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Rhetorical Analysis Of To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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Rhetoric plays an enormous role in argument, specifically Aristotle's ethos, logos, and pathos. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, it revolves around the trial of Tom Robinson. He is a black man living in Maycomb, Alabama and has been charged with the rape of Mayella Ewell. In this trial his lawyer, Atticus Finch, defends him and delivers closing arguments in an effort to prove his innocence. In Atticus’s closing remarks, the strongest rhetoric provided was logos and pathos. Throughout the closing, Atticus makes many remarks that follow along with the lines of the logos. His statements were full of logic, that makes everyone think about the trial, and Tom’s innocence. The logo is shown in the text as it says, “no doubt signing it with his left hand” (Lee 3). …show more content…

Showing us that she would have been hit with a left hand, as Tom's left hand doesn't work, unlike Bob Ewells, signing his name with his left hand. It is also shown when Atticus is speaking about the jury, “A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up” (Lee 8). The jury is known to run the court, and what the jury has on their mind will counteract the case. As it is in the book, the jury is made up of racist country men that believe Tom is guilty whether he's proven innocent or not, no matter the points that have been brought up by Atticus showing Tom's innocence. Atticus also uses the rhetorical term pathos in his statement. Pathos is used in this to help convince and have people reach into their hearts and understand where Tom is coming from. As a black man in a racist town, he's being used as an easy target. Atticus makes the point of Tom deserving a fair trial as anyone else does, “But this truth applies to the human race and to no particular race of

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