To Kill A Mockingbird Jury Analysis

Tom Robinson's defense lawyer, Atticus Finch, in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, asserts his defense for a black man to an all-white jury in the southern U.S. known for its racist beliefs. Atticus attempts to persuade the racist, male-white jury of Tom's innocence to counter the ruling of Tom Robinson sexually harassing a white woman (Mayella Ewell). Atticus Finch employed three types of Aristotle’s appeals to convince the jury through conjecture proof, to depend confidently on testimonies, and detailed emotional responses.
Atticus Finch signified that he does not always believe in the true justice of the court, but for Mayella, and Mr. Ewell, non-professionalism/ineffective communication during testimonies to pass the jury ethics would

“I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and the jury system– that is no ideal to me. It is a living, working reality. Gentlemen, a court is no better than each of you men sitting before me on this 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 233). Atticus Finch utilized his independent belief of equal respect, influencing the jury's judgment on righteousness in the court when assessing Tom Robinson's testimony. Atticus implemented an ethical appeal to achieve his purpose by reasoning that Bob Ewell and Mayella Ewell provided insufficient statements based on the avoidance of specific questions. Mayella Ewell testifies that she does not remember Tom punching her face but then invalidated the statement by saying that Tom punched her left eye with his right fist that glanced off her face. When Atticus shows that Bob Ewell is left-handed, Mr. Ewell grows angry and argues that Mr. Finch took advantage of him. The

Atticus refutes the following statement by saying, “She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with” (Lee 231). “She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance, but I cannot pity her: she is white” (Lee 231). Atticus makes use of descriptive emotional responses for the jury and the audience to pity Mayella's situation of being unable to control her situation of poverty and lonesomeness. Atticus then reverted the audience's emotions toward indignation of blatant injustice in such a way that Mayella framed Tom Robinson. Assuming that Atticus is correct, Tom Robinson would have been the victim of Mayella to such an extent that when Tom Robinson ran away, Mayella decided to condemn Tom for her mistake of tempting a Negro and sexually assaulting him. Whenever Mayella saw Tom walking past her house, she lived with the bitter regret that she, a superior white woman, would make herself inferior to the point of kissing Tom