Atticus Finch Summation Speech Analysis

Atticus Finch’s summation speech to the jury at Tom Robinson’s trial is successful because of the elements of literary style he employs in these closing remarks. The four different types of literary devices that Atticus employs are: diction, syntax, imagery, and irony. These four literary devices strengthen Atticus’ closing remarks by giving it more diversity and depth.

The first literary device employed in Atticus’ summation speech is diction which is the choice of words or phrases one uses in speech or writing. One example of diction is the constant use of the word “gentlemen” when Atticus addresses the jury,“The witness for the state, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court, in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them…”(paragraph 7). This example of diction is significant because by saying “gentlemen” continuously,

For instance,“No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards”(paragraph 5). By saying “crashing down”, the jury can picture all of the events that occurred coming down on the chief witness due to her wrongdoings. Another instance where Atticus includes imagery in his description of the events is,“...Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left”(paragraph 6). This employment of imagery allows the jury to visualize a man beating Mayella, but the word “savagely” makes the whole occurrence seem even worse to the jury. When Atticus uses imagery, he allows the jury to imagine what happened in greater detail which helps his and Tom’s case because the jury is seeing what actually happened in more detail rather than seeing the other side of the story with Tom Robinson in place of the actual