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Issues In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Introduction
• As Atticus once said, “Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal” (Lee, 274).
• Prejudice should not be present in court to ensure everyone is given an equal chance.
• However, this failed to occur in the case of Leo Frank. The jury was unable to rise above social prejudice and see the case with an open mind.
• Harper Lee also explored this concept in To Kill a Mockingbird. She writes about the sleepy town of Maycomb where life is disrupted by the accusations of rape. Bob Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of raping his daughter.
• Mr. Ewell is considered an underhanded, white man who falls on the outer rings in Maycomb’s …show more content…

Atticus Finch fights for Tom Robinson despite the odds being strongly against him from the start.
• The Tom Robinson and Leo Frank trials, both addressed the bigger issues of inequality in …show more content…

• They both did the “difficult jobs” so society could put their best foot forward.
• Atticus and Rosser were both making “baby steps” towards a better world without prejudice. The change was not immediate, but a gradual change. These “baby steps” are generally unsure, cautious, hesitant, and the hardest steps. But, they had to start somewhere…
• However, despite both Atticus and Rosser’s efforts, Tom Robinson and Leo Frank were both found guilty.
• In jail, Leo Frank had his throat slashed by a fellow prisoner, but was able to survive. However, on August 15, 1915, “the best citizens” of Mary Phagan’s hometown stormed the jail, kidnapped him, and lynched him the next morning. The civilians stood and posed proudly after performing such a heinous crime.
• The lynch mob that killed Leo Frank is quite similar to the lynch mob that came after Tom Robinson. Fortunately, the Old Sarum Bunch left without causing any actual harm. However, their evil intentions were the same.
Framed
• The National Pencil Company refused to pay because the Pinkerton Detective Agency did not handle the case professionally and set out to prosecute Leo Frank regardless of the

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