To Kill A Mockingbird Fairness And Justice Essay

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In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird we are presented with many events which question and look into the concepts of fairness and justice. These events make us ponder what truly is fair and bring to light the gross miscarriage of justice that was faced by people of colour in earlier times. Three major events that explore these ideas are Tom Robinson’s court case, a classroom discussion regarding Adolf Hitler and the death of Bob Ewell. Through these events, we come to realise the true discrimination faced by so many people of the time, and the how scarce the number of people in the novel who have proper ethical or ‘fair’ views is.

When it is announced that Tom Robinson has been found guilty of his charges in his court case, though we feel upset and can identify the …show more content…

This is due to the entire lead up to the court case preparing us by giving us insight to the views of the people of Maycomb and by Atticus expressing his helplessness with the case. From the very start of the book we are shown that Maycomb is a very tightly knit community that is set in its ways and quite narrow minded in some respects. At the beginning of the book when we are learning about Boo Radley, it is stated that the sheriff “hadn’t the heart the heart to put him in jail alongside the Negroes” which sets the scene and makes us aware of the unfairness and social rank very early on. Children, family, and other members of Maycomb County also call Atticus a “nigger lover” and make numerous hateful comments towards him to Scout and Jem. This makes us aware that Atticus does not have the support of the community and therefore dampens our hopes that Tom Robinson will win his case a little bit further. A segment of a paper written by Judge Royal Furgeson addresses some interesting points questioning how the jury could have possibly found Robinson guilty. Furgeson explain how the jury was “populated by 12 white men” and contained no women or minorities even

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