The Trial Of Tom Robinson And Atticus

How would you feel if you were shamed over things you couldn’t control? Based on only prejudice and stereotypes, some people hate others. Internalized intolerance can exist in everyone, mentally and legally. Court cases and trials can distinctly show this. To Kill A Mockingbird focuses around an unfair trial of Tom Robinson, who was wrongfully arraigned for raping a white woman. Although clear evidence pointed to Tom being innocent, he was still found guilty. Trials from the 1930s to today can compare to this. Many trials compare to Tom Robinson’s case on accounts of false accusations, discrimination, and unfair verdicts.

This is shown in the text when Atticus tells her not to speak badly of black people in front of Cal : “ You said Braxton Underwood despises Negroes right in front of her” (157). Aunt Alexandra replies with “ Well I’m sure Cal knows it. Everybody in Maycomb knows it” (157). Atticus is scolding Alexandra for talking bad about blacks right in front of Cal but she does not care. Alexandra assumes Cal knows white people don’t like black people and expects Cal to tolerate hearing ignorant things being said about her race. This shows that prejudice was so normalized Alexandra presumed what she was doing as acceptable and not going to offend anyone. Anyone would be offended by what Alexandra was saying but Cal had to keep her mouth shut and accept prejudice.

On the other hand, Aunt Alexandra faced a different but common obstacle, prejudice. Since prejudice was ubiquitous, Aunt Alexandra demonstrated maturity when she became more accepting of others especially Calpurnia, Boo and Scout. Aunt Alexandra, Scout and Jem’s caretaker, had some difficulties interacting and talking around people who were a different race or a lower social or economic class. When Aunt Alexandra first met Calpurnia, the African-American maid who worked in the Finch’s house, she despised her and all of her actions. No matter what Calpurnia did or what she said, she could not please Aunt Alexandra. However, later on in the novel, Aunt Alexandra developed a more accepting attitude towards Calpurnia. She allowed Calpurnia to serve the children dinner. This shows how much Aunt Alexandra has grown to be more accepting of other races and not be prejudice. Not only does Aunt Alexandra accept Calpurnia for who she is, but she also learns to accept Scout. “She brought me something to put on, and had I thought about it then, I would have never let her forget it: in her distraction, Aunty brought me my overalls” (Pg.264).

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

By treating her family lineage as unimportant, Scout was thought of by many as bringing shame to the Finch name, thus creating chaos within Maycomb. At the time of their Aunt Alexandra’s visit, Atticus said, “She wants to talk to you about the family and what it’s meant to Maycomb County through the years, so you’ll have some idea of who you are, so you might be moved to behave accordingly” (Lee 178). After Atticus finished this dialogue, Scout began to cry due to the opposition toward Aunt Alexandra’s ideals about lineage being important in one’s everyday life. The reason for her emotional response was that Aunt Alexandra had turned to heredity to explain behavior and justify actions since her arrival. However, Scout had never been exposed to an environment where her history could be so valued. Aunt Alexandra’s order was disrupted with chaos when she saw how little Scout cared about lineage and believed that Scout’s unruly behavior was a result of her neglect to bring respect to the Finch name. When

Alexandra maintains the stereotypical concept of what is the white southern feministic racist. All of the attributes sort of melt together and perpetuate one another. She retains her feministic way by getting Calpurnia, the black helper, to do all of her physical labor for her. An example of this behavior is present in the scene in which Alexandra arrives at the Finches’ house and commands Calpurnia to take her suitcase and her belongings upstairs so she can retain the feministic southern air about her. The prejudice attitude she has is also being passed down through the family. In one scene Scout beats up her annoying cousin for calling Atticus a “nigger-lover”. The only thing Alexandra does is getting on to scout for fighting and telling her it is unladylike to fight (Richards).

Racism played a big role in both Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro Boys trial. Racism led both cases to end with the same conclusion. Despite Atticus and Samuel tenaciously proving that the men were not guilty, for instance, Tom Robinson had a bad arm, which he could not have possibly hit Mayella with and many of the Scottsboro boys had their own physical weak points, the men were still wrongly convicted. Since the beginning when Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro boys first stepped foot into the courtroom their fates had already been sealed. They would be trialed unfairly because they were African American men being accused of raping white women "they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts when it’s a white man's word against a black mans,

The residents of Maycomb have mixed feeling about the Tom Robinson trials outcome. The majority of the town is behind the verdict while the children were disgusted by it. Poor Atticus was heartbroken by the verdict but not at all shocked by the outcome.

There were pretty significant moments in this novel about the trial. People that took part in the trial had different testimonies such as Tom Robinson, Mayella Ewell, Bob Ewell, and Heck Tate. Heck claimed that after being contacted by Bob Ewell,he went to visit the Ewell home to find Mayella on the floor beaten. He said that he saw the right side of her face badly beaten with bruises near her neck. Bob claimed that he heard Mayella screaming within the Ewell house, and when he came inside, he saw Tom run away after seeing Bob. During Atticus' cross examination, furthermore, Bob consent with a request for Tom to write his name, which he did with his left hand. Mayella claimed that she offered Tom Robinson a nickel to ”bust up the chiffarobe,”

From the article “Former Pediatrician Appeals ‘Waterboarding’ Conviction”, Melvin Morse, a former pediatrician, did not get a fair trial. Similarly, Tom Robinson from To Kill a Mockingbird also did not get a fair trial. A fair trial is a courtroom with an unprejudiced jury that listens to both sides of the situation without being biased. It’s a place where everyone is treated equally despite their looks and race. However, the prejudicial jury knew Tom Robinson is guilty before the trial begins. The jury judge Tom Robinson base on his looks and skin color instead of judging him on his statements. If a white person places himself in Tom Robinson’s shoes, they will realize Robinson is just like them, and he should not be treated like an animal.

As the first day considering the Tom Robinson case ends, multiple citizens of Maycomb were asked their opinion. Many white men of the county, has expressed that Tom Robinson should be punished and that Bob Ewell, the defendants father, is telling the truth. The white community despises Tom Robinson’s attorney, Atticus Finch. Although Atticus is very well respected, a single case degraded his social status and was described as a “Nigger Lover.” The white community strongly agrees that Tom is guilty of abusing and raping Mayella, even after knowing that Mayella was most likely abused by a left hander man, which his father, Bob is, instead of Tom Robinson who has a less coordinated and functional left hand. “He deserves the death penalty, his

Maycomb, AL (AP) – The case of a lifetime is finally set to stand before the judge. Judge Taylor has appointed Atticus Finch as the defensive attorney for accused, Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is an African American male who has been accused by Mr. Ewell of allegedly raping his eldest daughter, Mayella. The case was postponed til this summer and will be open to the public. Mr. Horace Gilmer is the prosecuting attorney for this case. In an interview Finch says “The hardest thing we will face in this case is significant racial barriers. This case is not about a woman being raped, but a Black man’s word versus a White woman’s. Whose word holds more weight in court? That is the real thing being judged. Whether a Black man could be proven innocent

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I urge you to bring back a verdict to of guilty for Tom Robinson.

The Scottsboro Trials, Brown v. Mississippi, and trial of Tom Robinson in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

In the book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ we have seen only sides of Aunt Alexandra that are cruel and hateful. The first time we went Aunt Alexandra in the book we heard about her scrutiny towards Scout when she left her all alone at the kid table, but let all the other kids sit at the adult table. This was only the beginning of what happened that Thanksgiving Day. Jem, Scout’s older brother was to old to play, so Scout had to amuse Francis. This is when things got messy. When Scout was outside with Francis he started talking trash about Atticus. He told Scout Atticus was ruining the family name, that he was a nigger lover. At the start of