Tom Robinson Racism

Tom is wrongfully accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman, when the only thing he did was try to help by doing her chores. “Tom Robinson is imprisoned within his community but has never committed any action that might produce punishment” (Reisman). Tom even states that he did so because he felt sorry for Mayella. This demonstrates Tom’s humble and respectable character, symbolizing himself even more with a mockingbird. “His only crime is to have been born black in a society that has certain assumptions about black people” (Reisman).

Although, without any shred of proof, Tom Robinson goes on trial for the rape of Mayella Ewell. This pre-determined bias is exhibited clearly through the actions and words that the people of Maycomb ensue, all because of his skin colour. Tom Robinson is ridiculed, name called, and dehumanised by the citizens of Maycomb and is left to face an unfair trial. From the beginning, Tom Robinson does not have a fair chance to defend himself as the jury is highly biased against people of colour. Also, Atticus Finch explains why Tom Robinson has zero chance of winning the trial, “There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads-they couldn’t be fair if they tried.

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.

If it was not for Tom Robinson being protected by Atticus, he would have died earlier than he did. One of the main reasons the mop tried to kill him was not only because of how he was accused of raping a white woman, but because he was black. Nevertheless, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was a great book with a very interesting plot and lots of great themes that really improve the plot, consequently, one of them being racism. Racism was seen throughout the book from the trial, or from when the African Americans were treated with the least respect, or when the people tried to kill Tom Robinson before his

Through the stories of Tom Robinson's trial, Jem and Scouts journey to Calpurnia's church, and Mrs. Dubose's commentary to Jem, the theme of racism remains. For instance, in Tom Robinson's trial, the jury consisted of fellow townspeople who obviously had a racial opinion. Unfortunately, the people of the jury never accepted the words of a black man over a white man.. In fact, Atticus told his son that “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins.”

Imagine living during a time where you would be discriminated against and divided just because the color of your skin. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a black man named Tom Robinson was falsely accused of having raped a white woman and was not given a fair trial. The towns hatred towards black people have caused a prejudice to occur against him. The jury was made up of only white males who are biased against black people due to this prejudice. Tom has good morals, is noble, and a good-hearted human being.

Tom Robinson suffered a greater form of prejudice, racism. Unaltered pure racism. This is shown when Atticus says to Jim “Tom Robinson is a coloured man, Jim, no jury in this part of the world’s going to say ‘we think your guilty but not really’ on a charge like that.” (TKMB 219) The belief was that

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.

Tom Robinson was a kind and compassionate being. The only thing Tom was guilty of was that he “felt right sorry for [Mayella]” (264). Atticus stated, in the courtroom, that Mr. Robinson’s “case should have never come to trial” (271). Even all the evidence clearly shows that Tom Robinson is innocent, for example, Mayella Ewell was beaten on the right side of her face. Therefore, Mayella was “beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left hand” (272).

In this case the only reason that Tom Robinson is being accused of such things is because he is a black person. And during the time To Kill a Mockingbird took place. Black people were not looked fondly upon, they were treated very poorly. Though there were some

Atticus had shown every reason why Robinson is innocent, even though the discrimination of the judges think otherwise. Atticus does not treat this case differently because Robinson is black, he treats this case like any other. Atticus earns Tom's respect by showing him

Does the novel seem to think that racism will eventually be overcome? Or will there always be an element of racism in Maycomb?

A man named Tom Robinson is an individual in society singled out because he is a black man. Society will not look past the labels to realize we are all the same.(shmoop.com) Atticus his lawyer even feels alone and misunderstood, he feels alienated to his own home. He is being discriminated against for looking past the labels to support what 's right. Tom is nothing but a compassionate husband, and father. "Mr. Finch, I tried. I tried to 'thout bein ' ugly to her. I didn 't wanta be ugly, I didn 't wanta push her or nothin '."(261), said Tom in the courtroom. Even when Tom told the truth he was not believed by anyone but Atticus. Only because Tom was an accused black man. Atticus took pride and fought for Tom a fair trial."...They 've done it

We can clearly see that Tom Robinson is not the type of person to commit a crime in the first place because he “was probably the only person who was ever decent to her.” (Lee 257) Her, referring to Mayella Ewell. Mayella was mistreated and personally I think that Tom Robinson is one of the few people in this book that I would classify as someone who does good things for the sake of doing a good deed, in this instance it would be helping Mayella without being payed, and this is something that Atticus wanted his children to see and learn to do. This quote in a nutshell says that Tom Robinson was likely to be the only person who didn’t look down upon or mistreat Mayella Ewell. Atticus then wants to mirror this personality onto his children when he gave them the advice “You just hold your head high and keep those fists down.

‘Are you being impudent to me boy?’ ‘No suh, I didn’t go to be.’” (Lee 265). Tom Robinson had confessed to being scared to be in court and cooperated by always speaking the truth, because he did not want to be put to death for a crime he did not commit. What was worse was that the prosecuting lawyer had been rude, saying that Robinson was disrespectful because of his response; while Tom had in reality had been open and honest and the farthest thing from disrespectful the attorney may have said this as a tactic to portray Tom as a stereotypical black person.