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To kill a mockingbird equality and justice
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Us Whites; Them Dlacks I believe that all white men should de treated equal, but a black man, is not like any white man, and shoulb be treated worse than us whites. All men in Maycomd County should see it the same way, even that stupib niiiiii loving Atticus Finch. I can not believe he would try to convince all of Maycomd that i beat Mayella, and dishonor me that way that he did. I was so mad at the end of that of the end of that case that “Mr.” Atticus Finch woulb disgrace me like that, and in the defense of a dlack man? Us whites should should defend each other, and not that dlack Tom Robinson that raped my girl Mayella. I was so mab that a couple days after the trial, I spat in his face and tolb him that Ill get him, even if it takes the
Today in Maycomb County, there was a trail against a local African American man named “Tom Robinson.” He was accused for raping and beating up a white girl named “Mayella.” His lawyer is “Atticus Finch” is facing off against “Mr. Gilmer” the district attorney. Judge Taylor, appears to be sleeping through out the trial, yet pays attention and tends to chew his cigar. The supposed crime occurred in Mayella’s home, when Tom Robinson went to fix something and then he raped her.
Atticus is doing his job and defending a black man he is classed as a
The novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is a simplistic view of life in the Deep South of America in the 1930s. An innocent but humorous stance in the story is through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch. Scout is a young adolescent who is growing up with the controversy that surrounds her fathers lawsuit. Her father, Atticus Finch is a lawyer who is defending a black man, Tom Robinson, with the charge of raping a white girl. The lives of the characters are changed by racism and this is the force that develops during the course of the narrative.
are referred to in the novel. As I mentioned above, there are a lot of
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus says “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” (Chapter 9). In this book, Atticus takes the case when Tom Robinson took advantage of a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Even though Tome was convicted guilty in this case, it was right for Atticus to defend Tom Robinson.
In a desperate attempt to save his client, Tom Robinson, from death, Atticus Finch boldly declares, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 271). The gross amounts of lurid racial inequality in the early 20th century South is unfathomable to the everyday modern person. African-Americans received absolutely no equality anywhere, especially not in American court rooms. After reading accounts of the trials of nine young men accused of raping two white women, novelist Harper Lee took up her pen and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, a blistering exposition of tragic inequalities suffered by African Americans told from the point of view of a young girl. Though there are a few trivial differences between the events of the Scottsboro trials and the trial of Tom Robinson portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the accusers’ attitudes towards attention, the two cases share a superabundance of similarities. Among these are the preservation of idealist views regarding southern womanhood and excessive brutality utilized by police.
Citizens of Maycomb, I come to you as a friend. I speak to you all as equals, black and white men alike. We have quite the dilemma in our town right now. To be satisfied with sentencing Tom Robinson with the attack and rape of Mayella Ewell without examining the facts is racist and could possibly get me disbarred for not carrying out my duty to the truth. I am trying my best to find out what really happened that fateful afternoon. So if you open your minds to all of the facts instead of fueling black folk stereotypes, it would help me give you the truth.
Tom Robinson is guilty. Not only is that a false statement, it also shows how unfair we are when it comes to the black community. Obviously Tom Robinson was an innocent man, but since his skin color is black it does not matter, he would end up doing something illegal anyhow right? Wrong. I could have said more about what I saw, I could have helped more than what I did. But there it is again, I am white and I wanted to keep my peace with the townspeople. White supremacy is what the law is… but should that really be the law?
...uth to fully understand that it is typical to act superior to those with colored skin. All Dill sees is a man being rude to another, just because of his skin color. While Atticus clearly shows everyone in the court that it was almost impossible for Tom Robinson to have beat Mayella, he still loses the case just because he was a black man against a white woman. Lee includes, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” (Lee 323) This enforces how it didn’t matter what Tom was really doing or why Mayella was screaming, but just by the way Tom looked they were able to essentially pin the rape and the beatings on Tom. Of course this was not true and he did not receive the justice he deserved, but that didn’t matter to Maycomb. All that mattered was the color of his skin and what the teenage white girl named Mayella Ewell said about him.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”-Martin Luther King Jr. This quote shows how racism is like darkness and hate and love and light are the only way to drive racism out. The story takes place at the time of the great depression. Scout lives in a very racist and judgement city in the south. A black male is accused of raping a white woman. Scouts dad Atticus gets appointed to be the defendant's lawyer. Racism is an antagonist in To Kill A Mockingbird because the white people of Maycomb discriminate the blacks and make them feel lesser. The theme racism can be harmful to everyone is shown by many characters throughout the book.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960, is a novel which explores the theme of challenging racial prejudice. Within this novel, Lee has portrayed unintentional racial prejudice through the characters Atticus Finch, Link Deas and Scout Finch. With these characters, and their roles in exploring the theme of racial prejudice, Harper Lee has set unintentional boundaries for readers, as result, racial prejudicial thinking from contemporary perspective, in comparison to historical views, is challenged to a small extent.
In the book, Atticus Finch individually defends a black man because he realizes it’s the right thing to do. However, in the grand scheme of things, Atticus actually putting in an effort to defend a black man didn’t make a very large dent in the town’s overall attitude towards black people because he is, no matter what others thought of him, just one man. Practically every student receiving a public education in the United States today reads that book. They realize where racism started and grow compassionate for Tom because of the social injustice he faced throughout the book. It’s important for kids to keep reading these kinds of books, so we don’t go backwards in our efforts to stop racism.
The historical Scottsboro Trial and the fictional trial of Tom Robinson in the book To Kill a Mockingbird have striking similarities that may or may not be coincidence. Both trials took place in Alabama during the same era of relentless prejudice and bias, which is a major factor in each of these cases. In both cases, the accusers were white women and the persecutors were black men; therefore the black men were immediately considered liars and “wrongdoers”, unlike the word of the white women, which was essentially the truth above the word of someone who was black. Even when the persecutors in these cases had a possible chance of being declared innocent, mobs of citizens formed to threaten them, many of whom were simply racist against blacks. As is evident in these trials, most white people could easily accuse a black person of a crime whether they committed it or not and unjustly get away with it.
First, the people of Maycomb unjustly convict black people through their racism. Regardless of the evidence, a black person cannot win in the court of Maycomb. To illustrate, in the Tom Robinson case, Atticus proves Tom’s innocence, but the jury still convicts him. Even though the truth is
'Democracy,' she said. 'Does anybody have a definition?' ... 'Equal rights for all, special privileges for none' (Lee 248).