Tom Robinson's Death Essay

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee illustrates how important decisions are influenced by racial ignorance ingrained in a society. Tom Robinson is deemed guilty in a court case where he is evidently innocent. He is accused of raping a white women when in reality the white women tried to kiss Robinson but was caught and decides to cover up her actions by claiming that she was raped (Lee 254-266). Even though the the evidence proves that Tom Robinson is innocent, he is still deemed guilty by the jury because he is black (Lee 282). This illustrates the racial ignorance of

He had a wife and children. Tom Robinson was accused of raping Mayella Ewell. This accusation was completely false. The dad, Bob Ewell, was a very racist, poor person, so he just accused Tom Robinson because he knew he could win. In the trial, Mayella was acting as if this actually happened.

Then Curley’s rage exploded. Come on, ya big bastard” (Steinbeck 62). Curley is minimizing his chances of forming a meaningful relationship every time lashes out because of his own insecurities. He is also always keeping his eye on his wife and nagging people about her whereabouts because he doesn’t want her to leave him for someone else. “If you can’t look after your own God damn wife, what you expect me to do about it?

“The life of a Negro in Mississippi is not worth a whistle.” In the South marriage between a black person and a white person was not only looked down upon but it was illegal. This is why when Roy, the husband of Caroline, heard from his wife that she had been whistled at he was outraged. Racism in the South was so strong that a black man could be murdered for whistling. Emmett living in the North gave him a whole different outlook on racism. The Jim Crow laws in the South made marriage between different races illegal, but in the North interracial relationships were much more accepted.

Harper Lee uses Boo Radley and his past to show his innocence being destroyed by his childhood. Boo is a caring man that does not seek harm but society sees him as a psychopath for supposedly trying to kill the Radley family. For example, the text states , "As Mr.Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent 's leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants and, resumed his activities" (13) and later on the text says "Mrs.Radley ran screaming into the street that Arthur was killing them all, but when the sheriff arrived he found Boo still sitting in the living room, cutting up the Tribune" (13). These quotes show Boo Radley with a different identity, causing others to be scared of going near him, and therefore isolating him from the rest of society. Mr.Radley was a "Foot-Washing Baptist", he believed anything pleasurable was a sin, he took away everything from Boo and put him under house arrest for making little mistakes.

The article "Lust for Power cited as Murder Motive" by Jeffrey Gettleman of the Los Angeles Times tells the story of a sheriff who wanted to keep his power and went to extreme measures to ensure its security. Sidney Dorsey, being the first African American sheriff of his home county, felt his power was in jeopardy when his rival, Derwin Brown, who is also an African American, won an election against him to become the next sheriff of DeKalb County. Dorsey was determined to see Brown dead so he continue to hold his power. Dorsey did not work alone in the killing of Brown. Patrick Curry, a former sheriff deputy, aided Dorsey in the killing of Brown after Dorsey instructed him to do so.

The main characters are Scout and Jem, both of which are fairly innocent to the world. When their father decides to take a court case about a black man who raped a white woman, they are exposed to the true nature of people. The loss of innocence is one of the central themes in Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird. As the book progresses

Bob Ewell is a drunken father of the family. In the part two of the book, Tom Robinson, a black man is accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. The social norm of this time was to respect whites, and treat blacks differing. Therefore, it was a sin for Tom to disrespect Mayella. Atticus Finch, a lawyer and respected white man fought for Tom and bravely tried as his lawyer.

These rumors were a threat to what she has created in order to help her with the chaos in her life. Although she tried to build a new life with Stella, Stanley never gave in to her act and was constantly suspicious of her actions. Stanley's constant investigations and interrogations on Blanche’s old life. This is a representation of reality is starting to creep in of Blanche's newly created life. From the beginning Stanley has doubted Blanche, this is seen as he went through Blanche's things with Stella, questioning her belongings, “has she got this stuff out of teacher's pay?”(2.33).

In the process of interrogating Bob Ewell in court, in an attempt to clear an innocent man’s name, Mr. Ewell felt Atticus had attacked and embarrassed him. After the trial, Bob Ewell sought revenge by spitting in Atticus’s face and Atticus’s reaction was, “‘I wish Bob Ewell wouldn’t chew tobacco’” (291). Typically, people spend so much energy holding on the grudges and wanting revenge, but Atticus looked past Bob’s actions and forgive him immediately after it happened. Remarkably, few people have the ability to accept a direct insult and move on with their lives. Truthfully, society would become so much better if people could forgive and forget, “Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,// Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating.” One of the famous quotes of the book is Atticus telling his children to take a moment and try to understand someone and their points of view before acting to prevent regret and disrespect.