To Kill A Mockingbird Bedevils The Trial

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the verdict is unfair because the circumstances of the trial inherently incriminate Tom Robinson. During the portion of this quote, Atticus Finch is giving his closing statement to the jury, pleading with them to spare Tom’s life. The evidence outlines the fundamental flaw that bedevils the trial — there is little evidence to support either side. Atticus says, “‘To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white. 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 whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on

By taking the word of biased parties on both sides (with the only first-hand witnesses being the parties involved in the alleged crime), prejudice is the only thing left on which the jury can reach a verdict. The evidence is entirely circumstantial, so the jury feels left with the sole option to sentence Tom Robinson to death for being black. Correlating with this evidence is a quote from James Baldwin, a black civil rights reformer and novelist, from a 1965 debate. Baldwin says, “But what is happening in the poor woman, the poor man’s mind is this: they’ve been raised to believe, and by now they helplessly believe, that no matter how terrible their lives may be, and their lives have been quite terrible, and no matter how far they fall, no matter what disaster overtakes them, they have one enormous knowledge in consolation, which is like a heavenly revelation: at least, they are not Black” (Baldwin and Buckley, 1965). This quote resounds within the trial as a whole. The Ewells feel confident they will not be questioned because they aren’t