All Men Have Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

On July 4, 1776, we declared that all men are created equal. And yet, today, almost 240 years later, in October of 2015, this statement remains untrue. Even after all this time, some group of people always has the most power, not because of who they made themselves out to be, but because of who they were born to be. Today, this group is the majority, whites, and specifically men. One recent example of this is in Ferguson, MO. Even though a man killed another man, charges were not pressed. The man who killed the other is white, and the man who was killed was black. For colored people in the 1930s, life was very difficult. It was hard. It was painful. It was scary. But most of all, it was without power. Author Harper Lee of the renowned novel

The advantages involve being able to get what you want. One major example of this in the book is the racist prosecuting team of the Ewells and Mr. Gilmer. This team, despite their untruthful ways, are able to sway the jury on Tom Robinson’s case. Atticus, in his closing remarks, says “ In our courts all men are created equal,” and yet the jury, after maybe careful, maybe not careful consideration decide to charge Tom Robinson, an innocent man, with rape. Their racism has power, and they can get what they want. One drawback of this power is that just because you have power doesn’t mean you have respect. Take Bob Ewell for example. He is a drunk, uneducated, and unemployed.” One description of him in the novel reads, “He was the only man I heard of who was fired from the WPA for laziness” (Lee 332). This shows how little respect Bob gained, despite having the power to win the trial. He, while having power, was consistently drunk, untrustworthy, and undeserving of respect. Bob Ewell, among many other racist white men in the town of Maycomb, has power, but not everyone realizes that the power comes with disadvantages as

That brings about a great majority of racist white men. The jury in Tom Robinson’s case is made almost wholly, if not entirely of them. The only people in the novel who clearly challenge this stereotype, or status quo, are Atticus Finch and Dolphus Raymond. This makes it not only possible, but fairly effortless for this group of men to have the power. Before the trial begins, Scout and Jem can’t find seats downstairs, where the white people sit. Scout describes the scene and says, “We knew there was a crowd, but we had not bargained for the multitudes” (Lee 217). This isn’t including the colored people, and the children were able to find seats upstairs. There is a much smaller number of colored people than white people. This gives them the power, as well as helps them maintain it. In a society with only a few white people, they would likely not have so much power for long. As Atticus says in chapter 20, “We know all men are not created equal in the sense that some people would have us believe” (Lee 274). People have different opportunities and different ways of thinking, but oftentimes, people go with the status quo, which is established by means of the majority. The racist white men in Maycomb are not few and far between, which helps them to maintain their