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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.
Tenea Hansen Perspective can impact many factors in a person’s life; whether they are happy or not, how they act, and who they might spend time with. How one thinks about their circumstances and other people can also greatly influence individual’s personal beliefs. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys this idea numerous times through the characters. Three of the protagonists that exemplify this are Dill, Scout and Atticus. Dill is an excellent example of the idea that an individual’ personal beliefs are affected by his’ or her’s perspective.
The jury’s verdict for the Tom Robinson trial was guilty. The reasons why the verdict was guilty, is simply because they were racist. They all heard clear evidence on how Tom was guilty from Atticus, but if anyone on the jury were to disagree that a black man was innocent, they would have been shamed by the whole county. This case is based off of the real world trial involving the 9 black boys who were accused of raping 2 white women on a train, in Scottsboro. These boys were ranged from 13 to 20 years old, and everyone was put on death row, except the minor who got life in prison.
When he was announcing the final verdict, “Judge Taylor was polling the jury: ‘guilty… guilty… guilty… guilty…” (Lee 112). Before the trial even happened, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” meaning he knew he was not going to win (Lee 128). The jury was biased from the beginning because it was all white. The case wasn't fair because Tom never had a chance of winning because he was going up against a white man and a white man would always win against a black man.
These men, due to their personal beliefs, decided to go against the rule of law and what they knew to be false evidence to convict a man purely because of his race. " Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men's hearts, Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed". Despite the questionable evidence against Tom, the jury had taken their prejudice and personal beliefs into the court, causing Tom to be at a disadvantage before the trial had even begun. They had deprived Tom of the basic right of equality within a court of law.
The answer is no. and why is that? Because after the trial Tom tried running and he was shot 17 times. Tom Robinson was put on to trial for being accused of rape of Mayella Ewell. He was found guilty and in the end he was killed.
To show, Atticus explains to his son Jem that the justice system is broken and favor white people no matter how strong of a case he could make, “There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn't be fair if they tried. 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.” (Lee, Chapter 23). Atticus has experience with these cases before because of his job and he knows how it all works, no matter what he does, nothing he could do would help him win if he was defending a black person.
They were talking if a Negro is going against a white person in a Jury the white person always win no matter who they are. In their conversation Atticus said “ In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always win. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life.” (220). This relates to Racial Inequality because when a white person is going against an another white person one of the person should or must be guilty.
Tom was accused of raping a white woman who was Mayella Ewell, Mayella said he raped her while he was helping her with chores. She later on tells the readers that it was false allegations. The reason why she didn 't tell the truth at her first trial was because, Mayella was afraid of being embarrassed because she kissed a black male. She rather have an innocent man get charged with a crime than that. “However, Robinson was transferred from the state prison to Maycomb 's county jail on Saturday, two days before he stood trial on Monday, and Atticus had to defend him against a lynch mob”.
Why or why not? Would having an all-black jury have resulted in a different verdict? Tom Robinson did receive a fair trial; however, he was not fairly judged. Atticus ensured that he had the best chance of being found innocent. By showing plenty of evidence, and having strong statements.
Tom Robinson is innocent. Still, the system will never see it that way because they can not see past Tom’s skin color, not only Tom but many people in the African American community. The Story To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set in the town of Maycomb Alabama in the 1930s, in this story, a black man named Tom Robinson is accused of raping a young white woman Mayella Ewell, Mayella and her family are well-known for being “trashy” they still hold a higher status than Tom just because of their skin color, this shows how unfair the system is, and even though supporting Tom and defending a black man would make him look bad and ruin his reputation Atticus Finch was determined to help Tom and prove he is innocent. You shouldn’t be prejudiced, judging someone before you
One aspect of racism is present in the final decision of Tom Robinson’s court case. Tom was accused of raping a young girl named Mayella who has an abusive father named Bob Ewell. Despite the fact that the evidence proves Tom as innocent, it was decided that he was guilty because he is a person of color in court against a white family with an all white jury. While closing the case and trying to defend Tom, Atticus, Tom’s lawyer, states, “Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal” (Lee 274). Atticus stating that all men are created equal shows that everyone in court should be treated the same, regardless of race, gender, social status, or anything that is irrelevant to the case.
Due to the fact that this event happened during the 1930’s in Alabama, it is no surprise that the jury would take a white person's story over a black citizens story. Throughout the book you gain the understanding that almost everybody in this town is racist, and mayella uses that fact against tom in the trial: “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case” (Lee 25). Even though atticus gave amazing arguments, and almost everyone knew Tom was not lying, the jury could not break the “social rules” of the town to show that Tom was indeed innocent. According to the NCBI it is more likely for a black defendant to be accused as guilty against a white defendant: “Racial bias appears to lead jurors in trials of stranger rape to convict Black defendants more readily and to sentence them more harshly than White defendants” (Hymes). This fact helps show that even if there were more people leaning to Tom’s freedom, the fact that he is black and Mayella is white would most likely end up in him being
The justice system has always been the heart of America. But like this country, it has many faults. Prejudice has played a major role in the shaping of this system. In the 1930’s the way a courtroom was set up was completely different from how it looks to day. In the book To Kill A MockingBird, Harper Lee shows just how different it is.
In my opinion that is truly unfair. It makes sense as to why Atticus decided to defend Tom Robinson. He continuously tries to find the good in everyone and believes that the black community contains good people. Atticus had mentioned to his brother, Jack, that Tom was innocent but “doomed”. It was impossible