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Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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We will always live with Prejudice, because we may experience it first hand or do it without realizing .In the book To Kill A Mockingbird , Harper Lee portrays many themes, but a theme that is seen throughout most of the book is prejudice. In the city of Maycomb ,many civilians are treated differently based on the color of their skin, economic status ,beliefs ,identity and much more. In To Kill A Mockingbird , Harper Lee shows that prejudice takes over the minds of civilians in Maycomb and prevent them from seeing citizens for who they truly are. This is seen through the civilians in Maycomb towards Tom Robinson, Boo Radley and Atticus Finch.

Atticus Finch was a lawyer that defended Tom Robinson in the trial of Mayella Ewell. Defending an …show more content…

“The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.”(Pg.86) Atticus was explaining to Scout why it was important to defend a man like Tom Robinson, even though it could cause many problems not only for him, but for his children too, when Atticus took the case he knew it would affect him personally. For helping an African-American man, Atticus is seen as doing something wrong and for that people lose respect and harass Atticus, for his decision to help defend Tom Robinson. A man that harassed Atticus was Bob Ewell, “Atticus was leaving the post office when Mr. Ewell approached him, cursed him, spat on him, and threatened to kill him”(pg.248). At this point of time , it had been a day into the trial . Bob Ewell displayed an act of immaturity is due to the …show more content…

As Tom Robinson an African American man, The Ewell family goes against him in trial. Tom Robinson was accused of raping and beating Mayella Ewell on the night of November 21’st . With a Jury and Judge who are all white folks, Tom already knew there was no chance of him winning. While having a conversation with Jim, Atticus mention the injustice in the courts by saying “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins”. (Pg.251-252). Even after Atticus made strong arguments that prove Tom was innocent , he was still convicted as guilty by the jury . The jury wasn’t the only part of government being prejudice towards Tom but so was police officer Heck Tate . News went around town saying that Tom was being transferred to Maycomb’s county jail questioning if Heck was actually going to allow Tom to stay at the jail . After hearing what could happen to Heck Tate’s reputation for letting an African-American stay at his jail ,Atticus started to question Heck’s masculinity “you’re not scared of that crowd, are you?”” (Pg.165-166). After Atticus questioned him ,Heck gave in and let Tom stay one night at the jail. But Tom knew he wasn’t going to be under the protection of Heck Tate while he was there, but be under the protection of Atticus

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This past week has been rough for the Robinson family. After a racist jury choose to make an innocent man guilty things went from bad to worse. Atticus Finch was chosen to defend Tom Robinson. This particular case was against Mayella Ewell, a white woman. As a black man Tom was already at a disadvantage.

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He asks her to just let him go, after she wouldn't let up he to tries to get away and flips a chair that's the only thing disturbed in the house when he left. Even Tom’s white boss comes forward and says Tom is a good man. All the fight and evidence and good testimony and accusations and Tom was still convicted guilty even with Atticus fighting so hard for him. The whole black community was devastated the only good this that came out of this court case is Atticus exposing Bob, and the time they took discussing what should happen to Tom. Since rape was a

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801 Words | 4 Pages

TKAMB chapters 15-17 S.I.R by Tri Nguyen 1. In chapter 15, Heck Tate’s mob wanted to talk to Atticus that Tom Robinson have been moved to Maycomb Jail, and that there might be trouble concerning Atticus and Tom Robinson. It stated on page 165, “Mr. Tate was saying, “I don’t look for any trouble, but I can’t guarantee there won’t be any . . .” This show that as the trial are coming nearer, the people are getting more impatient, and this would cause them to act violence not only to the Negroes, but also to their fellow kind. This also show that prejudice can change a person point of view, and make them think only about their superiority over Negroes even though some of them are no better than the Negroes themselves, like the Ewell and the Cunningham.

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Additionally, Atticus receives a multitude of threats to his well being for defending Tom. For instance, directly following the case, Atticus has an encounter in town with defendant Bob Ewell, who “[stops] [him] on the post office corner, [spits] in his face, and [tells] him [he’ll] get him if it [takes] the rest of his life” (291). This comment is clear representation of the resentment Atticus must face from some people for defending a black man. Simply because he is rejecting regular customs in

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Atticus states “... Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.” (Lee Page 104) By stating this is shows that Atticus believes he has to defend Tom even though the majority of the town doesn’t agree with this decision. Atticus believes that Tom is innocent and will not let Tom be convicted guilty without letting people hear the truth about what really happened.

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562 Words | 3 Pages

They hate me. I 'm black, they won 't let me go.” Atticus said with the most softest voice he could have and said “don 't worry i got this.” Atticus was trying his best to show the judge that Tom was innocent with all the evidence he had, but most of the town is very racist. So it 's very hard to convince anyone in the jury to be convinced that Tom did not do it.

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Atticus was much wiser than anyone in the courtroom and tried to do something about one more kill. Tom was also persecuted and mocked for the color of his skin even though he had done no wrong. Mr Ewell, the father of Tom's tempter, called Tom nasty and inappropriate

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He was already marginalized by society for being black and had a slim to no chance of being believed. In and out of the courthouse Atticus supports Tom in every way he can. Outside the jail, after Walter Cunningham tried to

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Almost everyone in the town was against his thoughts and his opinions, But all this harassment didn’t stop him from defending Tom Robinson which was a good deed in his mind. Whether the people liked it or didn’t like it Atticus wasn’t going to stop defending Tom, and that's what he did. He kept on defending Tom but he sure knew that white people would prevail over his thoughts and his opinions. At the trial Atticus had provided enough evidence That Tom was innocent but they still didn’t win And Tom Robinson died a few days

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701 Words | 3 Pages

Now during this time period, any time a black man was on trial with a white jury, he would immediately lose. The townsfolk advises Atticus to ignore the case and refuse, yet he stood firm. He would represent Tom, because he felt he could convince at least one juror of his innocence. By taking this case, Atticus faced certain wrath and animosity from the town. Not only the community, but by his own family too.

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1088 Words | 5 Pages

He was appointed to defend a black man named Tom Robinson for raping Mayella Ewell. Most townsfolk caught news of this and instantly began to give Atticus dirty looks and began calling him vulgar names. Atticus, is a very nice person who wants to do the right thing, and he has an opinion about people who disagree with him defending Tom Robinson. “They’re certainly entitled to think they, and they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions.” (120).

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1763 Words | 8 Pages

This detail shows that something out-of-the-ordinary has taken place, and that the trial must have really made the jury stop and think about its next course of action. This is important because usually, the racial bias of the Jury makes this kind of case easy to decide, but this occasion was not as easily decided as it might have been. Atticus making the Jury think wasn’t even the first good thing to come out of his defense of Tom. that would happen the night before the trial, when Atticus stopped a mob from ending Tom’s life before the trial. “‘He in there, Mr. Finch?’

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1157 Words | 5 Pages

How did prejudice happen in this world that God made? Prejudice is an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason. In this world, there are a lot of prejudice. Prejudice doesn´t happen suddenly but it happens from a root. Everything happens from a root and that causes to be or do something.

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1115 Words | 5 Pages

In our society, innocent people, known as mockingbirds, experience prejudice in their lives. A/T: In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Background: Tom Robinson is a black person who’s was accused of raping a white girl named Mayella Ewell which he has never done. For this reason, Atticus Finch was appointed to be his lawyer. As a result, Atticus takes a stand for him by approving his case and standing up for him, but Tom was still found guilty.

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740 Words | 3 Pages

Jem further understood the true meaning of moral courage when he saw Atticus defending Tom Robinson, a black man. Although Atticus was hugely outnumbered and even cornered by Mr Cunningham and some other people, he did not back down from them. Instead, he seemed even more determined to win the case and prove Tom Robinson 's innocence to all of Maycomb County. Almost everyone in Maycomb County had criticised Atticus and his children for taking up the case of defending Tom Robinson and they were even called "nigger lovers" by many. At first, Jem did not understand why his father chose to defend Tom Robinson when he knew that people would whisper and gossip about it and that the possibility of him winning the case was very low.

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