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Tom Robinson Trial Essay

Decent Essays

The 1930's were a turbulent time for race relations in America. The book To Kill A Mockingbird takes place during this time period. Written by Harper Lee To Kill A Mockingbird is a story that is set during the times of the 1930s in Maycomb, AL. The story is a flashback told through the perspective of Scout Finch, the daughter of Atticus Finch, a successful lawyer, and the sister of Jem Finch. In a part of Scout’s flashback, she recalls the trial of Tom Robinson, who was defended by her father. Tom Robinson was an African American who was accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell, daughter of Bob Ewell. Unfortunately, this trial is unfair and biased with an unjust outcome because of the jury and racism. During the trial it was obvious to see that the jury played a huge impact on the result of the trial. An excerpt from …show more content…

Reasons people believe Bob is responsible for the outcome of the trial are: Bob took the stand and lied about the whole situation between his daughter, Mayella, and Tom, and because he was influential on Mayellaś testimony, whether it was to make the testimony true or not. Next, it is understood when Mayella took the stand the whole testimony was a fabrication, so it is understandable how people believe that Mayella is responsible for the outcome of the trial because her testimony is what the jury uses for their final verdict. The people formed through opinions through faulty reasoning and cannot be totally accurate. Understandably people use the reason that Mayella changed the mind of the jury on whether Tom was guilty or not, but Mayella did not force the jury to change its mind. Ultimately, it was the jury who made the final verdict, outcome, not Mayella. For Bob, one uses the same argument that is used for Mayella, so the counter remains the same. Understandably there are different views on what caused the outcome of

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