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A essay about atticus finch
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In Live Oak, Florida, the year of 1952, an African American woman named Ruby McCollum was arrested and convicted for killing a white doctor named C. Leroy Adams. During this point in time, racism was even more alive than it is today. It was said that McCollum was lucky to have even gotten a trial at all instead of just being lynched. Her trial is very interesting to me because she stood up against people that wanted to see her be put in prison for the rest of her life. To be specific, none of the jury were female, and all of them were white, some of whom were patients of Dr. Adams.
In the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch appears to be a well respected man in his town of Maycomb, but is he? He lost his court case for his client and shot a dog. So the question is, “Why is he so respected?” First of all, Atticus may have lost the court case for Tom Robinson but he was the only white lawyer that would defend the black man. This is why Mr. Finch was picked to support Tom by the Judge of Maycomb.
During the trial of Tom Robinson, for being accused of raping a white women. Some people in the town turned their backs on Atticus for taken the case. Atticus took the case and has proven that Tom is innocent but as Atticus knows since Tom is a “Black Male” that he would never be treated fairly. When the closing argument comes about, Atticus tells the people on the jury that they need to look past Tom being “Black Man” and see him and treat him just as a regular man. Atticus is trying to have them do the right thing instead of listening to the town and doing the wrong thing.
Atticus is strongly affected by racism and due to the impacts of racism his reputation went down the drain and he also lost his case due to racist judgements but yet Atticus fought for Toms freedom and did not give up and ignored the names he was called. Atticus is affected by racism because he is fighting for a black man, therefore it is hard for him to win the case due to racist judgements such as, “To begin with this case should never have come to trial. This case is simple as black and white.” (Lee271) This quote is said by the jury and is a racial judgment since they are saying that the whites are always above the blacks and blacks will always commit the crimes which puts Atticus in a rough situation because the jury will believe Tom Robinson
Chapter Nine 23. Atticus feels he needs to defend Tom Robinson so he can uphold his sense of justice and self respect. 24. Atticus says that just because Tom Robinson is black doesn't give him a reason to not try to win.
Injustice The Scottsboro Case shed light on the racial practices expressed in law that made a great impact on the legal system today. The actual victims of the Case did not receive a fair trial due to the color of their skin. The ones who played the victims planned the crime, and their stories made no sense. But like many of the trials during the time it wasn’t based on the actual evidence that was found,or even the defendants ' stories.
The Tom Robison case was assigned to Atticus to try and prove Tom not guilty. The case was a black man verse a white man, Tom verse Bob, and Bob accused Tom of raping his daughter. It was a he-said-he-said type, and no one had any proof except for the bruises and cuts on Mayella, Bob's daughter. It was close to impossible for a black man to win that case, but Atticus still tried.
Atticus tried to make it a fair trial for Tom even though he knew he was going to be convicted. Atticus did everything he could do in his power to make it seem like Tom was going to win. If another white man was put on the case to defend Tom i truly believe that would no intention of even trying to get the man a fair trial because of how racist they are. On the other hand Atticus gathered evidence about his victim and her father, to make it a fair trial on Atticus’s part. For example he had Bob Ewell write on a piece of paper to see which hand he wrote with, so he could figure out which hand he would've hit his daughter with.
Atticus took the Tom Robinson case, which prosecuted Tom for the raping of a young white female. Atticus knew that the case would be very difficult to prove he is not guilty but took it anyways. Many people questioned his actions and many disapproved of the example he was setting. But when his children asked, Atticus said “ The main one is, if I don’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem to do something again”(Lee 73).
I know one person that I would call “ an Attacus” he was my seventh grade bible teacher, Mr. Andrianni. He reminds me of Atticus because of his defiance of what society deems acceptable in his own pursuit to become a more righteous man. Mr. A spoke out against other authorities in our lives and the lies they told us because they wanted to appear to be less controversial and uninformed. He also taught us that through the faults that he would bring to light we should still respect and obey those authorities unless complying would be a sin. Similarly, Atticus did not agree with the townspeople on their morals and he used those people as examples for his children to teach them right and wrong.
Atticus Takes a Stand “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” ( Lee 101). To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, takes place in a town called Maycomb, where coloreds are looked down upon. Atticus, one of the main characters, is a father of a boy and a girl, Scout and Jem. He is assigned a case where a colored man, Tom Robinson, is accused of raping a white girl.
To Begin with, Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird shows his care and compassion for Tom as he defends Tom against an entire jury who believes he is guilty because of the color of his skin. Atticus while talking to his children makes the statement, “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” (Mockingbird 76). Atticus is saying that just because many people have been made to believe that blacks do not have the same legal rights as whites do that they cannot win the case, yet Atticus states that he will try his hardest to try and win the case. In addition, he believes everyone’s mind is set on Tom being guilty because of the color of his skin, but he will try everything to change the minds
Throughout his closing arguments, Atticus is constantly trying to show both the jury and the people of Maycomb why this case should never have gone to trial and he does so with a lot of emotional appeal. An example of this is seen when he states “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (271). This quote uses powerful language such as the phrase “as simple as black and white” which shows how a case with seemingly blatant evidence proving Tom Robinson’s innocence, is undermined by the prejudice which exists in society at the time. Atticus argues that the whole reason this case had ever gotten to this point is because of the racial inequality in Maycomb and throughout the country at the time.
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.
There are several reasons Atticus takes the case, even though the odds of winning are slim due to the notion that in the courts of the 1930’s “ when it’s a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins.” (Lee 220) Atticus defends Tom for two reasons: out of respect for his own moral belief in racial equality and to be an example to his children. Atticus shows great courage when he takes the case, knowing his belief in racial equality is not accepted by the community. His whole family suffer the consequences and his children are exposed to the harsh reality of the racist justice system.
