The Depths of Injustice “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest” Ellie Wiesel. Readers may find the amount of injustice in Harper lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird a little shocking. This could be why it’s such a popular book. People like the suspense of knowing someone’s right, but still being found guilty for something they did not do. There are many times throughout the book when people are powerless to prevent injustice but they still protest it. This shows that even when people unjustly punish there should always be someone to protest it. The theme of injustice is a common one in harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, whether it be through racism, misinformation, or Arrogance. …show more content…
Racism stems injustice as readers can see in Tom Robinson’s case. Atticus asks Tom why he was scared Tom replies by saying “Sir if you were a nigger like me you’d be scared to.” (261)Tom Robinson knows as soon as Bob Ewell wrongly accuses him of a crime he did not commit. he will be unjustly punished because he is black. Nevertheless even after Atticus proves Tom did not rape Mayella the jury find’s Tom guilty because he is black. This is wrong because even though they did not have any proof they sentence Tom Robinson to die. This although the best example of injustice in To Kill a Mockingbird is not the only one. Sometimes acting too quickly without hearing the whole story can result in unjust punishment.
During Christmas one year Scout is unjustly punished for hitting Francis when he deserved it. Scout is nicely talking to Francis when he calls Atticus a “nigger lover.”(110) Scout having a quick temper punches him in the nose, and is unjustly punished for it. Uncle Jack only listens to Francis’s side of the story before unjustly punishing Scout. Since Uncle Jack only listens to half the story he unjustly punishes Scout. This is another example of injustice in To Kill a Mockingbird. The last form of injustice is Arrogance as readers can see by Aunt Alexandra treatment of Calpurnia. When Aunt Alexandra first comes to help the Atticus raise Scout and Jem. She wants to get rid of Calpurnia because she thinks she’s too good to have a black person to cook and clean for her. After Atticus tells Alexandra no scout asks Atticus if she may visit Calpurnia at her house, Aunt Alexandra cuts in and says no. later she tells Atticus “you’ve got to face it sooner or later and it might as well be tonight we don’t need her now”.(182) Arrogance makes Aunt Alexandra plan to unjustly get rid of
Calpurnia. There are several forms of injustice in To Kill a Mockingbird. The racism of the jury caused an innocent man to be discriminatorily killed. Uncle jack’s only listening to half of the truth caused Francis to go unpunished. Aunt Alexandra’s arrogance makes her want to unreasonably get rid of Calpurnia for no reason. These are just a few specific examples of the depths of injustice In Harper lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
In To Kill a Mockingbird, injustice is seen in many aspects of the book. Scout is a victim of its wrath throughout some of the novel. When Jem, Atticus and Scout all go to Finch’s Landing for Christmas, Scout hits Francis after he calls Atticus a Negro-lover. Uncle Jack punishes Scout after hearing only Francis’s side. “I took a deep breath. ‘Well, in the first place you never stopped to gimme a chance to tell you my side of it - you just lit right into me.’” (Lee 113). Uncle Jack’s ignorance to the conflict he created makes Scout mad because he did not ask her side of the story. Just because at first look, Scout seemed like the antagonist, Uncle Jack jumped the gun and punished her without full knowledge, causing an unfair situation. Another time that, again, Scout was introduced to injustice is when she is first starting school. Miss Caroline, her teacher, discovers that Scout can read and informs her to have her dad stop teaching her. The ...
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.
Firstly, Atticus Finch acts justly, fairly, and always helps others who need it. One of his clients, Mr. Cunningham, pays Atticus in entailment. Scout asks her brother, Jem what the meaning of paying in entailment is, “Jem described it as a condition of having your tail in a crack … one morning Jem and I found a load of stovewood in the back yard … Mr. Cunningham had more than paid him” (Lee 20-21). Atticus believes that no one should get any disadvantages because of one’s lower financial state. He shows justice by allowing Mr. Cunningham to pay him in different sources other than money. Also, Atticus is a very wise man. He talks to his daughter with full empathy and understanding to try and help her. When Scout is complaining about her teacher’s attitude towards her, Atticus gives her great advice that, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his shoes and walk around it” (30). He is teaching Scout to be just. He tells her to look at things from a different perspective and notice the difference from hers to someone else’s. Similarly, Atticus who is a white lawyer takes on a case of a black man, Tom Robinson. Therefore, Scout is made fun of for having her father d...
Scout learns that by yielding to prejudice, we often hurt and cause strife unto others. For example, Scout is harassed and becomes the target of insults when her father decides to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. This is a plajurized essay. The hate felt towards black people by the majority of the Maycomb citizens causes them to bother and harass those who attempt to befriend the black people. Forgive me for stealing this essay. Scout realizes that the only reason she must undergo this torment is that her father is defending a black man, which has become taboo because of the corruption that racism has caused in many people. In addition, Scout watches Tom Robinson undergo unfair treatment and false accusations. Please dont tell my parents I stole this essay. Although Atticus provides the jury and the people of Maycomb with overwhelming evidence benefiting Tom, and ultimately proving him innocent, this is not enough to overcome the powers of hate and racism. Scout watches as the jury deliberates and convicts Tom Robinson of murder because he is a black man. This is a stolen essay. Although Scout witnesses a myriad of injustices occurring against black people, she also sees an exiguity of kind and compassionate movements towards black people.
Towards the end of To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus decides to represent a colored man by the man of Tom Robinson, who is being accused of raping Mayella Ewell, Bob Ewell’s daughter. Atticus believes that Tom is innocent, but he does not think that Tom will be found not guilty because of they way the townsfolk treat colored people. They treat them like dirt; like they are worth nothing. Atticus went ahead and represented Tom despite the fact that he knew the townsfolk would call himself and his children names and treat them disrespectfully. Even Scout’s relative Francis said rude things about them. “‘I guess it ain't your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover besides, but I'm here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family-...’ ‘Just what I said. Grandma says it's bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he's turned out a nigger-lover we'll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb agin. He's ruinin' the family, that's what he's doin'.’” Atticus set a good example for Scout and Jem. He had a difficult decision to make, but he chose what he thought was
Justice, by definition, means fairness. In the case of Tom Robinson, whom Jem's father (Atticus) is defending, fairness is a boon that is not to be granted. Jem is devastated after realizing that justice does not always prevail. After Jem sees Tom be destroyed completely inequitably, he begins to question the ways of humanity.
Throughout History, men have looked down on blacks and women. But this does not justify the view that blacks and women are below white men. When people look down on blacks and women, they preform injustice. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is full of injustice. During this time period, everyone looked down on blacks and women, which makes Maycomb one in the same with the discriminators. In particular, the people in Maycomb looked down on Tom Robinson, and many others looked down on Scout. Around the Finch household, Aunt Alexandria always tries to do away with Calpurnia, the black housekeeper and cook as Alexandria says, “We don’t need her (Calpurnia) now.” (182). Injustices in Maycomb include the case of Tom Robinson, the way Aunt Alexandra treats Calpurnia, and the way people treat Scout.
The novel How to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee contains one overbearing theme: extreme prejudice. Throughout the novel “Scout” and her brother “Jem”; their real names being Jean Louise Finch and Jeremy Atticus Finch respectively, are victims and perpetrators of prejudice. In the novel, the children’s father Atticus Finch is the defense attorney for Mr. Tom Robinson, a black man convicted of raping white women with only circumstantial evidence. This evidence only pointing to Mayella Ewell being assaulted not by him; but by her father, Mr. Bob Ewell. Tom Robinson is only a victim of prejudice, alongside a multitude of people, all because of gender, socioeconomic, and/or racial aspects of their lives.
“ Don’t judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.” (Creech, pg.51) This quote describes the society of today and of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” There are many cases of unjust judging and unfairness in this story as it takes in Maycomb County, Alabama, which was not ideal for anyone other than a successful white male. This story follows a young tomboy named Scout Finch as she grows up in this prejudiced town where along the way a young black man named Tom Robinson is accused of raping a white woman, and it just so happens he Father is defending him. While “To Kill a Mockingbird” shows the ugliness that can come from judging others, its ultimate message is that great good can result when one defers judgment until considering
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is centered on the moral values and ideas of the people in Maycomb and how they react to things that go against their normal beliefs. All of the characters have their own senses of what is right or wrong, good or bad, etc. Aunt Alexandra's moral values are expressed throughout the book, especially in her feelings through her brother's case, but in public are confined to the indifferent and self-aware values of the county. While Aunt Alexandra has her set of displayed ideas and values shaped by the people in Maycomb, there are some hints to a hidden sense of justice in her throughout the story that gives her a sense of compassion for those discriminated in her world.
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.
Justice is a translation of the law by an individual’s ideals. Although it can be defined by many, justice is confidently placed in the hands of individuals that understand and interpret the law to the fullest extent, in regards to their integrity and morality. While the law coincides with justice, tension arises when a conflict of ethics comes into play. The subversion of justice is portrayed in, “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee as a result of racism, stereotyping, and preconceived notions (bias).
The fight for equality is a continuous theme in the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ in the 1930s, a period of racism and intolerance. Throughout the novel Scout will constantly be taught the importance of treating everyone equally. Atticus shows a different moral background than this community. He judges no one by his or her socioeconomic status race. When Walter Cunningham embarrassingly refuses to take his teachers quarter, Scout kindly helps to explain his situation; “The Cunningham’s never took anything they can’t pay back….”. This event helps to foreshadow the theme fight for equality when Scout decides to defend someone less fortunate than her, instead of treating him differently or letting him be treated differently. Atticus Flinch will
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, takes place in Maycomb Alabama during the Great Depression when racism was active, the stock market crashed, and asylums for the mentally ill were not sufficient. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the narrator named Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and her father, Atticus, have multiple encounters with three characters dealing with three common issues found during the 1930’s. Tom Robinson is an African American man who was wrongly accused of rape solely because of the hatred towards African Americans during the 1930’s (“Historical Context”). The Cunninghams are a family of farmers living in the South who suffering from the stock market crash that began the Great Depression (“Historical Context”). Boo Radley is slightly
To Kill a Mockingbird has many moral values to it. It begins with an introduction of childhood and friendship. At the end though, there is sorrow than justice. What is the biblical aspect of To Kill a Mockingbird. There were many scenarios were "mockingbirds" are killed.