How Is Atticus Finch Wrong In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the South of the United States in the 1930´s, the justice system was very unfair towards colored people. Colored people that were sent to court could not receive a fair trial because of the prejudice and racism from the jury. This happened all the time, especially in Maycomb Alabama. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a colored man named Tom Robinson was convicted of assaulting a white woman just because of the color of his skin. Tom Robinson should have been found not guilty for many reasons.

Due to the fact he is a modern hero, all modern heroes should exhibit this. Another time Atticus demonstrates this is when the trial in which he is defending a black man is drawing to a close. When Atticus is pleading to the jury he makes this statement regarding fairness, “I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision and restore this defendant to his family. In the name of [G-d], do your duty” (275). This seems like standard closing remarks but in this context, it means to judge the case without the racism one would expect from an all-white jury.

He got a lot of hate by doing this because it was unlawful to defend a negro man. By defending Tom, he is going against all of the other people in town. Mr. Finch goes as far as telling the person who is accusing his client that "Mr. Ewell, it is my duty to defend Tom Robinson to the best of my ability and that is what I will do" (162). This is showing that Mr. Finch is very dedicated to his case. Another way that he shows this trait is that throughout all of this he is still a single father taking care of two kids.

Not only did he not commit the wrongful act people accused him of, he never acted wrongfully or illegally. Many people knew Tom as a truly good man with a good heart. To the hard-working, dedicated, and loving, Tom, to perpetrate such a crime against a lady, seemed unthinkable. Yet, because MayElla dissembled both his character and the facts, he found himself desperately needing Atticus’s help to prove his innocence of this terrible

Novelist Harper Lee, in her book To Kill a Mockingbird, depicts the racism and inequalities in the town of Maycomb by having a white man, Atticus Finch, defend Tom Robinson who was black. Lee’s purpose is to show the world is unfair between races and we need to have compassion for others. She adopts a serious tone to appeal to people’s morals to do the right the thing by those seeking changes for equality. Throughout his closing argument, Atticus ensures credibility, mentioning God, and by presenting evidence that Tom Robinson is not guilty but someone in the courtroom is, to explain Mayella’s reasoning to lie. When Atticus presented the “circumstantial evidence to indicate Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left hand”, he mentions Mr. Ewell “did what any God-fearing .

Tom Robinson was a black man convicted of rape at a time when the Jim Crow laws were at their most potent, thus there was a large power divide between the white population and the black one. Since the jury was composed of all white men the odds facing Atticus’s success in this case where astronomical. However, Atticus chooses to take the case. In taking the case alone Atticus demonstrates great social courage, for social courage is when you persevere to the end of a task despite social adversity and pushback. This pushback is shown by multiple instances in which Jem and Scout are made fun of for their father is a “n****r lover”.

So, if everyone knows that lying has consequences, then why do people even lie in the first place? In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee answers this question. The main characters in this book are two kids named Jem and Scout, as well as their father named Atticus. The book takes place in the 1930’s when segregation and racial injustice were prominent. Therefore, when Atticus is appointed to defend a African American man, named Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping a white woman, it is a big deal.

When Tom Robinson was accused of raping Mayella Ewell everyone in Maycomb was for the side of Bob Ewell and Mayella, The white people always put their word before a black man's word. This means that Tom Robinson had no chance, but Atticus believes Tom’s word and believes in equality between white and black people. When

The author’s description of the court’s ruling was definite and expected because as Atticus explained, society is biased, therefore the court of all white men were always partisan towards voting in favor of a white man without allowing any arguments against him to sway them. Even though Tom Robinson was not guilty and Atticus had strongly proven him as an innocent who was falsely accused of rape, but because discrimination was a factor in the final judgement, the consequences in society’s prejudice consequently led to the suffering of innocent individuals like Tom Robinson who received discriminatory treatment and trial due to their race. Descriptions of southern beliefs during the time period throughout the book develop and clarify the major theme of the

and Atticus are examples of courage in To Kill a Mockingbird, demonstrated by their benevolent acts of kindness and equality, and how they didn’t let what the status quo at the time dictate their opinions. In the beginning, Walter Cunningham did conform to racist beliefs of the town and ignored the evidence that proved Tom's innocence, but he realizes he is wrong, and preaches that Tom be acquitted while he sits on the jury. Atticus is one of the people to sway Walter Cunningham to believe in equality. Atticus convinces him, and other people, to believe in the evidence that all proved Tom's innocence, and through him and Walter a small racist town begins to change little by little. The movement of equality has been going on since before the civil war in the 1860s, today, people would like to say we are equal, but with court cases like Trayvon Martin attracting so much controversy, it shows that society still has a long way to

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,”