Imagine living in the 1930’s when court systems were biased and innocent men were sent to death. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, we the readers see the trial of a black man, Tom Robinson. We see how this case affects Atticus and his kids, the town of Maycomb, and most importantly Tom Robinson. In To Kill a Mockingbird racism affected Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch and Scout Finch in very distinctive ways. In To Kill a Mockingbird an innocent man by the name of Tom Robinson loses his life. “In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins” (Lee 38). Tom Robinson was tried on a case of rape, and with him being black, his word had less of a say than a white man's. With that he was wrongfully convicted of raping a girl. No matter what evidence he and Atticus could pull together, it wouldn’t change the mind of the jury. At the end of the trial Tom Robinson knew he was a dead man and tried to escape. Tom was shot no less than seventeen times. This is just one example of someone affected by racism. …show more content…
“The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold my head up in town” (Lee 100). This quote is Atticus’s explanation for defending a black man. Atticus knows that Tom is innocent and deserves the best chance he can get. Also Atticus is trying to teach his kids that sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do. Atticus feels if he doesn’t take the case that he will be looked down upon. But he also knows that when he took the case he has people against him. Atticus would face racists when he took the case, or be a racist if he didn’t take the
Even when the evidence overwhelmingly supports Tom Robinson’s innocence, the jury’s bias towards blacks convicts Tom as guilty and is the reason for his eventual death. However, Atticus’s strong efforts leads to a lengthy discussion about the verdict of Tom’s case, which creates hope for a turning point in Maycomb, where whites and blacks are treated equal, because no other trial involving a black person has taken this length of time. In summary, all the occurrences of injustice in To Kill a Mockingbird such as the trial of Tom Robinson are created by a group of people with the same immoral beliefs but can be fixed with strong determination
To Kill a Mockingbird can relate to this because Tom Robinson’s trial was very racist because of the time period that it took place. In eighteen sixty six the Ku Klux Klan was born. Its main goal was to bring back white supremacy and to scare african american people. The years 1929-1947 were filled with horrifying lynches and other racially triggered violence especially in the south from the KKK.
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Alabama, where racism is a very big problem. In to Kill a Mockingbird they talk about a case where Tom Robinson (A black man) supposedly “raped” a white woman. In the case, Atticus was defending Tom Robinson and made very strong points and proved the Ewells wrong but still ended up losing because the courtroom favorited the Ewells because they were white. Tom Robinson on his side of the story said that he did not rape her and that she actually tried to kiss him. All that the Ewells could say was Tom Robinson tried to rape her, but they had no evidence and were trying to avoid Atticus’s questions that proved Tom innocently.
Furthermore, Tom Robinson is mistreated due to his skin color, as a result, he is falsely accused of raping a white girl. No one in town is willing to help him in any way because of the racist mentality of the town, except Atticus. As a lawyer, Atticus supports Tom Robinson and states an important statement that describes the racist minds of the residents of Maycomb, “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”(Lee 271).
Can you imagine yourself in a situation where people treat you like trash because of your skin color. In Harper Lee’s novel, To kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is a white lawyer who has two children named Scout and Jem. Atticus has to defend an innocent man named Tom Robinson, who was accused on a crime he didn’t commit and was killed because of his skin color. Atticus is facing many problems such as racism because Tom Robinson is a colored person. The most important thing in To kill a Mockingbird is Injustice, Love and Sacrifice, and Power of words.
Things such as the Jim Crow law and segregation, racism, and all-white juries in the past caused extreme prejudice against people of color. Tom Robinson is an African American character from To Kill A Mockingbird with a crippled left arm, is a helpful person and a good worker. Tom Robinson from To Kill A Mockingbird is affected by racism because he was not respected by the people of the court and was convicted regardless of the evidence. His mistreatment is historically accurate as people of color were discriminated against in the past. Tom Robinson was not given the respect that he deserved.
To illustrate, “Tom Robinson is a colored man, Jem. No jury in the world is going to say, ’We think you are guilty, but not very,’ on a charge like that.” (Lee, 251). This quote shows how little faith Atticus had in Tom’s freedom. He knew that he would not win Tom’s trial, no matter how hard he tried, because no jury in 1930s Alabama would take the word of a black man over that of a white man, no matter how much evidence there was to prove the black man’s innocence.
In To Kill a Mockingbird by harper Lee, despite of him having a public trial, Tom Robinson, an innocent man was proven guilty, also his trial that was completely and utterly unfair, one-sided, and even discriminatory. This novel takes place in Maycomb, Alabama, a made up town. Robinson was working for the Ewell’s and one day Tom was invited into the house to fix a door. Tom Robinson was accused of raping and abusing a white woman, Mayella Ewell, when her father is the one who abused her. The jury had a lack of evidence to prove that Tom was guilty, and also ignored the evidence that proves his innocence.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the Maycomb court system is totally biased in a discriminatory way. The case of Tom Robinson, if it had not been in this court with its racist jurors, would certainly have not ended the way it did. It only ended the way it did because of peer-pressure, a scared victim being manipulated and believed, and an honest man not. Through her testimony, Mayella Ewell constantly lied.
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.
In our society, innocent people, known as mockingbirds, experience prejudice in their lives. A/T: In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Background: Tom Robinson is a black person who’s was accused of raping a white girl named Mayella Ewell which he has never done. For this reason, Atticus Finch was appointed to be his lawyer. As a result, Atticus takes a stand for him by approving his case and standing up for him, but Tom was still found guilty.
“Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…” (Lee 179). This quote from Reverend Sykes in To Kill a Mockingbird is a sort of summary of how and why Tom Robinson was wrongly convicted guilty. It also gives a lot of insight on race relations in this time period. Unfortunately, racism has yet to leave society.
Based on all the information provided at the trial of Tom Robinson the jury should have found him not guilty. But in the south, white people were racist towards people of color. As a result of this Tom Robinson was found guilty with no evidence to prove that he was. In this trial, the jury was racist and prejudice towards Tom Robinson and that lead to him being found guilty of a crime that had no medical evidence at
Atticus defending Tom makes his life way more problematic than if he were to not take the case. For example an angry mob forms in front of the jail. “In ones and twos men got out of the cars. Shadows became substance as lights revealed solid shapes moving toward the jail door.”
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.