As soon as our childhood starts, we start to discover the dark secrets that the world is hiding. Discovering and learning these buried understandings shape people into who they are based off of how they find out. From cheating in a game to racism and prejudice, they are all disarming happenings that occur daily. In To Kill a Mockingbird, characters and events that take place throughout the story aid in the loss of innocence with Jem and Scout, and mold them into the people they become. The general lesson Jem and scout learn by the end of the book is that: the world is in no way perfect, but is actually quite distraught. The three main characters that helps Jem and Scout understand this are: Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Dolphus Raymond. The …show more content…
“Tom Robinson’s a colored man, Jem. No jury in this part of the world’s going to say, “We think you're guilty, but not very,’ on a charge like that. It was either a straight acquittal or nothing.” - Atticus pg. 294. He was talking to Jem, and this quote made Jem start to realize the unfairness, prejudice, due to the lack of evidence in the case, persecuted from the jury. If Tom Robinson was a white man, he would not be charged with rape off of a claim of a Ewell, who were all untrusted. “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins- Those are the facts of life.” (Atticus). “Doesn’t make it right- You can’t just convict a man on evidence like that- you can’t.”(Jem) pg. 295. In this quote, Atticus was more straightforward with his statement. The fact that Jem argued back to Atticus’s fatalistic claim proves that he understands the moral issue and unfairness of prejudices, and how significantly it universally affects their society; yet another one of the furtive issues that the world expects you to figure out by
Giving dignity boosts someones ego, yet stripping dignity can ruin it as read in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee portrays how others can give and strip someones dignity by their actions and language. The novel takes place in a tired, racist town in the South called Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930’s. It tells the story of a white woman accusing a black man of rape. The case is taken by Atticus Finch, the best lawyer in town defending the black defendant, Tom Robinson.
In court, Tom Robinson was declared guilty and sentenced to death. Atticus discusses the outcomes with Jem, stating that whites will always win over blacks. However, Jem argues by saying it “‘doesn’t make it right’”
To show, Atticus explains to his son Jem that the justice system is broken and favor white people no matter how strong of a case he could make, “There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn't be fair if they tried. 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.” (Lee, Chapter 23). Atticus has experience with these cases before because of his job and he knows how it all works, no matter what he does, nothing he could do would help him win if he was defending a black person.
Dylan Bauer Ms. Crutchfield Silver 5 6 March 2023 To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird's broad message and recurring theme throughout the book is good and innocence being interrupted or destroyed by evil, which is symbolic of the title because killing a mockingbird would be a sin because they are innocent and all they do is sing. Chapter 4 of To Kill a Mockingbird needs to stay because it is about scouts' first interactions with boo radley and how Atticus wants them to not bother them because bothering them would be for no reason as they mind their own business. Chapter 9 of TKAM needs to stay because it also symbolizes innocence being destroyed by evil as many people use racial slurs in disapproval of Atticus defending Tom Robinson.
Atticus says this so that some people may form a new opinion if Tom is guilty or not guilty. After Atticus’s closing argument prior to the verdict, Jem was very confident based upon the evidence presented that Tom would be not guilty, after the trial Jem was very upset and crying about the harsh reality of the case case, while he is talking to Atticus about this he says, “It ain’t right, Atticus”(Lee 242). Jem is finally maturing and realizing the harsh reality of Maycomb and the racism and prejudice in people's minds throughout their society. Jem learns that just because of the way you were born you are not given the same opportunities that others have just because of one factor, the color of your skin, not the way you act, or your reputation, but the color of your skin, something so little, but has such a massive impact on everyday life.
“I’ve always been fascinated with the stealing of innocence. It’s the most heinous crime, and certainly a capital crime if there ever was one. ”(Clint Eastwood) In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, this quote reigns true for many reasons. The book starts as a family and friend oriented community, but its true colors show when Atticus Finch takes on a black mans trial.
Jem now understands that it is not the law that is the problem with society. The law was not what failed Tom Robinson and his family, it was society itself that failed the Robinsons. With knowledge of this, Jem now sees that society does not always do the right thing, but society is not going to change over night. If Jem still obtained his innocence he probably would not understand how a white man’s word vs a black man’s word can be so powerful, because his innocence was blinding him from the truth of society. Atticus told Jem “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men everyday of your life…” (220).
Evidently scout and Jem have a father that is guiding them on the right path and is helping them
Atticus says “There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads-- they couldn't be fair if they tried. 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.” What happens in this scene is Atticus and Jem are discussing how in the world it could’ve been fair for Tom to be executed when he clearly didn’t do it. The significance of this quote is that even though the trial against Tom was completely unfair, Atticus still goes through with the trial and makes a great case.
I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The book is very heavily about racism and innocence. In this journal I will be evaluating on how Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are represented by the symbol of the mockingbird. In the novel, there are two people who are obviously symbolized by the mockingbird.
Evil: I think that Bob Ewell's should be in this column. On pages 227-234 is where Atticus is asking Bob questions about what happened the night of Mayella’s “rape”. During this whole court case Bob was joking in the beginning about Mayella and it was clear that he doesn’t care much for Mayella. He also uses very inappropriate language in the courtroom. On page 230 Bob says “I got to the fence I heard Mayella screaming like a stuck hog inside the house.”
He managed to make a small step in the right direction of getting the Jury to see Tom as innocent. He did this by giving them enough to think about to keep them out of the court for 4 hours even though they still saw him as guilty. This quote proves innocence is killed because charging Tom with this is going to kill his own innocence as well as many others. Both of these quotes tie together because Atticus is stopping and trying to stop Racism from ruining
This strong quote proved that Atticus wants people to put aside what they are told and/or what they think of african americans and to put aside differences and just look at the evidence and decide with that and not with his skin color. To remember that person is a person no matter what race they were born
The justice system has always been the heart of America. But like this country, it has many faults. Prejudice has played a major role in the shaping of this system. In the 1930’s the way a courtroom was set up was completely different from how it looks to day. In the book To Kill A MockingBird, Harper Lee shows just how different it is.
After Atticus loses his trial, Jem notices that the Maycomb County justice system is broken and it needs help, “Then it all goes back to the jury, then. We oughta do away with juries. ”(294) This shows that Jem now understands that people are racist in everything and racism needs to be fought. On top of realizing that the justice system is in shambles, Jem realized that Tom Robinson’s case was very good at showing that.