To Kill a Mockingbird Essay “When the Fox hears the Rabbit scream he comes a-runnin', but not to help,” vividly allegorized Thomas Harris. The callous guards of Enfield Prison Farm heard a defenseless rabbit fleeing for its life, and, like the supremacist savages that they were, saw an opportunity. They did not kill the rabbit because it was reasonable or because it was their duty. They did not even haphazardly harm it in the heat of the moment. The fox saw a crippled negro man deploying his last strengths, and it preyed on him, mutilating him with each of their seventeen barraging bullets. Everyone in their right mind understands that murder is wrong. However, many southerners of Tom Robinson’s time stood by and watched injustice like his death take place. Others, like Atticus Finch, did not allow bigotry to cloud their judgement and agree that Tom should not have been shot. Tom, a young black man living in Maycomb County Alabama, had been convicted of rape, a capital offense, by a jury biased by his race. Mr. Robinson and his lawyer, Atticus, decided to appeal his case to a higher court in hopes of the fair trial …show more content…
Right in front of them” (315), proves that it was illegal for the guards to kill Mr. Robinson for his escape attempt. There are many governmental institutions that could have been utilized to spare Tom: an increased punishment as decided by his appeals judge, higher security prisons, and fining. Therefore, shooting Tom, especially an arbitrary amount, was unnecessary and illegal. Finally, the death of a citizen would not only be illegal in the eyes of the state, but the loss of a child would also be heinous in the eyes of God. The sixth commandment of the Decalogue as stated by Exodus 20:13 of the NIV commands, “You shall not