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How did racism play a role in to kill a mockingbird
How did racism play a role in to kill a mockingbird
Race problems in to kill a mockingbird
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Next, it is easy to tell that Mr. Bob Ewell and his daughter were more concerned about arresting Tom Robinson rather than the actual case. They were quick to point fingers, but they had trouble paying attention during the trial. When asked by Mr. Gilmer (the solicitor) if he was ambidextrous, Mr. Ewell responded by saying, “I most positively am not, I can use one hand good as the other.” Also, Mayella didn’t hesitate to accuse Tom of hitting her left eye even though Mr. Heck Tate clearly stated that her right eye was blackened. The two witnesses were ignorant and nervous throughout cross-examination.
The Ewell children are invisible to Maycomb County when they walk around Maycomb County they usually get rude stares or no looks at all. Ater the Tom Robinson court case the Ewell children decided to step up to their father. The Children followed their oldest brother, Ted, around when dealing with Mr. Ewell. Ted is a jealous teen, maybe because all the other white kids can read and write in Maycomb or because he does not have a reliable father. Aunt Alexandra considers the Ewell family as "poor white trash."
According to Katie Johnston, (2014) the working poor are “waitresses, department store clerks, and fast-food workers. They clean office bathrooms and airplane cabins, care for the elderly, and serve hors d’oeuvres at high-end fund-raisers. One in five workers in the state, the majority of them over 25, make $12 an hour or less. As employers squeeze costs, these low-wage earners frequently can only get part-time work without benefits, some with irregular schedules that make second jobs and child care arrangements difficult. They have no protections from having hours cut
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the Maycomb court system is totally biased in a discriminatory way. The case of Tom Robinson, if it had not been in this court with its racist jurors, would certainly have not ended the way it did. It only ended the way it did because of peer-pressure, a scared victim being manipulated and believed, and an honest man not. Through her testimony, Mayella Ewell constantly lied.
In the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell. He is well known for being a Christian man, but Mr. Ewell claims he saw him raping his daughter. I believe Tom Robinson is innocent because of the Ewell family history, lack of evidence, and he has a disability that causes a problem with the testimony. The Ewell family is nowhere near perfect. Mr. Bob Ewell is known for his violent actions and words.
As a result, this makes their personal belief based off of anger and misery. Bob Ewell’s want for a feeling of power can only be satisfied by belittling anyone he can. The whole Tom Robinson case sprung because Bob Ewell needed to stay above the blacks, so that he could still have what little power he had. If word around the town had been that his daughter seduced a black man, they would be shunned even more than they were. “So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that's something I'll gladly take.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines courage as the ability to do something that frightens one. Many characters in Harper Lee’s mid 20th century novel To Kill a Mockingbird display courage in numerous ways. One character however, jumps out. When first reading the book, most people would say that courage is displayed by those like Jem, Scout, Tom, or Atticus.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a controversial trial between a white family and a black man during the Great Depression is depicted. Bob Ewell, who lives in a run down house by a dumpster, comes home to see his daughter, Mayella, being taken advantage of by Tom Robinson. When their case arrives in court, Tom Robinson argues that he was merely trying to help Mayella Ewell when she tried to kiss him. Although Mr. Robinson was found guilty, Bob Ewell still wants revenge on the attorney representing Tom Robinson, Atticus, and decides to attack his children.
For one, Bob Ewell’s family name is low in the social hierarchy. His family isn’t reputable. In addition, he is known to abuse alcohol which causes him to act irrational. Therefore, these factors could lead to Bob Ewell accusing an innocent black man, Tom Robinson of raping his daughter. Meanwhile, the evidence shows that himself was committing these bad crimes to his very own daughter.
During the trial of Tom Robinson, Atticus is the defending lawyer. He tries to turn the jury towards Bob Ewell the father of the rape victim. Atticus shows the jury that Mr. Ewell could have easily beat his daughter. The main idea that Atticus uses is that Tom Robinson didn’t hurt Mayella Ewell it was Bob Ewell. Although, at the end of the trial, Tom is found guilty and Bob Ewell grows a personal vendetta against Atticus.
¨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¨(pg 241). Tom Robinson, a young black man accused of a crime, is a main example of blindness to prejudice throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Taking place within the Great Depression and the Jim Crow era, these issues affected many people's lives. Throughout the novel, Harper Lee writes about issues with prejudice that are presented often through racism, social class, and sexism.
Bob was furious at the way Atticus had defended the black person, Tom Robinson. He wanted retribution for something that was, according to his world view, a heinous act against the principles of white men. He knew that he couldn’t get to Atticus directly, so he went after the next best thing—his children. Scout and Jem’s guardian angel, Boo Radley, saved them and they got home alive, if not uninjured. They got home to find that their assailant was none other than Bob Ewell.
Bob Ewell and Atticus Finch compare and contrast paper Bob Ewell and Atticus Finch are very different but they do have some similarities and even in their similarities, they are complete opposites. Atticus Finch and Bob Ewell emit prodigious presence in Maycomb, but their frame of reference differs. In the novel To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee forces of good VS. evil. While Atticus and Bob Ewell are both single parents, their parenting styles are very different.
Bob Ewell for example accused Tom Robinson of raping his daughter because he knew that it would be an easy case for him and with no evidence, everyone in the town believes him. Robinson is arrested with no investigation and is placed on trial. Atticus on the other hand, defends Robinson showing he is not like every other white person in the town and does not believe in this racist ideology that blacks are inferior to whites. Another example of Jim Crow attitudes is shown when a mob of whites drive to where Robinson is staying before the trial. They try to lynch him before the trial could start.
Bob Ewell, is Mayella’s father, the villain of the novel and most figures that struts hatred to the African Americans. Bob Ewell has no money, no education, he wants his life to be better, and he pours his anger on whoever is weaker than him. He bashes his daughter when he discovered her intentions towards Tom Robinson; he also tried to hurt Scout and Jem. "I see that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella!" (84)
