This had a great impact on Tom Robinson's trial because he was seen as inferior to the jury, Bob Ewell, and his daughter, Mayella Ewell. The jury decided to take the words of the superior even though Tom was not guilty.
Racism means hate towards another race and injustice mean unfair treatment, according to learner 's dictionary. In Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, an African american lawyer, was helping people get justice for the colored community. Another book similar to Just Mercy is, To Kill a Mockingbird, which made in 1960 was written by Harper Lee. Harper Lee addressed many issues about racial injustice too. Just Mercy was written in 2014, In modern day society, racial injustice has a big impact in this world today, as stated in Just Mercy and To Kill a Mockingbird. Showing that they are both related in many ways.
Bob Ewell was the plaintiff who was accusing Tom Robinson of raping his daughter, Mayella Ewell. During the trial, they called up the plaintiff to testify what he saw. Bob Ewell was under oath but still ended up lying to win the case described. Atticus saw what he was doing and ended up calling him out on everything, subtly. It was shown that Bob Ewell was left handed while Tom Robinson was crippled on that side of his body. All of the bruises were focused on the left side of Mayella’s body. Although that was not enough evidence for the jury to write off the case as a fake, Bob Ewell’s credibility was lost entirely to the public. “Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with.” (Lee 1960, pg 292). Since the town’s perspective changed on Bob Ewell, he was not much associated with and everyone deemed him as a liar.
Every person young or old, is labelled with either a positive or negative stereotype. Stereotypes affect one’s social life, emotions, and how one interacts with the community. In the 1940’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, there are many stereotypes that are destructive and can prevent individual growth. The three stereotypes that will be focused on are, people who supposedly do bad things are evil and scary, people should not judge others by their actions, and black people are treated poorly based on their skin tone.
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.
Part of the human nature consists of racial judgment towards others. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, presents themes of gender bias, justice, and social class. But one of the main focuses in the book is racism. Most of the people in Maycomb County show racial judgments, opinions, and comments against African American people, as well as white people. Jem and Scout learn the power of racism and what it does to people, as they experience certain situations. 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.
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. As can be seen, Lee’s usage of Tom Robinson’s trial and the racial discrimination and prejudice seen throughout it helps reinforce the theme of social injustice throughout To Kill A Mockingbird. Another encounter that the
In the courtroom the defendant relies on the lawyer to defend him prove him not guilty. A well developed speech can change the views that people have and ultimately land a deadly blow on any thought of prejudice that the court has on the defendant.
Due to the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird, the outcome of Tom Robinson's trial is likely to be Tom ruled guilty. One piece of evidence to support a guilty verdict is the fact that Tom Robinson is black and the Ewells are white. In the 1930's, if a black man was accused of raping a white woman, a guilty verdict and the death penalty was the most common outcome. Earlier on in the story, Atticus states that they had already lost due to the color of Tom's skin. This is also due to the fact that they are having this trail in a heavily segregated south in the 1930's. Lastly, the separation of classes due to the Great Depression being in effect causes Tom to be set below the majority of Maycomb because of Tom's wealth, or lack thereof. Tom
“Naw, Jem, I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.” Different social classes have divided up societies throughout history and still do today in many situations. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird she showed many different types of family and class distinctions. It matters what family or class people belonged to and what class distinctions there were because they affect the story.
To illustrate the black community’s admiration of Atticus, Reverend Sykes and the others in the balcony of the courthouse stand when Atticus passes. They show respect and gratitude towards him then and in the next days in the following ways. The fact that Atticus is defending Tom Robinson is a sizable reason why they respect him greatly. In past reading, Atticus shows that he took this case straight to the heart. Though it does not seem true, it deeply impacts Atticus to his core. An example being, “This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience...” (Lee 139). Atticus tells this to Scout because he knows that if he acts as if the case will ruin his career and reputation, she will see that she does
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). Atticus showed that Mr. Ewell was left- handed, and also demonstrated that Tom only can use his right, because an accident that happened to his left hand when he was twelve. The evidence points out that Tom Robinson was not really in trial for being accused of a crime, but because of the color of his skin. The court case was a cover up of a domestic violence at a price of a black man’s life, a real human-
Many people have been ridiculed because of their skin color. They have been given unfair trials throughout American history. Tom Robinson was accused of raping and beating a white woman. Everyone knew that she was lying, but the jury still came to the conclusion that Mr. Robinson was guilty because he was African American. The murder of Emmett Till was a demonstration that whites who committed the worst crime possible would be given a lenient trial because the victim was an African American. The trial of “The Scottsboro boys” was the worst. Everyone knew that the two girls were lying and one of them even confessed that she lied on the stand but the jury still found the defendants guilty. It is not just African Americans
20-year old, Chelsea Steiniger accused Mark Weiner, a Caucasian 52-year old male, of kidnapping and sexually assaulting her back in 2012. Wiener had seen Chelsea walking home through a convenience store’s parking lot after her boyfriend had kicked her out of his house and upon seeing her, Weiner drove Chelsea to her mother’s house. She was texting her boyfriend demeaning texts posing as her kidnapper, Mark. Her boyfriend had called the police when he received the demeaning text messages Chelsea had sent him. When the police arrived, Chelsea had told the police a false story of her waking up in a vacant house where she had to jump from a two-story window to escape, but Mark had done nothing to Chelsea; all he did was drive her to her mother’s house and leave. Tom Robinson, from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, was a falsely accused man who was
Tom is a black man living in Alabama during the 1930s. Long before his trial, he faces prejudice for simply being a successful, working family-man. While Tom was court, it was so far fetched to the jury for a black man to be innocent, that they overlooked the fact he was missing his left hand. Mayella Ewell’s bruises were on the right side of her face, therefore her abuser is left-handed. Scout narrates “Atticus was trying to show… that Mr. Ewell could have beaten up Mayella. …If her right eye was blacked and she was beaten mostly on the right side of the face, it would tend to show that a left-handed person did it.” (Harper Lee 192 ) Bob Ewell had a known history of abusing Mayella but Tom was still convicted. In Maycomb, a white man’s word had more