Guilty In To Kill A Mockingbird

The assumption that individuals or entire communities are guilty often has significant material implications. A study done by The Center for Policing Equity demonstrated recently that African Americans were much more likely to be subjected to the use of force, even at routine stops, than whites. This force is often fatal, even when the target is innocent. Because of the recent media frenzy about race and policing, it is important to first examine the ways in which people respond to the assumption that they are guilty, and then examine the most successful ways to respond. To be clear: this paper focuses entirely on people who are innocent but presumed guilty, and does not cover people who have committed crimes. Though governments and police

William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus” is an excellent example of the prevailing stoicism that compelled many Victorian men to bear enormous injustices without resistance. Henley boasts that “In the fell clutch of circumstance/I have not winced nor cried aloud”. This proud declaration demonstrates the Victorian emphasis on endurance. Had a Victorian person been accused of a crime, they would most likely accept the charges with honor and dignity. However, this tolerance is not often borne out of honor, and in the case of Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird, the choice to accept fate stoically comes from an utter lack of hope. While Robinson was given an official trial, the all-white jury that tried him indicated from the beginning that he would be found guilty for raping Mayella Ewell. Finch’s choice not to explore much of the story from Tom Robinson’s perspective highlights the inevitability of his fate from the beginning; much like Josef, he is presumed guilty from the start. However, unlike Josef, Robinson chooses not to invest faith in the legal system and in his lawyer, Atticus Finch. Instead he surrenders himself to the inevitable electric chair and focuses on his relationship with God. Robinson is the titular “mockingbird”, a symbol of innocence which is destroyed by the racism which ran through American