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Although the dedication of Mr. Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird”, even though it turned out against his favor due to an absence of evidence and a debauched court hearing. This court hearing makes readers question whether or not the justice system of that era was fair and in retrospect, a good question is whether or not our justice system today is fair and lawful. If you think that a false conviction was unfair, Tom is eventually killed for his false conviction under a faulty justice system. To me the sense of justice and fairness seems to be completely violated and bigoted.
Most people will agree that Lee’s book is much more complex than book critics may have suggested. The first question that I asked was, does Tom Robinson receive a fair trial and would having an all-black jury have resulted in a different verdict? In my opinion, I believe Tom Robinson received an unfair trial. I do believe that Tom Robinson’s skin color was the determining factor of whether or not Mr. Robinson was guilty or innocent. What had occurred was a group of white men that were on jury duty had decided Mr. Robinson’s case before they had even entered the courtroom. In To Kill a Mockingbird, justice is a privilege, not a right. If you wanted a fair trial during the To Kill a Mockingbird era then you better make sure you are white. So what if the jury was an all-black jury? I think the verdict and outcome of Tom Robinson would be drastically different. I think that Mayella and Bob Ewell would have been convicted and in jail rather than Mr. Robinson. This then brings up a question of how many false convictions were made just like this incident and how many African Americans received an unfair trial just like poor Mr. Robinson. (Notes)
The second question is ...
... middle of paper ...
...uman or a bird itself because killing a mockingbird is the wickedest sin ever.
Works Cited
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Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960. Print.
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Shaw-Thornburg, Angela. “On Reading To Kill a Mockingbird: Fifty Years Later.” Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird: New Essays. Meyer, Michael J. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2010. 113-127. Print.
---. Understanding To Kill A Mockingbird: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1994
Lee, Harper. "Chapter 3, Chapter 9." To Kill a Mockingbird. New York, NY: Warner, 1982. N. pag. Print.
Harper Lee’s only book, To Kill a Mockingbird, is the stereotypical tale of childhood and innocence, yet it successfully incorporates mature themes, like the racism in the South at the time, to create a masterpiece of a work that has enraptured people’s minds and hearts for generations. According to esteemed novelist Wally Lamb, “It was the first time in my life that a book had sort of captured me. That was exciting; I didn’t realize that literature could do that” (111). Scout’s witty narration and brash actions make her the kind of heroine you can’t help but root for, and the events that take place in Maycomb County are small-scale versions of the dilemmas that face our world today. Mockingbird is a fantastically written novel that belongs on the shelves of classic literature that everyone should take the time to read and appreciate for its execution of style and the importance of its content.
Smykowski, Adam. "Symbolism and Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird." Readings on "To Kill a Mockingbird". Ed. Terry O'Neill. San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press, 2000. 52-56. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 194. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
Lee, Harper. "Chapter 11." To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Harper & Row, 1960. 113. Print.
Stark, Elizabeth. “To Kill a Mockingbird: About the Author.” The Big Read. National Endowment for the Arts, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. .
In a desperate attempt to save his client, Tom Robinson, from death, Atticus Finch boldly declares, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 271). The gross amounts of lurid racial inequality in the early 20th century South is unfathomable to the everyday modern person. African-Americans received absolutely no equality anywhere, especially not in American court rooms. After reading accounts of the trials of nine young men accused of raping two white women, novelist Harper Lee took up her pen and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, a blistering exposition of tragic inequalities suffered by African Americans told from the point of view of a young girl. Though there are a few trivial differences between the events of the Scottsboro trials and the trial of Tom Robinson portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the accusers’ attitudes towards attention, the two cases share a superabundance of similarities. Among these are the preservation of idealist views regarding southern womanhood and excessive brutality utilized by police.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Reprint. New York City: Grand Central Publishing, 1982. Print
In the novel, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee some characters suffer in the hands of justice and fairness more than others. Many characters in the novel are discriminated against such as Calpurnia, Dolphus Raymond, Helen Robinson, Burris Ewell and more. However I will be focusing on the discrimination against Tom Robinson for his race, Walter Cunningham for his low socioeconomic status and Boo Radley for the rumors and supposed mental instability he holds. I chose those three because they are the most prominent and I will discuss how the discrimination against the characters therefore leads to their injustice or unfairness.
People are responsible for acting according to their conscience. The justice system was created in order to be our aid in making moral and ethical decisions, but when the Justice system fails, we should still be able to follow our conscience to make the right the decision. In Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” one of the characters, Atticus Finch, helps not only characters in the book, but the readers, understand that the legal system does not always serve justice, in fact, the legal system only is as moral and just as the community it serves. In the town of Maycomb, just like many towns in the American south during the 1930s, racism as a personal feeling and racism as a cultural, legal, and economic institution are practically one
There is no doubt that Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a famous novel known for its themes, most of them containing wise life lessons, racial inequality being an obvious and important one. Firstly, racism illustrates the lack of justice and people’s views on prejudice in Tom Robinson’s case. Secondly, the novel touches base on diction notably the racial slurs used. Finally, with racism being a theme of the novel, it affects the characters’ personalities. Harper Lee uses life lessons, diction and characters throughout the novel because it develops the main theme of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Even though we are living in the 21st century, racism is one of the major factors affecting our communities; For example. in cases with no blacks in the jury pool, black defendants are convicted as 81% rate and white defendants at a 66% rate. On the other side, when the jury pool includes at least one black juror, conviction rates change as 71% for black defendants and 73% for white defendants. (Samuel R. Sommers, 2006). In the novel written by Harper Lee named To Kill a Mockingbird, it is realistic fictional stories about racism, and contains the story about Tom Robinson was unfairly defined guilty after the trial, despite his lawyer, Atticus presented a definite evidence in which Tom Robinson is innocent.
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Sullivan, B. (1960). Richard Sullivan on the vivid characters of to kill a mockingbird. In H. Bloom (Ed.), Bloom's Notes: A Contemporary Literary Views Book (pp. 29). Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers.