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. Harper Lee uses convincing elements in Atticus’s quotes to start the argument. She uses the tone of the sentence, “This case is as simple as black and white (271),” in order to show Atticus’s confidence in his argument. Also, in page 271, she uses the word, “guilt,” to describe the wrongdoing of Mayella Ewell instead of the word, “crime”; this word choice shows the jury that …show more content…
She arouses the astonishing emotions from the jury in page 272, by inserting the quote, “She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man.” The jury should be astonished by the behavior of Mayella Ewell and the author wants some of them to consider Mayella as a person who is guilty, not Tom Robinson. Moreover, she adds another quote in page 273 saying, “The witnesses for the state, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court, in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption...” This quote evokes the feeling of anger as the jury felt that they are getting used by the people who are considered “lower class” in Maycomb County. These negative feelings support Harper Lee’s argument since she wants the people to know that Ewells are the bad people and are the ones who are guilty, not Tom
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,
The coming-of-age novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is set in the fictional town of Maycomb County, Alabama around the 1930s. Vile racial discrimination in Maycomb is what lead to the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. Atticus, the father of Scout, was assigned to defend Robinson in court. Atticus organized his argument to be successful by using rhetorical devices- ethos, pathos, and logos.
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is a novel written by Harper Lee. It is set during the early 20th Century in the fictional town of Maycomb. Lee has decided to write the novel from a child’s point of view because a child is innocent but as the novel progresses the narrator, Scout, loses her innocence as she deals with the complications of her father being a lawyer. The novel revolves around racism and Scout sees discrimination wherever she goes whether it is racial or social prejudice. The town’s people agree with the idea that whites are superior to blacks. An example of this is when Atticus, Scout’s father, has to defend a black man who is accused of raping Bob Ewell’s daughter.
Mayella Ewell is living in a racist southern community in the 1930’s. During this time no one was treated the same because of their skin color or if they were intelligent. Mayella has one thing that makes her powerful, her race. Laws back then was harsh. Between white and Negroes, both were wrong and mean to each other. Whites had more power than the Negroes because of the history it has behind them. They were not considered to be equal citizens. Atticus even knows the trial should not be happening, he knew the jury was going to side on with Mayella because she’s white. As Atticus is closing his argument he says, “[The Ewells]....have presented themselves to you, gentlemen, to this court….confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption-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…”as said in chapter twenty. Mayella only goes through all of this because of her father.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird tells of a town in Alabama, called Maycomb. In this deeply-rooted racist town, there is a trial against an African American man, accused of raping a white woman. One man, however, Atticus Finch, has the opportunity to help the the man on trial. Although he knows he will lose the trial, he takes the case anyway. Atticus is respected in Maycomb, and known for his wisdom and experience. He is a good-hearted, egalitarian man who is always there and willing to provide guidance to his children and to the town of Maycomb, with his years of practice and experience.
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is set in a small Southern United States community called Maycomb during the Great Depression era. The whole book primarily revolves around segregation and racism and how it relates to Maycomb’s history. It eventually leads to the trial of Tom Robinson where he is accused of beating up and raping Mayella Ewell. Even though it was clear that Tom Robinson did not do anything wrong he was convicted by an all white jury simply because he was black. The trial of Tom Robinson and its verdict shows an example of how segregation in the court system prevents fair trials from occurring.
Atticus uses pathos and italics to to reach into the Jury and townspeople’s conscience to show them they are wrong and irrational when accusing Tom Robinson as guilty. During Atticus’s
“Thomas Jefferson once said that all men are created equal, a phrase the Yankees and the distaff side of the Executive branch are quite fond of hurling at us.” A quote from Atticus Finch, a firm believer of equal rights for all races. A lawyer, Atticus has taken up the case of Tom Robinson, who has been charged with the rape of Mayella Ewell. A jury, made up by white men of the southern county of Maycomb, listens to Atticus’ argument that Tom Robinson, a black man, is not guilty of Mayella Ewell’s wrongful accusation of rape. Atticus Finch attempts to persuade the jury to find his client innocent of a heinous crime through employing devices such as repetition, similes, sincere tone, and a strong appeal to pathos all of which contribute strongly to Tom’s case. .
Harper Lee, author of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, acknowledged the prejudice in 1930’s America. This novel won the Pulitzer Prize for its strength in upholding the prejudice in a small town in the south. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in a town called Maycomb, where a family of three and their cook lives and deals with this animosity everyday. Atticus, the father, is a well-respected lawyer and Alabama state legislator. He chooses to defend African American Tom Robinson against charges of assault against Caucasian Mayella Ewell. Although Atticus knows that he would not win the case, he still wants to defend Tom to teach his children, Jem and Scout, a valuable lesson. Harper Lee made the right decision in having Atticus Finch defend Tom Robinson; however, the decision came with consequences (Lee).
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, shows how life was for those in the southern part of the United States, during a time when racism ran rampant throughout the land. Many injustices were committed to those of “Negro” descent, and it was up to those behind the law to protect them as well as those who lived by the law. Atticus, attorney at law, defender of the people, and father to Scout and brother Jem is safeguarding Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. As the story continues though, Mayella’s accounts of the facts aren’t quite as how they actually happened. Together, Scout (Jean Louise Finch), Jem and Atticus show courage to stand up for what is right, defend the innocent until proven guilty, and how to remain
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee's only novel, is a fictional story of racial oppression, set in Maycomb, A.L. in 1925 to 1935, loosely based on the events of the Scottsboro trials. Unlike the story however, the racial discrimination and oppression in the novel very accurately portrays what it was like in the 1920's and 1930's in the south. Tom Robinson, the black man accused of raping a poor low class white girl of 19, never stood a chance of getting a fair trial. This can be supported by giving examples of racially discriminatory and
In the novel, African-Americans did not have access to law and order. The evidence behind that is during the trial Atticus works hard in order to provide all the evidence to the jury declaring that Tom is not guilty. Despite that, the jury’s verdict is guilty. One other evidence that proves that Maycomb County is democratic, because they have lack of political equality by being in favour of the White population, but not in favour of African-Americans.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King). A timeless phrase from one of equalities most notable voices. Over 50 years later, these words of Martin Luther King Junior ring out, calling for racial barriers to crumble, and those who are ignorant would say they already have. But dig a little deeper, and they are found to be still standing, now decorated with facades of constitutional equivalence, and buried beneath years of tepid acceptance. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, written in the same time period as Martin Luther’s words, evident racial bias is presented through a court case in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama. A black man by the name of Tom Robinson is charged with the rape of a young white woman, and Atticus Finch, the father of the young narrator, Scout, is the audacious white man that takes up the position of
Harper Lee's ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ explores the prejudicial issues which plague over the town Maycomb. Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson a black man accused of rape on a young white girl, Mayella as a central theme to portray the prominence of racial discrimination in Maycomb. The racial prejudice is also widely shown through the characterisation of Atticus. Having Scout as the narrator allows Harper Lee to highlight the gender inequity through a youthful unbiased perspective. The chauvinistic attitudes and prejudiced views of most of the town’s folk leaves Maycombs social hierarchy in an unfair order, victimising many of the town’s people due to their socially non-conforming habits some ‘socially unaccepted people’ including Boo
Harper Lee has an exponential theme. She shows that we have people in this world who just want to give and only emit pleasant outward rays of joy to people can be crushed by our inhuman and injustice acts simply because they are different by society’s standards. Tom Robinson, a colored man, was convicted of raping Mayella, a low class and unrespected white woman. Tom was the only company she had and he felt bad for her, so he would help with tasks she had without demanding for any compensation. One night she made a move on him and her father happened to observe the scene. They targeted Tom to use as a cover story. Even though all the evidence doesn’t support the victim, the jury still finds him guilty. (Ch. 22 pp. 243) Jem asked Atticus “How could they do it, how could they?” Atticus responds, “I don’t know, but they did it. They’ve done it before, and they did I tonight, and they’ll do it again…” This proclaims that even though Tom is clearly innocent, the jury is so