Many view America as a land of opportunity, one that preaches freedom and has specific laws to ensure the equality of this pursuit of freedom. Despite the intention of promoting freedom and equality, many American laws transcend these values and mirror the true sentiments of our nation’s constituents. These laws cannot serve to uphold equality if that intention does not come to fruition in their practice and application to societal issues. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson, a black man in a mostly white community, faces accusations and a subsequent trial for the rape of Mayella Ewell, a white girl of the town. As the Southern setting of the novel implies, the racial aspect of this trial consumes the town of Maycomb, …show more content…
In other words, if there exists a racial hierarchy within the community and there are stigmas attached to this organization, local court rulings tend to reflect these individual attitudes. Can there be any validity in a justice system that adopts local feelings and neglects the pursuit of equality and justice that the system supposedly stands for? In the case of Tom Robinson, Maycomb’s racist attitude plays a vital role in the trial itself as well as his ultimate conviction. Atticus, as Tom’s defense attorney and one of the sole supporters of his innocence states “[Mayella] was white, and she tempted a Negro…[s]he did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man” (Lee 272). This claim points to what is wrong in Maycomb; people feel as if Negro’s are susceptible to a white temptress and assume that Mayella kissing Tom must be an indication of rape. It is unfathomable to the people of Maycomb that a white woman could be at all interested in physical engagement with an African American. To make matters worse for Tom, the town’s publicity of the case and presence during trial allows popular racist attitudes to permeate the supposedly impartial confines of the courthouse. Maycomb’s racist power structure plays a prevalent role throughout the case and deprives Tom of a fair trial. The arrest of Tom Robinson prior to the trial and the acquisition of solid evidence displays the
It’s interesting to see the ways different authors depict how a character matures. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird we can easily see how she chose to do it. The novel is set in Alabama in the 1930’s, while black vs. white racism was a big issue and problem for many. Atticus is the father of Scout and Jem, young children who witness the discrimination first hand when their father, a white man, defends a black man in court. Lee does a great job developing the characters; especially the narrator, Jean Louise Finch (Scout). Scout’s thoughts, conversations, and actions, illustrate that she’s emotionally maturing from the innocent child that she was.
The book "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a story of life in an Alabama town in the 30's. The narrator, Jean Louise Finch, or Scout, is writing of a time when she was young, and the book is in part the record of a childhood, believed to be Harper Lee’s, the author of the book..
In 1930’s Maycomb Alabama, a young woman is stirring up a sleepy town by accusing an African American man of rape. Mayella Ewell, a poor white woman has wrongly accused Tom Robinson of sexually assaulting her in her own home. Her testimony, as well as her fathers’, have gaping holes in them. Their stories do not coincide, and it is even implied that Mayella’s father may have been sexually abusing her.(DBQ Mayella page 15 Chapters 18 and 20) The lack of sufficient evidence and Tom Robinson’s claim that Mayella had made advances toward him should have been enough for the jury to find Tom not guilty, but unfortunately, that was not the case. Instead, the jury believed Mayella’s deceitful testimony, and Tom was sent to jail, which ultimately led to his death. Mayella used her position in society to manipulate the court, and dispose of the only evidence of her mistake. Mayella Ewell is powerful as defined by class, gender, and especially race.
What it Means to Kill a Mocking Bird: an in depth analysis of the morals in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
As children grow up, they open their eyes to the harsh truths in the world around them that they once did not understand or question. This is experienced by the main characters of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The story is of a girl called Scout and her older brother, Jem, who go through the trials of growing up in the fictional small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Racism is rampant in the mindset of the townspeople, shown when the children’s lawyer father, Atticus, takes the case of an obviously innocent African-American man and they convict him in their hearts before the trial even starts. Through this all, we can see the theme of loss of innocence in the children. Lee uses characterization to portray
In Maycomb, a black man named Tom Robinson is on trial for raping beating up Mayella Ewell. From the beginning Mr. Robinson never really received a fair trial. The law states that someone should get a fair trial from a jury of their peers. However, in Maycomb this doesn’t happen. The Courthouse in Maycomb is filled with local white people. Two men say “You know the court appointed him to defend this nigger...Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it”(163). This quote is important because it shows the overall attitude of Maycomb’s white citizens. One critical moment may have shown why the trial wasn’t a fair trial. Atticus proved that Tom Robinson was not involved in the attack. “His left arm was fully 12 inches shorter than his right and hung dead at his side” (186). This represented the physical
The novel is written by Harper Lee The title, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is a very fitting title for the novel, because the story revolves around the idea of innocence being lost, destroyed by evil and the cruelty of a narrow-minded society. Mockingbirds are harmless creatures that ‘don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us,’ but it is powerless against its attackers. The main mockingbirds in the novel are the characters, Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson who are both attacked by the cruel society of Maycomb in different ways but are defenceless and cannot fight back. Mayella Ewell and Dolphus Raymond are symbolised as mockingbirds as well.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”. Discuss this quote from Atticus in relation to 3 characters from the novel.
The Maycomb jury accused Tom Robinson guilty of rape of Mayella Ewell, not because they truly thought he was guilty; he was wrongfully convicted because of our town’s long time “honor code” of our society. Our “honor code” is nothing but a meaningless, unbroken rule saying that all whites are infallible, while all negroes are immoral and can’t be trusted around anyone. If a white person were to break this “code”, that person would be considered an outcast in our town. Of course, as I’ve said before, some whites and negroes are immoral and can’t be trusted around anyone. Take the Ewells, for example. Maycomb despises them, and barely keeps them isolated from the rest of town. They represent Maycomb’s worst side, but their word is still taken over a black man’s word, simply because they’re white. None of the jury members wanted to risk their own reputations and be
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird a major theme is the loss of innocence. Whether from emotional abuse, racial prejudice or learning, Boo, Tom, and Scout all lose their innocence in one sense or another. The prejudice that each character endures leads to their loss. Through the responses of Boo, Tom, and Scout, Harper Lee shows how each character responded differently to their loss of innocence.
The people of the Maycomb jury were all Southern farmers, explicitly racist and vocal about their beliefs. Walking into the courtroom, Atticus knew he had next to no hope for a victorious outcome to the case. He even went as far as to tell Scout from the beginning that he would not be winning the case (Lee 101). He knew that prejudice determined the outcome of the case before he was appointed to be part of it, but took it to give Tom the best chance he had. Atticus spoke of the position he was placed in with wisdom that echoes presently, with similar themes displayed by innumerable people fighting for the same cause he was 80 years ago. As of March 6th, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an official opinion that addressed cases involving overt racism and the right to jury secrecy. This statement made leeway against previous proceedings revolving the same topic, expressing that in cases of “juror bias so extreme that, almost by definition, the jury trial right has been abridged” (Kennedy page 12), jury secrecy would be a lesser concern to ensure bias is not a factor in resulting decisions. This admittance to the gravity of modern-day bigotry is a considerable step forward; yet still, it faces multifaceted resistance both internally and externally. This is because there is no other process capable of judgement, so most judicial workers
The cruel nature and intentions of people can either hurt or harm individuals or it can bring about resilience and determination. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee revealed that humans often have other motives in life; some are born to be evil in nature, some are naturally innocent and then there are some that are born to protect the innocent. Lee utilized a variety of symbols and themes that correlated with each other and thus had the ability to create questions in the minds of the readers. Are humans calculatedly cruel or is there some moral good in each of us? The impiety of a few can create a movement, imprison the innocent or reveal the sincerity of others.
To kill a mockingbird written by Harper Lee. Themes are the subject of a talk, a piece of writing or a person's thoughts. There are many themes present in this great American classic such as courage, racism, prejudice, morality and of course coming of age. Lee communicates these themes with characters, events that unfold and the scenarios that Jem and Scout have to face.
The way that people understand their circumstances and surroundings is often directly correlated to the way they perceive the world around them. An adult understands much more around him than a child does because of the mature, more knowledgeable perception he has. Meanwhile, the child, while not able to fully understand what she sees, often sees more than an adult because of the knowledge hungry, curious perception she has. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the characters range in gender, age, and intelligence. The narrator herself is a young elementary age child. She is extremely smart for her age, but because of her limited exposure to the world, does not fully understand the seriousness and danger of the story unfolding around her. While the book To Kill a Mockingbird covers many controversial topics, perception and the change certain characters undergo that effects this perception are the key to connecting many of them.
Courage is the quality of mind that enables one to face danger with confidence, resolution, and gain a firm control of oneself. Many of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird showed courage in their own way. Courage can come in many different forms: physical, mental, emotional and moral. Courage is not the only main theme displayed in To Kill a Mockingbird; prejudice and education are also very important themes exhibited throughout the progression of the novel. Through the eyes of Scout Finch, a bright, sensitive and intelligent little girl, these themes of the novel are explored in great depth.