Tom Robinson's Conviction In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Gentlemen, in the 30 years that I have been practising law in Maycomb, I have never seen a case so complicated, and so simple at the same time. Complicated because of the circumstances; a white woman’s word versus a black man’s word. Simple because of the facts; clearly no one in this courtroom is guilty besides the defendant himself, Tom Robinson. There is undoubtedly more evidence confirming the fact that Tom Robinson is guilty rather than innocent.

How would you feel if you were found guilty of a crime that you did not commit and you were wrongfully imprisoned for it? In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, an innocent black man whose name is Tom Robinson is found guilty of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Mayella exploited Tom’s kindness and generosity and this landed him in a courtroom facing a hefty jail sentence. She had the opportunity to tell the truth and set Tom free, but since she with-held the truth, this later leads to the death of an innocent black man. Mayella should be held fully and solely responsible, deserving condemnation instead of pity because she brought this problem upon herself, she broke the oath, and had the opportunity to rectify everything by telling the truth.

All one has to do is look around us and they can see that the world has a lot of Social inequalities. Think about in school or work. Is there a Boo Radley? Someone who is isolated because they may be different. We've all seen racism on TV with all of the shootings and protests.

None of the kids have saw him a day in their life, but they hear countless stories of how terrible he is and that he has been locked up for a very long time. Boo (Arthur) Radley has been getting locked up basically his entire life. Boo drove a scissors into his father’s leg it stated on page 9. This is the start to Boo Radleys life in solitude. After he was tried in court for the stabbing Boo was locked in the courthouse basement because no one had the heart to put him in jail with the Negros.

Isaiah 59:8 illustrates, "The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths. " Clearly, Scripture recognizes the existence of flaws of the behavior in man. Injustice comes in many forms. Racism, prejudice, false judgment, and stereotyping are all skewed perceptions. These distortions spill over into behaviors and human interactions, often resulting in the suffering of the innocent.

It is not being said that Boo Radley’s actions are without justification. He had all the reason to kill Bob Ewell. However, he did commit murder, which is a crime among all other crimes. He was not attacked, the attack did not take place in his home or on his property, and he was the first aggressor on Bob Ewell. Ewell did not attack Radley.

The Downfall of a Mockingbird Mockingbirds are said to be one of the most innocent animals in the world. Although Harper Lee used many instances throughout the novel of mockingbirds being stripped of their innocence. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird the theme of innocence is taken away from certain characters just like a mockingbird being killed. Firstly, Boo Radley was accused of being a crazy man who is never seen. Secondly, Mrs. Maudie had her house get burned down to the ground.

Racism in To Kill A Mockingbird In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Racism is one of the core themes found throughout the novel. In 1930, Maycomb, Alabama has the stereotype of being a sleepy town which is populated with desperately poor African Americans. In this novel, the main plot involves the father of the main character, Scout Finch, representing an African American man, Tom Robinson, in court whom is accused of abusing and raping a caucasian girl based off of fabricated charges, especially seeing as he is physically disabled. He is regularly taunted by the white people in town and is followed around and called racial slurs. In this trial, the children are exposed to the harsh reality of racism and stereotyping that were seen in that point in time.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the story is set in the 1900’s, Maycomb, Alabama. During this time there was racism in the south and segregation which separated the whites and blacks from everything. There was also the Great Depression, the whole country was poor and people living in the country had to trade and do other jobs for people to either pay them off or to buy something from them. The trial in this book is about Mayella and Bob Ewell, two white people, claiming and arguing that Tom Robinson, a black person, raped Mayella Ewell. This trial is really important because at that time in the south, white people took advantage of black people and their kindness and thought they would take that or shut up just because they were black.

1. The setting of the novel is in a small town with run down shops and stores. The people there are older and there are few children around. The atmosphere is relaxed, the people living there are not really in a hurry to go places or do anything.

Mayella Ewell, the prosecutor, blamed Tom Robinson, the defendant, of rape on the night of November 21, 1935 at Mayella’s home in Maycomb, Alabama. The trial brought up included Tom Robinson, Mayella and Robert Ewell, Heck Tate, and Atticus Finch. Heck Tate and Robert Ewell were the witnesses for Mayella’s side and Atticus was the lawyer to Tom Robinson. This was such an important trial, whether the event actually happened or not, because Tom is a black man and Mayella is a white woman. The evidence provided shows that Tom most likely did not rape or beat Mayella, but her father was the one who could have beat her.

Because of this, Bob Ewell becomes furious and feels humiliated. One morning, Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post-office corner, spat in his face, and threatened him saying that he would get him if it took the rest of his life. And he did just that. On the night of the Halloween pageant, Jem and Scout become targets of Bob Ewell, who takes revenge on Atticus for the humiliation due to what Atticus did in the trial (saying that both Mayella and Bob were lying about Tom Robinson raping Mayella even though all the evidence proved that this was the truth).

hapters 1-3 1. Scout’s comments and reactions contributed to the pressure Jem felt to accept Dill’s dare. At one point, Scout says, “Always runnin’,”(Lee 17). This insinuates that Jem is alarmed by even the idea of going past the house, so he will surely never have the gall to run up and touch the house. It also states that Scout “sneered at him”(Lee 18).

To kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence. Mockingbirds do not cause harm or trouble; in fact their only purpose is to convince others with beautiful music. Tom Robinson’s death can easily be compared to that of a mockingbird; it did no good but also prevented no evil. Mr. Underwood chooses to write an article that basically every citizen of Maycomb can understand, and this proves to the reader the obvious connection between Tom Robinson and the symbol of a mockingbird. Mr. Underwood chooses to ignore the prominent racial barrier that separated Tom Robinson from justice, and chooses to focus on his disability instead.

People always get misjudged and want to say who or what a person is like before they even meet him or her. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, has many examples of misjudging people, and some of those people could be better, or worse, than what that person judged. Most of these characters in the book do not have the sense to meet someone before they judge them. Even if a character knows a character, they still judge, and they judge wrong most of the time. People just don’t have enough sense, or manners, to not judge.