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Unjust Decisions In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

450 Words2 Pages

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of the most significant themes is unjust decisions are made due to race and social class. For example, a group of men showed up in dusty cars at the Maycomb County jail, where Atticus was late at night. Outside the jail, “in ones and twos, men got out of the cars. Shadows became substance as lights revealed solid shapes moving toward the jail door” (Lee 80). One man asked “he's in there, Mr. Finch?” referring to Tom Robinson (Lee 80). The group of men wanted to lynch Tom Robinson because of the accusation of him raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. The court case had not yet happened so nobody had heard Tom’s side of the story and they automatically assumed he had committed the crime because …show more content…

When he was announcing the final verdict, “Judge Taylor was polling the jury: ‘guilty… guilty… guilty… guilty…” (Lee 112). Before the trial even happened, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” meaning he knew he was not going to win (Lee 128). The jury was biased from the beginning because it was all white. The case wasn't fair because Tom never had a chance of winning because he was going up against a white man and a white man would always win against a black man. Finally, Atticus came home to break the news that “they shot [Tom]... he was running… They said he just broke into a blind raving charge at the fence and started climbing over” (Lee 125). Atticus also explained that “he wasn't Tom to them, he was an escaping prisoner” (Lee 125). Tom knew he should not have been convicted and sent to jail in the first place because he was innocent, so he most likely could not take it anymore and decided to try and leave. However, because of his skin color, the guards did not really make a big effort to stop him without hurting him like they most likely would for a white

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‘He was running [away].’” (Lee 315). Tom did not think Atticus would be able to free him, so he tried to escape from prison on his own. The guards shot and killed him. Tom’s wife and family were crushed by the news.

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Just Mercy And To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis

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In modern day society, racial injustice has a big impact in this world today, as stated in Just Mercy and To Kill a Mockingbird. Showing that they are both related in many ways. The characters from To Kill A Mockingbird deal with racial injustice first hand. Scout, the narrator and daughter of Atticus Finch, experienced racial injustice of her father’s court case with Tom Robinson, an African American.

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r To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, was a novel filled with many racial controversies, prejudices, and racism. All of which took place during the 1960s in Maycomb County, Alabama. Regardless of the many racists there were a handful of people that could care less about the colour of someone’s skin. One person who fits in with this small handful of people is the Maycomb judge, Mr. John Taylor. Judge Taylor looked like the stereotypical judge from that time period, “amiable, white-haired, slightly ruddy-faced, he was a man who ran his court with an alarming informality,” (Lee, 165).

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In reality, there was hardly enough evidence for Tom to be taken to trial, but because he is an African-American it was inevitable he would be in the position he is in. Atticus announces to the jury in his closing statement, “To begin with, this case should have never come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (271). This case is as simple as black and white in the sense of why Tom is being convicted, which is because of his physical appearance, but Atticus is actually trying to convey that black and white is not simple in the 1930’s. Atticus said this because he knows that the conviction should be simple, but it's not going to be because Tom is black.

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White men were trying to prove the fact of the natural inferiority of the African American race, terming them as unreasonable beings. The jury could not be able to look past race and praise the integrity of Tom and practiced the opposite of prejudice. If Tom Robinson had a higher social status, say such as a NFL player, the result of the trial would be entirely

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People have always been cheated out of what they deserve in one form or another. The court of justice should be a place where it does not matter the ranking people have. The court of justice is a place where only the facts and what can be proven determines the outcome of the trial not the ranking. Sadly this is not how it is during 1935 when people were classified and ranked because of their skin color. Harper Lee demonstrates this in the book To Kill a Mockingbird during a trial between a black man and a white man.

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How often do people judge the contents of a book based off of the cover? Seriously though, people often judge the contents of a book based off it’s cover. Many people think that by looking at the cover of a book, that it instantly determines the story of the book, whether the story is good or bad. Oftentimes, these judgments are misleading and don’t actually give people a good understanding of someone.

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Sometimes people get blamed for something and they never get to explain their side of their story. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Scout, an intelligent and thoughtful girl is a great example who gets unfairly punished. Scout is unusually intelligent and she always acts with some good intention. Scouts get in this situation when Franics makes fun of Scout's dad and Scout gets really upset then Uncle Jack, a believer by the first words and spanks and abuses Scout.

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(17) Following this statement, Bob Ewell indicates racism throughout the trial. Although the evidence placed in the trial proves Tom Robinson is not quality, a white man’s word is taken over a black man’s word. The jury creates a life changing verdict. Not only Tom Robinson but also his wife, Helen, has to face prejudice when the trials verdict is declared.

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In To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee makes it apparent that unfair and misguided judgement leads to greater societal conflict. History when looked upon will show that a lack of understanding and empathy creates tension throughout a society, and history continues to show this trend. Eventually this way of life becomes a culture, then nothing stops it from being systematic besides the people in power. Tom Robinson was a victim of an intolerant culture like many others before him, and after. When speaking to Scout, Atticus explains an important message to her, especially fitting considering the way most Maycombians think.

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said Atticus. ‘He was running. It was during their exercise period. They said he just broke in to a blind raving charge at the fence and started climbing over it.’”(315). Tom Robinson was killed at the jail where he was being held after being convicted of rape to await a state trial.

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Humans live in a world where moral values are very clearly set determining what is good and what is bad. We know what scares us and how racism should be treated. Nevertheless, this was not the case back in Alabama during the 1950s. In the famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee narrates the lives of the people of Maycomb, Alabama, focusing on the story of Scout and Jem Finch, and the case of a said to be rape. In this emotion filled narrative, readers learn how life was back then not only in general, but for the separate social statuses that there was.

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There is no doubt that injustice exists among society, and there is no doubt that they impact the society in a very negative way. However, who should take the blame for these injustices, and should children be taught to deal with these society’s unjust ways? In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the protagonist Scout and her brother Jem look back at their childhood adventures that have introduced them to these deeply rooted evils in society. Scout and Jem attend an unjust trial that eventually leads to the disappointment and disillusionment of both of the young children. Jem is especially shocked as his strict morality is shattered by the evident injustice in the trials.

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Tom, a black man, was molested by Bob's eldest daughter, Mayella, but was vilified as a rapist. His employer said of him, “That young man worked for me for eight years and never gave me a whit of trouble”(Lee). He was an innocent victim. He didn't do anything wrong, he was trying to help Mayella, but he was accused of rape because of the color of his skin. The final court trial also proved the power of traditional ideas.

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