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Fair Trial In Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

1439 Words6 Pages

eory or theories of law to critically discuss the question: If it was at all possible for Tom Robinson to receive a fair trial in the south of the USA in the 1930s. Positive law, natural law, critical legal studies and critical race theory are theories that can best critically discuss the question of a fair trial.

Name : Thandekile Mabhena
Student number: 201333250.

To kill a mockingbird is a novel that is set in Maycomb Alabama in the 1930s. The setting is of importance as it brings out the general atmosphere in the area and the given time. This was after the war and a period of the great depression that tore America apart in more ways than one. In this novel, we see that there is a trial that is set for one Tom Robinson who was a black …show more content…

This book is about a lawyer Atticus Finch who takes up the role of representing Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a white woman, Meyella Ewell. It is after this event of Atticus agreeing to represent Tom when we begin to see some major themes coming out. The first is that of race. Racism seems to be the order of the day in the small town of Maycomb. As Atticus describes it, ‘’the disease of this town.’’ During this time in America most people were racist and a black man was regarded as nobody who could be called by any name and could have anything done to him without anyone caring what the consequences were. Tom represents the black race in this novel. Tom is a victim of racism and after he is accused of rape most people see him as an animal. During the trial, as Bob Ewell testifies, he pointed at Tom Robinson and said, ‘’ I seen that black negroe yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella.’’ Throughout the trial, Tom was put across as a man who had acted like an animal or in other words was an …show more content…

Atticus strengthens this idea that the town is filled with racism mentality by telling Jem that, ‘’in our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins.’’ This then shows how Tom Robinson could not have had a fair trial in Maycomb. According to the Critical race theory, judges may have a background that leads them into interpreting the law the way that suits them. In this case, the judgement given by the jury is definitely one that is racist and one can see that from the above given facts, the law can be altered by the race factor. Tom Robinson should have been entitled to a fair trial but he was not given one because of the racialist or race

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In To Kill a Mockingbird by harper Lee, despite of him having a public trial, Tom Robinson, an innocent man was proven guilty, also his trial that was completely and utterly unfair, one-sided, and even discriminatory. This novel takes place in Maycomb, Alabama, a made up town. Robinson was working for the Ewell’s and one day Tom was invited into the house to fix a door. Tom Robinson was accused of raping and abusing a white woman, Mayella Ewell, when her father is the one who abused her. The jury had a lack of evidence to prove that Tom was guilty, and also ignored the evidence that proves his innocence.

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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.

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This novel is mostly centered on Tom Robinson’s case and the final judgment. Tom Robinson was accused of raping Mayella, daughter of Bob Ewell. Atticus, being a symbol of good moral, dug his own grave when he decided to defend Tom. Since Tom Robinson was an African-American, all the odds were against him, so Atticus’s decision to defend Tom was the cause of the enmity between society and his family.

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