Examples Of Capital Punishment In To Kill A Mockingbird

Based on these rules, crimes such as rejecting the “God,” were punished by death. (Randa, 1997).In nineteenth century, many states decreased the number of their capital offenses and constructed state prisons. In 1834, Pennsylvania moved the execution law away from the public eye. In 1846, Michigan, another state of America, eliminated the death penalty for all offenses except betrayal. After all, Rhode Island and Wisconsin were two states that put end for all crimes. After years challenging, the elimination of death penalty except for some severe cases was approved in 1972.

To Kill a Mockingbird, a classic novel by Harper Lee, is a quintessential example of a novel that brings to light the social injustice that occurred throughout history. This social injustice is not only experienced by people of color, but also people that aren’t perceived as high class in society. Some people that face social injustice in To Kill a Mockingbird are the following: Tom Robinson, the Cunninghams, and Arthur Radley.

Before the verdict of Tom Robinson was revealed, Scout recalls something she had learned long ago and realizes he had lost."A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson." Although Atticus managed to have the case appealed, The decision of the jury was ultimately to murder Tom Robinson and in the end it did. It was murder because the evidence was weak against him and strong for him. It was murder because each Juror knew, like a mockingbird, Tom was nothing but innocent yet, because it was a white woman against a black man, they did not care and condemned him.

In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee gives a variety of adult topics that should be taken seriously are spread through the majority of the story. Some of the topics include racism and segregation, economical crisis, mental illness, and others. One in particular that was involved near the end of the story is capital punishment and the death penalty.

There were 17,250 people dead. This is the amount of people murdered last year in the U.S. alone. Why does this happen? Pure cruelty. There is tight tensions with the U.S. and North Korea that could start a nuclear war and kill most of us. Why is this possible? Cruelty between one another. This is just two examples of the cruelty in our world today and for the passed hundreds of years. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird cruelty plays a big part in the problems that go on in this small town in Alabama. I think if cruelty was eliminated Tom Robinson wouldn’t be dead, Boo Radley wouldn’t hide, and the whole view on equality between blacks and whites would change.

Justice. “the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness. [dictionary.com]” Justice is implyed when something in the right thing to do, whether or not the decision is in favoe of the reciever. Fairness. “the state, condition, or quality of being fair, or free from bias or injustice; evenhandedness. [dictionary.com]” Fairness is implyed when In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the concepts of justice and fairness are two conflicting topics. They don’t seem like they are two concepts that would have conflicts, though in this story, they are clearly displayed as conflicting topics. One thing is the fair thing to do, but it is not just. Many characters are prime examples of this idea, like Tom Robinson’s

The constitution says nothing pertaining to capital punishment, thus the supreme court left the decision up to individual states to decide what to do with their residents. Some states, such as Michigan, do not partake in the death penalty. Eighteen states have completely outlawed the act, and many more have not executed a person in over a decade.

It seems that the world has become so cruel to itself. Have you felt it? In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are examples of cruelty as shown by the character, Boo Radley. “‘Scout, I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time… it’s because he wants to stay inside.’” (Lee, 227) This quote comes from Jem Finch, talking about why he thought Boo stayed away from the rest of the world. There are also examples of cruelty shown by the characters Tom Robinson and Dolphus Raymond.

Mayella Ewell claimed Tom Robinson beat and raped her. Both of Bob’s and Mayella’s testimonies have many loose holes and have multiple things that don't add up. For example,Tom not being able to use his right arm, but Mayella claimed he got on to her, beat and choked her. “And so, a quiet, humble, respectable negro, who has had the unmitigated TEMERITY to feel sorry for a white woman, has had to put his word against two white peoples. The defendant is not guilty. But somebody in this courtroom is...now, gentlemen, in this country our courts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal. I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system. That's no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality!...” (Lee 273). This paragraph reveals the theme of racism in the city of Maycomb because Atticus has to re-explain why Tom is innocent. He has to keep telling them that the evidence from the Ewells don't add up, there was no positive medical kit, and Tom's story doesn't add up with the Ewells. It shows racism because it shows how far the people of Maycomb will go to make a black person suffer. It shows how much hate is filled with the whites of Maycomb. Tom Robinson is eventually shot 17 times by a police officer, and leaves behind his wife and three children. The outcome of Tom Robinson is horrible. But it shows how little the

Throughout the book To Kill A Mockingbird Lee discusses the effects of ignorance and the toll it takes on people such as Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, Scout herself, and many more. Through her examples of sexism, prejudice, and racism, from the populist of poverty stricken Southerners, she shows the readers the injustice of many. The victims of ignorance are the ‘mockingbirds’ of the story. A good example of this injustice is the trial of Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of raping a white girl and is found guilty. The book is from the point of view Scout, a child, who has an advantage over most kids due to her having a lawyer as a dad, to see the other side of the story. Her father tells her in the story, “you never really know a man until

In Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author explores the issue of justice using the symbol of the mockingbird. Placed in, the 1930s, a time of great depression and inequality, the book presents injustice acts to the most kind yet blamed citizens of the town Maycomb. The symbolism of the mockingbird and the characters are essential for the message of Harper Lees novel because the kind, but African-American Tom Robinson is unfairly put on trial for the “rape” of Mayella Ewell. Also, Arthur “Boo” Radley is victimized by the rumors the towns people have created about him, forcing him to live alone inside his house with his brother, Nathan Radley. Lastly Atticus Finch, is known by the town for being a good human being and sticking

To Kill A Mockingbird took place in the 1930’s, a time that was enormously charged with racial tension. One example of this is the existence of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Even though the KKK was in a time of decline in the 1930’s, it had been very prominent in the 1920’s and had still not completely died out. The KKK had rallies and

“Cruelty does not make a person dishonest, the same way bravery does not make a person kind” said Veronica Roth, author of the Divergent series. This quote is shown in the life of the people in the story To Kill A Mockingbird. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee cruelty is shown in many forms throughout the novel. In To Kill A Mockingbird cruelty of the world is observed in the lives of Tom Robinson, Boo Radley and Dolphus Raymond.

“She says what her papa do to her don’t count.”(260) Every piece of evidence points to the fact that Mayella is trying to incarcerate Robinson for the wrongdoings of her own family, the fact that her own father had assaulted her, yet, she still chooses to incriminate an innocent man over a violent one just to preserve her reputation. Mayella Ewell’s ignorance and hypocrisy leads her to harm others, in the present and future, despite having a simple solution to resolve the problem. Furthermore, the case is quite a simple one yet the only thing that is stopping justice is the pride and hypocrisy of Mayella Ewell and the jury. Mayella Ewell did not provide one piece of concrete evidence to support the fact that she had been raped by Tom Robinson, instead she chooses to outright fabricate the whole event to protect her reputation and her father, despite swearing that she would tell nothing but the complete truth. “...there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led with exclusively his left.”(272) There is evidence to indicate that it was Bob Ewell who had beaten Mayella Ewell, because Bob is left-handed and Tom only had one good hand but despite all this, Tom is still proven guilty because of his race. Mayella Ewell has a complete disregard for the collateral damage that is Tom, uncaring of all the damage she

So the jury shoots the mockingbird. Miss Maudie was explaining to Scout, after Atticus had said “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (90), that mockingbirds “don’t do one thing but make music for us.”(90) In the situation with the court Tom Robinson would be the mockingbird. He has done nothing but help Mayella and yet she and her dad take him to court and if he is proven guilty he will be electrocuted in the electric chair. Atticus makes a very good argument against the Ewells that the state hasn’t even produced “one iota of medical evidence” (203) and that it has relied on “the testimony of the two witnesses” (203) that has been “flatly contradicted by the defendant” (203). This is all a symbol of the mockingbird even though Tom Robinson had done nothing wrong except maybe “felt right sorry for her” (197) they still convicted him of the crime and sentenced him to death so in a sense they killed the mockingbird. In many court cases probably in the time to Kill a Mockingbird is set in, the 1930’s, the mockingbird was killed not because the defendant was guilty of a crime but because, simply, they were