ipl-logo

Does Fear Lead To Fear In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

788 Words4 Pages

Were you ever accused of something that didn’t really happen? Did people start to treat you poorly because of it for no reason? In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a black man was accused of a crime that he did not commit. In fact, all of these things happened in this book. It was fear that led to this whole problem. This essay will show you the fear, the good versus bad, and how it leads to injustice for this black man.

Fear is what makes us stop and think. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a black man decides to help a white woman, but gets caught up in a conundrum and runs. “ I was runnin’ so fast I didn’t know what happened .”(Lee 260). This black man, Tom Robinson, ran because he knew that if he got caught ,he would lose the argument, just because he was black. This was because this novel took …show more content…

Tom could have gave the truth and a white person would have not believed him. Fear can be bad or good. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, a man named Atticus, has a brave daughter, Scout, and a son, Jem. Atticus is a lawyer who is defending Tom Robinson, a black man. Atticus is defending Tom because he was accused of rape. Atticus knew that it would take a lot of work to find a black man not guilty vs a white woman. There was a mob that showed up at the county jail where Tom Robinson was and wanted to kill him. The mob was telling Atticus to stop defending Tom and his son Jem spoke up. That made the mob mad and they picked Jem up. Atticus’ daughter Scout spoke out to the mob unhappily. “He yanked Jem nearly off his feet” (Lee 203). “Don’t you touch him! I kicked the man swiftly” (Lee 204). Scout did not care what the man did to her brother. She wanted her brother to say what

Show More
Related
793 Words | 4 Pages

Leading up to the Civil Rights Movement, the black community was in a constant battle against law enforcement treating them unfair compared to the white community. The Scottsboro Boys and Emmett Till’s cases were one of the many times that the legal system showed to be unfair to blacks. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, the law enforcement and community were very racist against blacks and believed all blacks were criminals. In the story, Atticus Finch, who is a lawyer gets put into a very difficult situation and decides to defend a black man, who went by the name of Tom Robinson.

Read More
762 Words | 4 Pages

In society today there are those that are pushed out of the crowd because of what they look like, how they act, and what others say to be true about them. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows that unselfish, kind hearted people can experience prejudice from others. Always wanting to be the better person, Atticus Finch is like the mockingbird when taking the responsibility of defending Tom Robinson, who is a black man. Once Atticus gets the news that he will be defending Tom Robinson, who is accused of rape, he is very stressed until the end of the trial. Harper Lee shows this when she says, “It’s this Tom Robinson case that’s worrying him to death...”

Read More
458 Words | 2 Pages

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys that prejudice divides communities and that persecution of innocent people is evil; furthermore; these two minor themes reinforce the major thematic idea that a simple assumption can divide people. When Tom Robinson is put on trial for supposedly raped Mayella Ewell, the racism in Maycomb surfaces and creates conflict. In the novel, a stranger says, “You know what we want,” ‘another man said.’ “Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch.”(172). Some drunken men want to harm Tom Robinson for the wrong that he did.

Read More
1402 Words | 6 Pages

A critical event in the book is when Atticus accepts to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, who is accused of raping Mayella Ewell; however, he is disfavored against by the town due to his race. In the book, Atticus says, “...The only thing we’ve got is a black man’s word against the Ewells’. The evidence boils down to you did--I-didn’t. The jury couldn’t possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson’s word against the Ewells’...” (Lee 117).

Read More
677 Words | 3 Pages

African American children, especially those with disabilities, provide an easy outlet for the police and campus security to act upon their white supremacist beliefs. In the case of Madisyn Wordlow, she was punished based on the security guard’s idea that he was “teaching her a f------ lesson” (qtd in Boroff). She had not actually stolen a piece of candy, but that did not matter to the guard. From his perspective, this was the perfect opportunity to humiliate and degrade an African American girl. He went on a power trip and belittled a child for their skin color, turning accusations about stealing a piece of candy into an event that scarred Wordlow for life.

Read More
1090 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
422 Words | 2 Pages

In the 1930’s, when a black man's word was opposing a white man’s word, they always lost because people assumed that whites are always telling the truth and blacks always lie. When one of the kids(find out which one) asks atticus why he is even attempting to defend Tom when he knows

Read More
1079 Words | 5 Pages

Tom, a black man, has to state his side of the story in front of two white men. Atticus knows Tom will not be rightfully listened to. He represents a brave character by standing up against

Read More
1166 Words | 5 Pages

Despite racial inequalities in the South, Atticus sticks to his own morals and agrees to be the defending lawyer for Tom Robinson, a black man being accused of raping a white woman. Although Atticus’ defense in court was thorough and clearly proved Tom’s innocence, the jury was prejudiced towards black folks and convicted Tom as guilty. Nonetheless, Atticus is still a hero despite losing the case. He has the courage to stand up for what he believes in, fights with reason rather than guns, and has utmost determination, making him a hero despite being just an average human being. Ultimately, his thoughts and actions set the stage for major changes in the meaning of equality throughout Maycomb County, changing lives of numerous people.

Read More
833 Words | 4 Pages

In To Kill a Mockingbird, ignorance, prejudice, and racism is all illustrated by the public education system, neighbors, and the trial. We all know that one person who refuses to accept that everybody’s equal. Go ahead and think of them. Now, picture this: You are in a courtroom on trial for the rape of a 19 year old white girl. You know that you didn’t do it, and there is overwhelming evidence pointing toward the fact that you didn’t.

Read More
857 Words | 4 Pages

Essay In the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, there are many important messages shown throughout the book. However the primary focus was set on racial prejudice that existed in the 1930s-1940’s in the fictional town of Maycomb County. The racism in the novel was very much a reality in 1930s-1940s America. A very good example of the racial prejudice that existed was in the courtroom during Tom Robinson’s trial, an innocent Negro man held against his will for a crime he did not commit.

Read More
754 Words | 4 Pages

Tom Robinson is a black man who is wrongfully convicted of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell. This novel goes through Scout's life from when she was 6, till she is 9. She lives in the town of Maycomb Alabama, and lives an innocent life until about halfway through the story, where she begins to ask questions. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout shows the readers that racial inequality creates an unjust society through the African American community, through the people surrounding colored folks, and through Tom Robinson’s Case. The first example of the consequences of racial inequality is the African American community in Maycomb.

Read More
830 Words | 4 Pages

Tom Robinson is a young African-American who's been accused of raping and abusing Mayella Ewell, a young and closeted white woman. Racial discrimination is hinted throughout Tom’s trial as Atticus Finch explains to Jem that a white man’s word will always win over that of a black man’s - "... 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" (220). Atticus explains to Jem that in the courts of Maycomb, a black man’s state of innocence or guilt is truly determined by a white man’s testimony.

Read More
941 Words | 4 Pages

Though many people think that emotion helps make rational resolutions, often times it hurts one’s ability to do so. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout, the protagonist, and her family discover the need for logic when her father takes an important court case. Sadly, most of the people of Maycomb in the 1930s became corrupt because they do not use rationality in their lives. Throughout the novel, Scout and the reader both learn that one should not let their emotions rule their reason when making decisions. Even before the court case began, Scout learns about the recurring theme of logic being more effective than her feelings when forming opinions of others and in communicating.

Read More
740 Words | 3 Pages

Jem further understood the true meaning of moral courage when he saw Atticus defending Tom Robinson, a black man. Although Atticus was hugely outnumbered and even cornered by Mr Cunningham and some other people, he did not back down from them. Instead, he seemed even more determined to win the case and prove Tom Robinson 's innocence to all of Maycomb County. Almost everyone in Maycomb County had criticised Atticus and his children for taking up the case of defending Tom Robinson and they were even called "nigger lovers" by many. At first, Jem did not understand why his father chose to defend Tom Robinson when he knew that people would whisper and gossip about it and that the possibility of him winning the case was very low.

Read More

More about Does Fear Lead To Fear In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

Related Topics

Open Document