Who Is Tom Robinson Accused In To Kill A Mockingbird

John Crinnion 4-24-17
Ms. Haag English

Racism has been a big problem in America all throughout history and up until now. The case of Tom Robinson in “To Kill a Mockingbird” raping Mayella Ewell was racially charged. Mayella said this because she came onto Tom and he denied her. There was choke marks of hands all the way around her throat and Tom only had one movable hand, his left hand got caught in a cotton gin. There was marks on the right side of her face meaning that Tom would have to have punched Mayella with his bad hand. Although, Tom was clearly innocent, he was put on trial and proven guilty. The decision of whether Atticus should have defended him is questionable.

In Bruce’s article he talks about how after the Scottsboro boys were proven guilty in the original trial, bigger powers came in and took over. Slowly they were all proven innocent and released. Although, this might be a reason to fight back then, it was pointless,because the men’s lives were already ruined anyway. Four defendants were released from jail in 1937. One of the boys escaped prison and fled to Michigan, where authorities refused to arrest him. And the last of them, Andy Wright was finally freed by the state of Alabama in 1950. They had already spent years in jail and it affected them very heavily. One of the boys was so mentally scarred, (Roy Wright) that he joined the army and when he came back found his wife with another man, he killed his wife, then himself. Most of the boys spent most of their lives’ in and out of prison due to their poor mental state. Getting into bar fights, and all sorts of trouble. These girls went on like nothing happens after ruining these boys’ lives like it was nothing. There was tons of these cases and this is just one of the many which were decided biasedly. What happened to these boys was not right, but it is not fair to have someone cause a huge problem with his neighborhood and family, to defend them. It was practically a lost cause. Tom Robinson was so confident in him getting proven guilty, (although he knew he was innocent) that he risked his life

One reason would be that there was always a shot that Atticus and Tom always had a shot at winning. But, the odds of them winning were way too low. There was practically no shot at them winning, and Atticus should not have started a problem that would harm him and his kids. You could also say that if he was truly innocent that a higher power like someone in the government would have stepped in and had more trials. Then, tom might have eventually been released, and proven innocent. But, even so, Tom’s life would have never been the same anyway. He would be mentally scarred for life. Tom would be in and out of jail. Also, we would have never known, because he had such little confidence and heart, that before his last appeal, he tried to escape. Tom had to have known that there was practically no chance of him actually escaping. He ran out right in front of the guards, and was shot down. Tom must’ve known that all eyes would be on him, and that there was no chance of him climbing over the fence fats enough with his one good hand. While, there might have been a shot if Tom had confidence in him and Atticus, we will have never