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Character Analysis Of Tom Robinson In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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People hurt others to make themselves seem powerful but never think about how their actions affect other people. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee uses two important characters, Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, to represent how it is a sin to kill a Mockingbird. To Kill A Mockingbird is about two kids, Jem Finch and Scout Finch, who has a neighbor, Boo Radley, that is stereotyped as creepy lunatic. Their father, Atticus Finch, has to defend a negro, Tom Robinson, who was accused of rape, and a man named Bob Ewell is angry that Atticus is protecting Tom Robinson because Atticus is protecting the negro who has been accused to have raped Bob’s daughter, Mayella Ewell. As a guilty man, Tom Robinson goes to jail and dies of seventeen gunshot wounds. Bob …show more content…

After the trial, Atticus was explaining to Uncle Jack, “The only thing we’ve got is a black man’s word against the Ewells’... The jury couldn’t possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson’s word against the Ewells’” (116-117). Atticus believes that though the evidence proves Tom Robinson is innocent but because he is an African-American he would not win the case. While Tom Robinson was on the stand, he responded to a question with, “No suh, not after she offered me a nickel the first time. I was glad to do it, Mr. Ewell didn’t seem to help her none, and neither did the chillun, and I knowed she didn’t have no nickels to spare” (256). Tom Robinson was only trying to help out because Mayella Ewell had no one to help her with the work, and he thought that she needed some help. When Atticus was describing the news of Tom’s death, he said, “Seventeen bullet holes in him. They didn’t have to shoot him that much… What was one Negro, more or less, among two hundred of ‘em? He wasn’t Tom to them, he was an escaping prisoner” (315). The guards didn’t treat Tom like a human being he lost all of his sanity and tried to escape, but the guards shot him an unnecessary amount of times. Tom Robinson was referenced as a mockingbird because he was accused guilty of a crime that he did not

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Innocent Mockingbirds Wanted Thesis: Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and Boo Radley all symbolize mockingbirds because of their traits, qualities, and actions. I. Topic Sentence: Tom Robinson symbolizes a mockingbird because he is not harmful, he is misunderstood, and he is killed over a judgmental reason. A. Claim: Behind his skin color, Tom loved to assist others without a reward. 1. Primary Evidence: He claimed that he would Mayella Ewell without being payed by saying, “No suh, not after she offered me a nickel the first time.

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To kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence. Mockingbirds do not cause harm or trouble; in fact their only purpose is to convince others with beautiful music. Tom Robinson’s death can easily be compared to that of a mockingbird; it did no good but also prevented no evil. Mr. Underwood chooses to write an article that basically every citizen of Maycomb can understand, and this proves to the reader the obvious connection between Tom Robinson and the symbol of a mockingbird. Mr. Underwood chooses to ignore the prominent racial barrier that separated Tom Robinson from justice, and chooses to focus on his disability instead.

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In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the story is set in the 1900’s, Maycomb, Alabama. During this time there was racism in the south and segregation which separated the whites and blacks from everything. There was also the Great Depression, the whole country was poor and people living in the country had to trade and do other jobs for people to either pay them off or to buy something from them. The trial in this book is about Mayella and Bob Ewell, two white people, claiming and arguing that Tom Robinson, a black person, raped Mayella Ewell. This trial is really important because at that time in the south, white people took advantage of black people and their kindness and thought they would take that or shut up just because they were black.

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(100), here, Atticus knows even if everyone knows Tom is innocent and Tom’s opponent is white trash and ignorant, everyone understand that he will suffer racial discrimination and will be labelled guilty no matter the proof. Racial segregation will be the main factor as to why no one will choose a black man’s side over a white’s. No matter how much evidence there is, the mindset on blacks in Maycomb is nearly impossible to discard. “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” (276), it is no surprise when Tom tries to escape the prison and dies doing so, because everyone knew there was no hope for him once a white accuses him.

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Atticus says, “Seventeen bullet holes in him…they didn’t have to shoot him that much, Cal” (Lee 268). This shows, yet again, another story about Tom Robinson that is nearly impossible to be true. Tom Robinson didn’t need to be shot seventeen times, nevertheless, it was almost impossible for him to try to escape without help either way. Therefore, Harper Lee uses the Mockingbird to foreshadow Tom Robinson’s death by stating why it is a sin to kill a Mockingbird early on and representing that through

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Atticus being a white men also showed courage by going against the Maycomb people and willingly defended Tom Robinson, a black men. Due to that he was often called N-lover by other white people. Despite of those criticisms given by many of the town’s people, he did his best to defend Tom. He said, "If I didn't I couldn't hold my head up in town, I couldn't represent this country in legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something".(page 75). On page 149, Atticus says : “Son, I told you that if you hadn't lost your head I'd have made you go read to her.

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In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson and Arthur “Boo” Radley are two characters who represent the mockingbird. In the midst of finding who Boo truly is, Atticus Finch explains to his children, Jem and Scout, that it is a sin to kill the bird because they don’t do anything but make music. As the story progresses, and the two “mockingbirds” are being accused and attacked both verbally and physically, the identity of the mockingbirds surfaces. Tom Robinson was a crippled African American man whose left arm was a foot shorter than his right, where it was caught in a cotton gin.

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Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird is about a man named Atticus and his two kids Jem and Scout. Atticus was appointed to defend an African American, named Tom Robinson. Tom was accused by Bob Ewell for raping and beating his daughter, Mayellea Ewell. During the trial scene, everyone in that courtroom finds outs the truth that Tom is innocent against the accusations from Bob. The truth is that Mayella kissed Tom and Bob saw what she did.

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I can prove this by quoting, "When they shoot Tom Robinson , while lost in his unavailing effort to scale the wall in quest, Mr. Underwood, the editor of The Montgomery Advertiser, likened Tom 's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children '(Dave 50). This quote explains how Tom Robinson is an example of a Mockingbird. Another example of how Tom Robinson is a symbol of a mockingbird is stated here, "There 's a black boy dead for no reason, and the man responsible for it is dead. Let the dead bury the dead this time, Mr. Finch. Let the dead bury the dead"(Lee 369).

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Although all the evidence pointed to Tom Robinson being innocent and the only witnesses were from unreliable and changing sources he was still convicted. This is a depiction of the death of a Mockingbird, ultimately destroying innocence and purity that resided with Tom Robinson that died when he was shot as he tried to flee from his inescapable doom. Mr. Underwood, the publisher of Maycomb 's newspaper as well as a respected all of Atticus, sadly compares Tom 's death to “the senseless slaughter of songbirds...” (pg.244) stating another reference to the ever-present mockingbird

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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.

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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.

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Tom Robinson is a mockingbird in that he doesn't do one thing wrong. All he does is provide help to the people he interacts with. That is exactly how he got in trouble. Tom Robinson was helping Mayella with some chores. He was humming a melody and when he chopped up the dresser drawers.

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Although some may believe Boo is a better choice for a mockingbird, there is a greater amount of evidence that supports Tom is a mockingbird. The first reason Tom is the best example for the mockingbird is he was prosecuted for a crime he did not commit. In the novel it states that, "The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses who evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant.

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Even though Scout displayed innocence but still was excluded from games with Dill and Jem because of her gender, Harper Lee did not intend for her to be perceived as a Mockingbird. On the contrary, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are portrayed as mockingbirds, birds recognized for their innocence but also targeted. Body Paragraph #1 Topic Sentence #1: Tom Robinson, a black man convicted of rape, was an example of à Mockingbird because he was targeted even though he was innocent. Integrated Evidence #1: After the town of Maycomb found out about the tragic killing of Tom Robinson, “[Mr. Underwood] likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children”(Lee 323) in an editorial. Analysis 1: Tom Robinson was wrongfully accused of raping Mayella Ewell.

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