To Kill A Mockingbird Trial Essay

Kyra Raanan

Mrs. Corso

English 9

19 April 2023

The book To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, takes place in Maycomb, a small town in Alabama during the early 1900s. The story is told from the perspective of a young girl, Scout, growing up in Maycomb, and follows her life as she grows up in a heavily racist town. Scout's father is a lawyer who is assigned to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman. It is apparent throughout the trial that the person being accused of the crime is innocent, and the trial brings to life the racism present in the citizens of Maycomb. In the novel To Kill A Mokingbird by Harper Lee she illustrates how people will sometimes forsake the law, when it conflicts with their personal set of morals, ethics,

As Scout grows older it is apparent that her innocence is disappearing and she is learning of the injustices in her town. Scout is realizing that the man on trial is not guilty and she begins to question why he isn't being found innocent. It becomes abundantly clear to the reader that the defendant is not guilty because of the evidence presented during the trial. If Scout, a young girl with little ability to even realize unfair things happening around her, is able to spot an injustice, it brings to light the true severity of people under oath conflicting their morals with the law. In a quote said by Scout, she talks about how Tom (the defendant) was never going to be able to be found innocent, solely based on the fact that the jury was racist, and he was being accused of something against a white woman. Scouts realizes, “Tom had been given due process of law to the day of his death; he had been tried openly and convicted by twelve good men and true; my father had fought for him all the way. Then Mr. Underwood’s meaning became clear: Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” (245). This quote summarizes the entire justice system in Scout’s town and calls out every single person who had

During the early 1900s it was not a secret that the south was still incredibly racist. With this in mind, most black people accused of a crime would go to jail soley based on the fact that the judge and jury were racist. This is case for Tom Robinson. Atticus presented the judge and the jury ample evidence to prove Tom’s innocence, such as no medical evidence of rape, completely different statments from Mayella and Tom, and the fact that Tom Robinson is missing an arm making it questionable how he was able to hold down a fighting and screaming Mayella. According to the constitution every man has a right to a fair and public trial which is not something Tom receives due to the prejudice of Maycomb. Atticus says, “I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the jury system… Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you 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. I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this defendant to his family. In the name of God, do your duty” (209). In this scene Atticus is basically begging the jury to not let this innocent man go to jail. Everyone in the town of Maycomb knew Tom was innocent but everyone also knew there was no