An Analysis Of Tom Robinson In Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

Wounded but not Destroyed Wanda Lopez, stabbed once through the left side of her body, bled out and never knew who attacked her. The store was still and mute. The smell of freshly baked bread filled the air as Carlos DeLuna searched for his daily goods at the superstore. Seconds later he paused and heard a women struggling and shouting. He then glimpsed at a man at the front counter and ran. The police sirens rang and Carlos hid under a truck, just to be arrested forty minutes later. Carlos was granted the death sentence, but pleaded not guilty at trial. It turns out he was innocent. After a hundred witnesses testified and nine-hundred pieces of evidence were presented, a man named Carlos of the same height, weight, and age was found

First, Scouts father, Atticus, a lawyer, was defending a negro man named Tom Robinson. Tom was a good hearted man, but perceived differently because he was black. Tom was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, Bob Ewell’s daughter. Atticus takes this case in defending Tom. Tom passes the Ewell house everyday from work, and sees Mayella sitting on the porch. She gives him a chore to do once in a while, and he does it free of charge. Tom Robinson states truthfully “yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more than the rest of them.” (Lee 263). Tom says he feels sorry for her. But in that day and age, how could a black man, feel sorry for a white woman. It was not socially acceptable. That was when Tom lost the case. Furthermore Tom Robinson was just like the rest of us, and has never hurt anyone. After the trial, Tom was put into holding, but he could not handle the pain of staying in there and accused of something he did not do. So he decided to run. The police told him to stop, but he kept proceeding. They shot at Tom, and killed him. After the death, new spread across town rapidly. Scout writes “Tom's death was typical. Typical of a niggers mentality to have no plan. No thought of the future. Just run blind the first chance he saw” (Lee 322). The fact that Scout writes, that Tom was just a typical negro man, show that Tom symbolizes a mockingbird because just from being that minority color, in his time, people thought of him differently, not as an individual but a group. Finally when Tom was blamed for raping Mayella, even thought everyone knew the truth, and when he did something to help her out out of the goodness of his heart, but because he was of different status and race backfires, Toms status as a symbolic mockingbird becomes