ipl-logo

Ethical Issues In To Kill A Mockingbird

1199 Words5 Pages

Harper Lee wrote, “To Kill a Mockingbird” during a racial period in her home state of Alabama. This was when the South was still segregated, forcing blacks to use separate facilities apart from those used by whites. The Civil Rights movement started to become more active when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. During this period, Martin Luther King, Jr., became the leader of the movement, and the issue began to gain serious national attention. This is when public opinion in the US began to seriously oppose racism. The main subject of “To Kill a Mockingbird” is the injustice of racism and inequality in the American South. The book helped to expose racism in the US. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a novel …show more content…

Atticus defended Tom Robinson in the trial even though he knew it was not an easy thing to doing and also he knew Tom was not going to win, because of the unfair judgedment. Tom was innocent, he did not commit the crime he was accused of and Atticus knew that. Despite the fact Tom is black that does stop Atticus from defending him in the court even though it was not the normal thing to do during that time because of widespread of discrimination of blacks. Tom was completely innocent and still was accused of rape and charged to court to crime he know nothing about. This is an example of injustice. In our criminal justice system today, this same type of discrimination persists, especially for individuals from the lower-class. In the case of Tom Robinson, he was not the one who raped Mayella it was so Bob Ewell who raped her, yet they accused Tom and he was even charged with the crime just because of his skin color. This is a pure injustice in the criminal justice …show more content…

This is considered injustice in the criminal justice system, because Boo did not do anything to deserve such cruel punishment. He was just a child and did not know anything. He shouldn't have been punished that way. It was too severe of a punishment, especially since he did not commit a crime. Sadly, this type of injustice highlighted in “To Kill a Mockingbird” continues in the criminal justice system. A review of recent news headlines reveals that innocent people are still sent to jail decades after “To Kill a Mockingbird” was written. Also, Dolphus Raymond was shunned by his community just because he is white and got married to a black woman, and has mixed children. He was judged as a person and could not be with the woman he loved just because of the color of her skin. In today's society, we see this discrimination everywhere. This has not stopped. Atticus is one of the few men in the story who treat black and whites equal. This can be seen as a portrayal of true justice. This is what the criminal justice system should do. It should treat everyone equal regardless of color.
The courtroom spectators find it hard to believe that Bob was getting fair treatment when obviously, Tom was innocent. Atticus believes everyone deserves a fair chance no matter the color of their skin. Even though he knew he wouldn't win the case, he stayed positive throughout. In “To

Show More
Related

Summary Of Outrage Over 6 Month Sentence For Brock Turner Rape Case

425 Words | 2 Pages

A moral that is common to both To Kill a Mockingbird and an article titled “ Outrage Over 6 Month Sentence for Brock Turner Rape Case”, is that favoring a certain race or social class causes society to degress rather than progress. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the Ewells had accused a man named Tom Robinson of rape and they already acted like they’ve won the case because “ ‘ when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. ’”(295), they knew that whatever they accused Tom of they could’ve gotten away with it as a result of the color of their skin. More importantly, there wasn’t really a case to begin with as “ Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” (323), the result was already decided before the case got to court.

Read More

Similarities Between Scottsboro Boys And To Kill A Mockingbird

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

To Kill A Mockingbird Atticus Quotes Analysis

310 Words | 2 Pages

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

Read More

To Kill A Mockingbird Prejudice Quotes

1119 Words | 5 Pages

Though people are fond of Atticus himself, his decision to aim for Tom Robinson’s justice causes discomfort, “ ‘Lemme tell you somethin’ now, Billy’ a third said, ‘you know the court appointed him to defend this nigger.’ ‘Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it” (186). The quote exposes that everyone understand the fact that he is assigned to the case but do not understand as to why he is so intent on proving a black man’s innocence. Since Atticus exceedingly expresses his thought on Tim’s innocence and involves so much of himself in the case with a black person, he obtains negative feedback and gets called a nigger-lover.

Read More

Essay On Atticus Justice In To Kill A Mockingbird

436 Words | 2 Pages

The reason why Atticus defended a black man and did what most everyone would never think of doing is because of justice and civilly going against the norm. The character, a lawyer named Atticus, also endangers not only his own life but his family's, by defending a Negro. He believes he is protecting an innocent man. Even though he is black.

Read More

To Kill A Mockingbird Theme Essay

1473 Words | 6 Pages

The main theme of “ To Kill a Mockingbird” The main theme of the novel is about how people learn and grow to understand the world and how complicated it is, including issues such as prejudice, discrimination, and unfairness. Harper Lee uses the novel to show that these issues are everywhere in society and can have serious consequences. But also shows that empathy, kindness, and doing what’s right can make a major difference.

Read More

Why Is Tom Robinson Trial Unfair

1904 Words | 8 Pages

The trial pertaining to Tom Robinson though a very tragic and unfair trial but is not the most unfair of the trials presented. In this trial a Tom Robinson was blamed on the false case of rape. “Atticus was asked to defend Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman.” (Chapter 9, page ) Now this is a case that Atticus has no real chance of winning and he knows this.

Read More

To Kill A Mockingbird Coming Of Age Quotes

1272 Words | 6 Pages

Atticus defends Tom Robinson in court, who was being accused of raping a white woman. Tom Robinson was innocent of the crime, but the verdict was guilty. Atticus doesn’t care about if Tom is black or white, he was just trying defend the man on trial who was wrongly accused. Atticus believes that innocence is “a truth” that “applies to the human race and to no particular race of men” ( 273.) This describes his eagerness to protect Tom, because of his unfair accusation.

Read More

Flaws In 12 Angry Men And To Kill A Mockingbird

2194 Words | 9 Pages

Trials held in America at the time of these two productions were never fair to African Americans because of the makeup, views, and general nature of juries. Juries never could fully understand the views and motives of the defendant because they were not consisted of the defendant’s peers. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson was convicted by a jury made up of middle-aged, white men, so they were unable to understand and view the case from Tom’s point of view. When talking to Scout, Atticus says that most people in Maycomb believe that white people are superior to black people, and that is how it is in court as well. He says,,

Read More

To Kill A Mockingbird Bedevils The Trial

472 Words | 2 Pages

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the verdict is unfair because the circumstances of the trial inherently incriminate Tom Robinson. During the portion of this quote, Atticus Finch is giving his closing statement to the jury, pleading with them to spare Tom’s life. The evidence outlines the fundamental flaw that bedevils the trial — there is little evidence to support either side. Atticus says, “‘To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white.

Read More

Ethical Dilemmas In To Kill A Mockingbird

1399 Words | 6 Pages

Humans live in a world where moral values are very clearly set determining what is good and what is bad. We know what scares us and how racism should be treated. Nevertheless, this was not the case back in Alabama during the 1950s. In the famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee narrates the lives of the people of Maycomb, Alabama, focusing on the story of Scout and Jem Finch, and the case of a said to be rape. In this emotion filled narrative, readers learn how life was back then not only in general, but for the separate social statuses that there was.

Read More

To Kill A Mockingbird Equality Analysis

1591 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout the whole trial there are multiple times when anyone who reads the novel knows that he is not getting a fair shake. The first time is when Atticus delivers his closing remarks and he says something that is very powerful and also very true about the case and Tom receiving an unfair trial, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 203). What Atticus explains is that no matter how plain it is to everyone that Tom is innocent and could not have commited the crime, it does not matter because one thing is certain, Tom is black. And the jury being white means he has no chance at winning, it’s truly sad, but during the time of the trial that 's just how society works.

Read More

To Kill A Mockingbird: A Virtuous Character Study

626 Words | 3 Pages

Atticus, a lawyer and father, is asked to represent an African American, Tom Robinson, who is accused of beating and raping a white woman. Even though the entire town of Maycomb, Alabama, judged Tom guilty even before his trial began, Atticus knew Tom had the constitutional right to a fair trial and refused to withdraw from the case even after receiving threats towards himself and family. Atticus had a strong sense of right and wrong that he strived to pass on to his children. He applied his sense of right and wrong to his daily life by performing actions that coincided with his beliefs. For example, the night Atticus was warned that numerous towns people were headed to the jail to murder Tom.

Read More

To Kill A Mockingbird Argumentative Essay Argument

450 Words | 2 Pages

In my opinion that is truly unfair. It makes sense as to why Atticus decided to defend Tom Robinson. He continuously tries to find the good in everyone and believes that the black community contains good people. Atticus had mentioned to his brother, Jack, that Tom was innocent but “doomed”. It was impossible

Read More

To Kill A Mocking Bird

211 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout my life I have read several books over the years. Fiction books specifically have helped me understand issues like racism and poverty. In this written response, I would like to focus on the book “To Kill a Mockingbird”. This realistic Fiction novel is a perfect example of a book that has helped promote the severity of such issues like racism.

Read More

More about Ethical Issues In To Kill A Mockingbird

Related Topics

Open Document