Examples Of Atticus Closing Speech In To Kill A Mockingbird

Atticus Finch’s closing remarks to the jury consisting of white men, towards a case involving the accused rape of a young woman by a black man, are arguably the strongest words spoken within the entirety of To Kill a Mockingbird. During this monologue, Harper Lee establishes a resigned tone and uses the tone to establish a universal theme of the struggle for equality. Despite knowing the true cause of Mayella Ewell’s injuries, Atticus knew he would lose the case. And, as unfortunate as this was, he accepted that for he had tried his best. During his speech he says time and time again that Tom Robinson is not guilty and that the entire case was futile. He first states that “the defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is,” implying that

In this sentence, Atticus is pleading with the jury to listen to Tom’s side of the story, despite knowing that the men on the jury will name Tom guilty, merely because of his skin color. By portraying Atticus’ closing remarks with a tone of resignation, she clearly expresses a theme of the struggle for equality. Namely, in the courtroom. Even though Atticus says “in our courts all men are created equal” he knows that truly they are not. It was customary to believe a white person’s word over a black person’s word, just based on skin tone alone (274). If one does not, they are tantalized, and as seen earlier in the book called a “negro lover” and more provocative terms which, back then were seen as incredibly negative. When Atticus was first assigned Tom Robinson’s case he received many jeers such as the above. While this did not concern him. It most definitely bothered his children. So, both in court and in daily life, a black man’s word was seen as less valuable than a white man’s word, and therefore was less valid in their eyes. Thus, the worth of their words were