks nothing of this, after all, most people are right handed and Tom could have just hit her with his left hand instead of his right, but that’s when Atticus asks Tom to raise his left hand, Tom’s left arm was limp and unusable, proving that he couldn’t have hit mayella with his left hand and stated that Bob Ewell had beaten Mayella because she had been with a black man and she tried to cover her embarrassment by saying that he had raped her. In the end of the hearing Tom was found guilty and sent to jail all because he was black and the “victim” of the rape was white. This case ties in perfectly with the theme of Equality because African Americans were sentenced in crimes that they did not commit, just because of the color of their

I am reading the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. This book is about a girl named Scout Finch who lives with her brother, Jem, and her father, Atticus, during the Great Depression. They live in a small town called Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is a town where everybody knows everybody. There is currently a trial taking place; Mayella vs. Tom Robinson. Tom has been accused of rapeing Mayella. Tom has pleaded not guilty for the crime he has been accused of. In this journal I will be evaluating Tom’s character and questioning why the Ewells may be lying.

Atticus Finch used a variety of argumentative techniques in his closing argument in the trial of Tom Robinson. These argumentative techniques include ethos, pathos, logos, anaphora, and rhetorical question. Atticus used these forms of writing to his advantage, and used them to the best of his ability. However, it was quite difficult to make an effective argument for his client, Tom Robinson, who was on trial for allegedly raping Mayella Ewell, a white female. Despite the fact his defense opened the eyes of some jury members, Tom was eventually found guilty and received a death sentence.

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch employs logos and diction in his closing argument to the jury and people of Maycomb in order to persuade them to see beyond their prejudice and free Tom Robinson.

In “The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes,” Malcolm Gladwell makes a pathos appeal to the audience using scene and tone to really intrigue the intended audience by messing with their emotions. Gladwell uses dialogue throughout the chapter to help show his use of pathos also. Of course there are the other two appeals of ethos and logos used in this chapter, but pathos is what really stuck out to me. Gladwell’s use of pathos really enhances the text and hits the reader at an emotional level, making them more interested in the section. Pathos is what authors use to basically have the reader become emotionally attached to the piece.

Atticus uses pathos and italics to give the Jury the feeling of guilt, which can later on dictate the Jury's decision on whether Tom Robinson is guilty or not. During Atticus’s speech he mentions that the people of Maycomb County follow “the evil assumption, that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women.” Throughout the paragraph, Atticus uses logos to allow the jury, as well as the people of Maycomb, to understand that they are not thinking rationally if they were to believe that Tom Robinson is guilty. Though coming to the end Atticus begins to use pathos to provoke the feeling of guilt by mentioning that the townspeople follow an “evil assumption.” When stating

The story, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is about racial discrimination in the 1960s. The conflict in the story is when a black man named Tom Robinson is unjustly charged with raping Mayella Ewell and the townspeople believe he is guilty because of his race. A white lawyer named Atticus defends Tom during the trial in order to persuade the Jury to ignore the wrong accusations. Atticus tries to persuade them through the use of pathos and logos to create a feeling of guilt within the Jury and townspeople to influence their decision on Tom Robinson innocence.

Atticus proves that Tom is handicapped and cannot have beat Mayella the way she claims she has been beaten when he expresses,“Tom robinson now sits before you, haven't taken oath with his only good hand, his right” (304). If Mayella claims she had a black eye on her right eye, and bruises from someone grabbing her neck, the person who beat her had to have used mainly there left, and both hands to grip her neck. Tom Robinson’s only good hand is his right, so therefore it is physically impossible for him to have beaten Mayella. By Atticus proving this point, the jury is supposed to realize that it was not Tom who beat her. Nothing can argue against logic and solid facts, so therefore if the jury was fair they would realize it could not have been

In To Kill a Mockingbird and 12 Angry Men, both men, Atticus and Mr. Davis, persuade the jury by logos to prove that the defendant is innocent. In Atticus’s closing argument, Atticus used logos in his evidence and facts that he provided during the trial to persuade the jury that Tom Robinson was innocent. Atticus started off his closing statement by stating the obvious, Tom Robinson has no use of his left hand and he could not have punch Mayella on her right side of her face. Tom Robinson has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell even though “the state has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only