In the Southern Gothic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, social racism is conveyed through the citizens of Maycomb and their actions and causes Jems coming of age. The trial of Tom Robinson ends with Tom ruled guilty, but all the evidence points to that he was innocent. The jury ruled that Tom was guilty just because of the color of his skin. This represents that the disease of racism spreads in Maycomb because of the actions of the townspeople. These actions cause Jem to lose his innocence and belief that all people can be fair and just. As Tom Robinson is Found guilty, Atticus shares with his that that is not always so and that even though it seems impossible that a person can be so unfair with such evidence, people still find
Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is seen as a book embedded into the American public school education system with good reasons. To Kill a Mockingbird symbolizes innocence, classism, and racism. We look through all of these statements from an 8 year old girl nicknamed Scout as she grows up during the Great Deppression, When Scout was around 7 years old, a trial shook the little town of Maycomb when a 19 year old girl accused a black man named Tom Robinson of raping her. Being set in the 1930’s when segregation was a prominent factor in America, With little evidence and witnesses Tom Robinson was still found guilty and was sentenced to death by electrocution.
The case of Tom Robinson in Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" has been a subject of debate. While some believe that Tom Robinson is guilty of the crime he was accused of, there is strong evidence to prove that he is not guilty. There is no evidence of Tom doing anything, the evidence from Mayella could not have been true and Tom did not have a fair trial. Firstly, the evidence against Tom Robinson is circumstantial and lacks any real proof of his guilt.
The racial tension in the United States was very high. Black people were killed by the Ku Klux Klan, lynching and other racially triggered violence were very strong in the south. People of color would receive poor education and have to be segregated from white people. Martin Luther King Jr. stood up for equal rights and was killed trying. From the 1850s up was hard years for colored people.
In both of theses stories there is some precious stuff going on. In to kill a mockingbird Tom Robinson was accused of rape that he did not do, but because he was black he had got accused of it. In the report of Emmett Till Till was killed because he had want to the south to visit his family but he was killed because he was black. Emmett Till was innocent but because he had no wetness no one would have ever believed him in his point of view.
In To Kill a Mockingbird during 1937 the Tom Robinson trial took place and Mayella Ewell was a victim and an accuser but, that was only fiction. The real Scottsboro took place in the 1931 with two victims and accusers who are Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. Although these are both happening around the same time period each trial was different. In both the non-fictional and the fictional accounts and how society shaped them as accusers and victims. Society shaped both Mayella and Ruby as victims.
The Tom Robinson trial that occurred during the summer of this year was a result of an accusation of rape against Robinson by the Ewell family. According to Sheriff Heck Tate’s testimony, he was called to the Ewell residence on the night of November 21st. He found Miss Mayella Ewell beaten up and sprawled on the ground. “Found her lying on the floor in the middle of the front room, one on the right as you go in”(190). After questioning by Robinson’s lawyer, Atticus Finch, he stated that despite Miss Ewell’s injuries, a doctor had not been called.
American rabbi, Abraham Joshua Heschel, wisely states “ Racism is man’s greatest threat to the man- the maximum hatred for a minimum of reason”. During the 1930s in the south, racism is very much relevant and exchanged between the white “supreme” race and people of color. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, racism heavily influences the town of Maycomb; this results in the African Americans being treated inferior and unequal. The definition of a mockingbird is a person who only contributes pleasant deeds but is taken advantage of. Tom Robinson, a black man, is accused of raping a white young woman.
Yesterday was Tom Robinson’s trial. I cannot explain how frustrated I am. I finally understand in what cruel society i am in. I cannot believe that the Maycomb folks took their prejudge into the trial. I was so confident about the trial.
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the story is set in the 1900’s, Maycomb, Alabama. During this time there was racism in the south and segregation which separated the whites and blacks from everything. There was also the Great Depression, the whole country was poor and people living in the country had to trade and do other jobs for people to either pay them off or to buy something from them. The trial in this book is about Mayella and Bob Ewell, two white people, claiming and arguing that Tom Robinson, a black person, raped Mayella Ewell. This trial is really important because at that time in the south, white people took advantage of black people and their kindness and thought they would take that or shut up just because they were black.
THE INTRODUCTION Good morning, my name is Brooke Athman, and it is my pleasure to represent the State of Maycomb and serve as the prosecutor in this very unique case of injustice. Ladies and gentlemen, on August 26, 1936, the jury of the Robinson v. Ewell case, committed the crime of dereliction of duty. The jury in that particular case is being put on trial based on their bias and racist verdict. After hearing all the evidence given, and at the conclusion of this case, we are assured that you will come to a verdict of guilty on these charges.
Social class and sexism take a major part in the lives of the people of Maycomb and affect the way they treat each other. Tom Robinson, a young man accused of a crime because of his race, is a main example of the blindness to prejudice in this novel. Throughout the novel the author discusses the issue of racism and its effects on people. When Atticus Finch took on defending Tom in court, people told him that he would lose the case because of Tom's race. Atticus was upset over the fact that the courts were biased, no matter how much evidence shows that they were innocent.
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.
Atticus uses his credibility as a renowned lawyer in Maycomb County and his confidence in Tom Robinson 's to prove the jury of Tom 's innocence. He also uses the simplicity in differentiating between black and white to show the simplicity of figuring out who is lying in this case, and who is not. He then goes on to say "The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is."
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.
Emily Callan Due Date: Tuesday, November 4th I am reading the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and I am on page 281. In this journal I will be predicting and… I predict that Tom Robinson will be convicted of raping Mayella Ewell because of the racism and bias he is facing.