Examples Of Failure In To Kill A Mockingbird

A very similar thing happens in To Kill a Mockingbird, when Bob Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of raping his daughter Mayella, but Atticus proves that it was most likely Bob who did it. Bob Ewell, Mayella’s dad, the person who should be protecting her at all costs. The most common injustice in the novel appears when the kids find the case between Tom Robinson and the Ewell family to be unfair, highly illogical, and racist. When the verdict of guilty is revealed to the town, Jem becomes upset and says, “You just can’t convict a man on evidence like that- you can’t”

With accusations of witchery and his guilt of lechery, Mr. Proctor feels he has a duty to save his name for his children. He can 't stand the idea of his family suffering for the mistakes he has made now and in the past. John 's initial reaction to his wife being accused based off the lust Abigail has, he says, "My wife will never die for me! I will bring your guts into your mouth but that goodness will not die for me!" (Miller 80) John knows he 's done wrong and will do anything to save Elizabeth 's reputation.

“‘I don’t like it, Atticus, I don’t like it at all,’ was Aunt Alexandra’s assessment of these events. ‘That man seems to have a permanent running grudge against everybody connected with that case. I know how that kind are about paying off grudges, but I don’t understand why he should harbor one—he had his way in court, didn’t he?’” (335) From intruding a judge’s house to humiliating and harassing Helen Robinson, Bob Ewell is consistently intimidating Maycomb. Atticus is not a perfect character because he doesn’t realize that his weakness is not believing that Bob is mistreating the town. C. Atticus underrated Bob Ewell’s animosity and his violent temper although he won the

“Lemme tell you somethin’ now billy, you know the court appointed him to defend this nigger.” “Yeah but he aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it.” (Lee, 165) This quote is purely just ignorance and prejudice, this quote is a good example of how most of the town feels, they are mad at atticus not for taking the case, but for actually trying to give Tom a fair trial. People in this town in this time period were extremely racist and prejudice, and it’s very clearly shown in this quote, at first the man says, you know the court chose him to defend this negro; meaning they didn’t think it was bad to be appointed, the townspeople thought it was a terrible idea and decision for Atticus to actually give this his all, this also shows how the town has very little respect for Atticus, as soon as he took the case people started turning on him for simply defending an innocent

In my eyes, Mr. Gilmer does not do a great job of proving Tom’s guilt. My reasoning behind this is because of how Mr. Gilmer provides no real evidence to prove that Tom is guilty of raping Mayella. Instead, he relies upon the word of two white people against one Negro man. Clearly, the majority of the jury thought otherwise because they found Tom guilty. I believe that this might not only be because of the racism during that time period, but also because of the condescending way in which Mr. Gilmer spoke to Tom.

In one end of the spectrum, Mr. Ewell does not show any self-control nor did his children and this causes the Ewell family to be filled with prejudice and hatred towards almost everyone. The lack of self-control in the family will continue to plague them with misery and crime. On the other hand, Atticus Finch uses self-control appropriately and successfully educated his “children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will” (Benjamin Franklin). In teaching his children to have self-control and a strong willpower, Atticus helped to lessen “the misery from their future” (Benjamin

Troy states that his father was greedy and would put his own personal needs above the needs of the family. This, in turn, caused Troy 's mother to abandon him, leaving him without love from a parent or anyone to show him the correct way to treat females, a sin that affects his relationship with Rose as an adult. His father 's treatment of Troy made Troy believe there was more to his suffering than what was humanly possible "The gal jumped and run off...and when my daddy turned to face me, I could see why the devil had never come to get him...cause he was the devil himself"(Wilson 52).This metaphor used by Troy, adds a certain weight to the gravity of his situation as a teen. His father wasn 't just cruel but was the devil, a symbol of pure hate and all evil. The way Troy 's father treated him would cause Troy to run away at a young age and would be forced to steal and rob.

The evidence boils down to you-did-I-didn 't. The jury couldn 't possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson 's word against the Ewells, '" Atticus solemnly explains this to his brother. First of all, Atticus demonstrates courage when he undertakes the task of defending Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of rape. Atticus knows he won 't win the case and like Mrs. Dubose in her battle against morphine, he is "licked" before he begins. Nevertheless, Atticus knows that Tom is innocent and that he must fight for him, since no one else will.

In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, the theme is discrimination to others can lead to the wrong assumptions. For example, Tom Robinson was never given a fair chance during his trial because of his race. The story quotes “I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man” (Lee 279). The jury ended up convicting Tom Robinson guilty because of his skin color, not because he was truly was. The jury has the wrong assumptions about Tom Robinson and his race .

In Maycomb County, the Negroes are viewed as inferior, and in addition, the Jim Crow laws are enforced to ensure segregation. As a result, they do not have equal rights as the other citizens. When Atticus is asked to defend Tom Robinson, a Negro man accused of raping a white girl, he accepts. To the community this was improper. The community’s disgust at Atticus’ decision is expressed when Scout is irked by Cecil Jacobs, a boy in her class, when he announces that, “Scout Finch’s daddy defended niggers.” (p. 82).

The children see how harshly Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor, treats a black man like Tom Robinson. The children become aware of the cruelty of racism when an innocent black man is found guilty of assaulting a white woman. Broken and in shock, Jem, Scout, and Dill try to forget the incident because they are unhappy with the result of the trial. The children try to let time pass and move on but are unable to forget some of the immoral reasons behind it, which is the racial discrimination against the blacks and the unjustifiable prosecution of a guiltless

(17) Following this statement, Bob Ewell indicates racism throughout the trial. Although the evidence placed in the trial proves Tom Robinson is not quality, a white man’s word is taken over a black man’s word. The jury creates a life changing verdict. Not only Tom Robinson but also his wife, Helen, has to face prejudice when the trials verdict is declared. Bob Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of raping Mayella although Bob’s daughter “tempted a nigger.” () Tom Robinson is later faced with a dangerous situation.

Before going into trial, Atticus already knew he was going to lose his case even if he proved Tom was innocent. He knew the reality was that blacks had no supremacy when it came to their word against a white man’s (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” 2016). He also knew that a black man would never be acquitted of allegations against him when being charged with rape of a white woman, but he wanted to defend Tom to the best of his ability because he knew it was the right thing to do. This representation of African Americans in the movie showed the little power they had within the justice system, and how their fate could be left in the hands of the white man’s word (“To Kill a Mockingbird,”

Bob Ewell might as well be the total opposite of Atticus when it comes to parenting because he lacks the respect that parents should have towards their children. Mr. Ewell disrespects his children in many different ways. In the novel, Bob Ewell blames his daughters sexual abuse on an innocent black man. During and towards the end of the trial, readers start to see that Tom Robinson is not guilty and start to question Mr. Ewell’s honesty. It is very obvious that Bob intentionally abused his eldest daughter.

26) Since Atticus is representing Tom Robinson, the kids are getting picked on. Atticus gets called a "nigger lover "by the town and even his own relatives. Francis tell scout that her grandma says Atticus is a "nigger lover quote and he 's ruining the family. Then Scout gets to a fight with him only to be at fault in the end. Cecil Jacob says that Atticus is "defending a nigger" for the whole school to hear and Scout was about to get into a fight until she remembered Atticus was going to scold her.