ipl-logo

How Does Adam Ross Use Racial Inequality In To Kill A Mockingbird

885 Words4 Pages

In the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson, a black man, is unfairly accused and later found guilty of a crime he didn 't commit. While talking to Jem and Scout Finch, Ms. Maudie says “Atticus Finch won’t win, he can’t win, but he’s the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that. And I thought to myself, well, we’re making a step – it’s just a baby-step, but it’s a step.” During our recent “Socratic Seminar”, Adam Ross made an insightful comment. He argued that the events that took place in the courtroom that night were not a step in the right direction, as the time that the jury took was just part of the due process of the court. He stated that the time the jury took wasn’t a representation …show more content…

A huge issue for minorities in their path to equality was being outnumbered; there is power in numbers and it isn’t often that the oppressed group is the larger. For Tom Robinson, the events that took place were a small step forward because he had support of some white men, a few of which haven’t ever supported a black person before. For example, on page 289, Jem makes a great point after Scout asks him a question. ‘“Who in this town did one thing to help Tom Robinson, just who?” “His colored friends for one thing, and people like us. People like Judge Taylor. People like Mr. Heck Tate. Stop eating and start thinking, Jem. Did it ever strike you that Judge Taylor naming Atticus to defend that boy was no accident? That Judge Taylor might have had his reasons for naming him?”” Right there, Jem named the Finches, Mr. Tate, and Mr. Taylor. This support from these white men is something relatively new for a black man, and for this reason it is clear that a baby-step has been made. Even more, the fact that Judge Taylor gave Tom support to an extent shows that an extremely important person in the society was giving Tom support. This means that black people on trial in Maycomb will have more of a chance in the

Show More
Related

  • Essay On Atticus Integrity In To Kill A Mockingbird

    957 Words  | 4 Pages

    Despite race discrimination around the world, there are still people who overcome and persevere through these challenges - often at great risk to themselves. During the 1930s, in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, a small town called Maycomb held a trial against an innocent African American man accused of raping a Caucasian woman. The reader experiences life in Maycomb through the eyes of ten year old girl name Jean-Louise Finch, Scout. In this case, Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, was assigned to be the lawyer for the accused, Tom Robinson. However, Atticus has integrity and tries his best for Tom even if his own life is at risk.

    Read More

  • Jem Finch Injustice

    687 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the most significant racial injustices Jem faces involves the Tom Robinson trial. Atticus

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Thomas Pryor Language Analysis

    791 Words  | 4 Pages

    This is evidenced as Atticus gives reason to Jem and Scout that the judicial system gives a clear demonstration for to much bias where as a court of law should be showing no prejudice in that environment “the one place where a man out to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any colour of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.” Each person should approach the court without a view and consider all of the evidence brought forward. Unfortunately, in this novel, the judge, jury and lawyers already had preconceived ideas about what had happened. Atticus provided a powerful closing argument at Tom Robinson’s trial. He reminded everyone that they had a duty of equality although the decision did not go in Tom Robinson’s favour.

    Read More

  • Normality Of Man In To Kill A Mockingbird

    826 Words  | 4 Pages

    “ I waited and waited to see you all come down the sidewalk, and as I waited I thought, Atticus Finch won’t win, he can’t win, but he’s the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that. And I thought to myself, well, we’re making a step-it’s just a baby-step, but it’s a step” (216). Atticus made at least a small impression on the jury even though the case was a lost cause to begin with. With any other lawyer, the jury would not have listened as well, but they

    Read More

  • Examples Of Parallelism In To Kill A Mockingbird

    842 Words  | 4 Pages

    Author Harper Lee, in her novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”, depicts a court trial in which Atticus Finch, a Maycomb County lawyer, attempts to defend an innocent black man, Tom Robinson, who was falsely accused of rape and beating by a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Finch’s purpose is to prove Tom’s innocence to the court and avoid an inaccurate conviction. He adopts a deliberate tone in order to rule the jury’s speculation in favor of Robinsons guiltlessness. Atticus begins his argument by contrasting social moralities versus actual law.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Injustice Quotes

    643 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the jury voting, Jem could not believe his eyes, “ Judge Taylor was polling the jury: 'Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty...' I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each "guilty" was a separate stab between them” (278). Watching Atticus try cases for years, he knows in court that justice prevails. He thought for sure that Tom was free, the evidence was crystal clear. He could not see what reasosn the jury had for a guilty verdict, but when the verdict came out as guilty, he was mad because he knew it was a racist verdict from the jury.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Juxtaposition In To Kill A Mockingbird

    427 Words  | 2 Pages

    After watching the court hearings, Jem had confidence in the jury to rule in favor of the defendant, because of the compelling case that Atticus had made, where he had exposed the lies that the witnesses made on stand, while proving Mr. Robinson’s innocence with actual evidence and effective reasoning. “Jem was jumping in excitement. ‘We’ve won, haven’t we?’” (210). However, while Jem is aware of his community’s bias against people of color, he doesn’t believe that the bias will infringe upon justice and affect the verdict.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1232 Words  | 5 Pages

    We generally get the juries we deserve. Our stout Maycomb citizens aren’t interested, in the first place. In the second place, they’re afraid.’” Atticus is telling his children about juries in this excerpt. While legally, Tom Robinson should have been evaluated by a “jury of his peers”, his jury consisted of twelve, biased white men.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Argumentative Essay

    976 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the 1930s the south was still raging with racism, and the thought of a black man raping a white woman lead to no further investigation whether it was true or false, he was simply sentenced to death. Atticus Finch, Toms adept lawyer, believed Soulfly in equality and justice for all and was more than happy to defend Tom Robinson with all his heart no matter his race. The Finch family felt very different than the majority of people in Maycomb Alabama. When Tom Robinson has accused the entirety of the town flocked to the courthouse to view the trial. Some with hopes for justice and liberty but most unapologetically hoping for an unfair sentence.

    Read More

  • Why Is To Kill A Mockingbird Be Banned

    202 Words  | 1 Pages

    To Kill a Mockingbird is famous for its controversy. In fact, it has been banned from being read at many schools for its use of racial, sexual, and political content, all of these aiding the book’s “big ideas”. To Kill a Mockingbird has many themes. For example, one is about racial injustice. You would think a jury would establish their final decision based upon the facts, but in this book, the jury had already made up its mind once it heard that the case was a white man versus a black man.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Coming Of Age Quotes

    883 Words  | 4 Pages

    Everyone Grows Up Sometime: Coming of Age in To Kill a Mockingbird Prior to the spring break of my seventh grade year, I didn’t know how harsh the world could really be. I mean I knew about sickness, violence, death, all that good stuff, but I just sort of blew it off because nothing in my life had happened to where I needed to face those things. When I was 12 during spring break, I was as happy as any child would be on their spring vacation, but one day my parents pulled me and my brother aside and told us some pretty devastating news. They had told us that our grandfather had passed away in a house fire a few days ago.

    Read More

  • Mayella Ewell Quotes In To Kill A Mockingbird

    764 Words  | 4 Pages

    Race is part of the story that ties everything together. The Tom Robinson trial had a negative outcome because of race. As Atticus was defending Tom the jury would still lean towards Bob and Mayella Ewell’s side of the story, because Bob was a strong, white man and Tom is a poor, black man. Atticus Finch received a lot of hate while he was defending Tom. The people of Maycomb did not agree with a white man defending a black man.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Right And Wrong In To Kill A Mockingbird

    2376 Words  | 10 Pages

    Don’t see how any jury could convict on what we heard-’...’Now don’t be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man,”’ on page 279 paragraphs 6-7. Harper Lee then continues on page 282 paragraphs 2-3 to write, “A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson…’Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty.’” Then, on page 285 paragraph10 it says, “‘They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it-seems that only children weep.’” This all comes together to prove that the children, Jem especially, saw how the verdict should have been and then goes on to suggest that if the jury had been made up of kids the verdict would have been much faster and would have been right because the children would not have been blinded by public opinion. So, the irony of Jem believing Tom Robinson would be free and the belief everyone else had including Atticus that the jury would convict Tom Robinson, shows that adults have come to believe that justice no longer matters, while hypocritically teaching their children that it

    Read More

  • Theme Of Bully In To Kill A Mockingbird

    830 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tom Robinson is a young African-American who's been accused of raping and abusing Mayella Ewell, a young and closeted white woman. Racial discrimination is hinted throughout Tom’s trial as Atticus Finch explains to Jem that a white man’s word will always win over that of a black man’s - "... In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life" (220). Atticus explains to Jem that in the courts of Maycomb, a black man’s state of innocence or guilt is truly determined by a white man’s testimony.

    Read More

  • Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

    921 Words  | 4 Pages

    What if the world was still the same as it was back during the great depression. What if this was the truth. In To Kill a Mockingbird readers can see how prejudice affected people of color back then, and how it’s not so different from today. In the novel readers will find unfairness in court, hate crimes, and segregation. Today readers can still find these same issues, but in different forms.

    Read More

More about How Does Adam Ross Use Racial Inequality In To Kill A Mockingbird

Open Document