To Kill A Mockingbird Tom Robinson Innocent Essay

How would you like it if you were innocent but found guilty because of your skin color? This may sound crazy but this was extremely common in the 1900s. Being a black male during this time period was one of the toughest things to do. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book that addresses this situation in such a way you would think it really happened. Tom Robinson (a black male) was accused of raping Mayella Ewell (a white teenage girl). Atticus (a white male) decides to defend Tom in the trial. All of the facts and evidence pretty much show that Tom is innocent. Mayella lies to everyone because Bob Ewell (her dad) forces her to so they won’t get in trouble because it was truly him that did it. Unfortunately the jury found Tom to be guilty which was

He died because of racism. White people lying on him and not fairly accepting him into society. “He looked oddly off balance… his left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right” (Lee 248). “He got it cut in a cotton gin...when he was a boy” (Lee 249). Her face showed it was beaten, but by someone’s left hand, because of Tom’s accident he is unable to use his left hand. This is crucial evidence that shows he didn’t beat her like she said he did. Mayella’s dad told her to lie, but she could’ve still told the truth. Atticus mentioned how she continued to lie because she didn’t want everyone in town to know she was attracted to a black negro.“I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: “Guilty...guilty…guilty...guilty…” (Lee 282). These quotes altogether show that even when all the evidence was right there to prove Tom Robinson innocent he was still found guilty. This all happened because of his skin color, if he was white more than likely things would’ve gone

He was treated a lot differently when people found out he decided to defend Tom. Atticus was white and Tom was a black man, no one would've ever thought that a white man would defend a black man in a trial. Majority of the people in Maycomb felt that Atticus was dumb for trying to prove Tom innocent. Atticus wasn’t concerned about what people thought, he was concerned about doing what’s right. He tries to explain to Scout and Jem that when you try to do the right thing some people will turn against you and get mad but you have to keep doing what’s right. Even after the trial and Tom is found guilty, Atticus was still getting treated poorly by some people. Bob Ewell sees Atticus walking down the street and walks up to him and starts cursing him out. After he was done cursing him out, he spat in his face, Atticus just wiped his face and walked off. This is another example of racism affecting people because if Tom was white, Atticus deciding to defend him would have been normal No one would have treated Atticus differently like