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The word "justice" appears frequently in many of the United States' documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Pledge of Allegiance. According to Wikipedia, “justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, equity and fairness, as well as the administration of the law, taking into account the inalienable and inborn rights of all human beings and citizens, the right of all people and individuals to equal protection of their civil rights, without discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, color, ethnicity, religion, disability, age, and / or other characteristics" (Wikipedia). Harper Lee expands on the idea of justice in her novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. The novel takes place during the 1930s in the town of Maycomb, at a time of racial discrimination and inequality. Tom Robinson is a kind hearted African American who is wrongly accused and convicted of raping Mayella Ewell, who is a white woman. His lawyer Atticus Finch, although white, does not back down from representing Tom Robinson in court. He already knows to expect a negative reaction from society. Although he is a strong figure in the community, people now see Atticus as a disgrace. They believe he is bringing shame to his family, and call him a “nigger-lover”. His children, Scout and Jem, also suffer the repercussions due to their father’s actions. It is unfair for these young, innocent children to be put through such traumatic events. Atticus Finch is a good role model to his children, as well as to the community. He himself is also like a mockingbird. Atticus Finch’s idea of justice includes protecting the innocent and those wh... ... middle of paper ... ...he justice system is not always successful. Although the idea of fairness is present, how it plays out can vary. Justice is only a moral based idea. People are bound by their own values, not a universal set of values. Justice cannot be defined as just this one thing. Justice depends on many things, such as the society and the culture, the type of government running the country, the people living in that country, etc. A good leader has to show legitimacy in his ways of ensuring the laws are just and administered fairly. Throughout history, we have seen how the government can be unjust. An example can be the time of slavery when blacks did not have the same rights as the whites, and were treated very poorly compared to the whites. Traces of such behavior can still be seen in today's society. Therefore, while there is justice, there will always be some injustice.
By definition justice means the quality of being just or fair. The issue then stands, is justice fair for everyone? Justice is the administration of law, the act of determining rights and assigning rewards or punishments, "justice deferred is justice denied.” The terms of Justice is brought up in Henry David Thoreau’s writing, “Civil Disobedience.”
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.
In the novel, this quote strongly represents racial inequality. This story took place in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. Alabama was one of the most racist states in the south. Due to the setting of the story, Atticus Finch believes that because Tom Robinson is a black man, he does not have a great chance of winning the trial. He stated the jury could not expect to believe Tom over the Ewells’, a white
Justice is seen as a concept that is balanced between law and morality. The laws that support social harmony are considered just. Rawls states that justice is the first virtue of social institutions; this means that a good society is one structured according to principles of justice. The significance of principles of justice is to provide a way of assigning rights and duties in the basic institutions of the society and defining the appropriate distribution of the benefits and burdens of the society. According to Rawls, justice is best understood by a grasp of the principles of justice (Rawls, 1971). The principles are expected to represent the moral basis of political government. These principles indicate that humankind needs liberty and freedom so long as they do harm others. Rawls states that justice is significant to human development and prosperity.
Fairness of Justice System in To Kill a Mockingbird In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, there was an anticipation guide statement that was very imminent throughout the story; especially during the court trial. The guide statement is “under our justice system , all citizens must be treated fairly in our courts of law”. My stance on this statement, personally, is that I totally agree.
Justice and judgement, where does it stand? Well, in the 1960’s that was rather scarce. When the book had been written there were rather large issues/problems of racism and judgement toward people with colored skin. Harper Lee being the small couple to a few people who weren’t raised a racist, like the way others were supposed to be raised, she strongly believed that discriminating against another person based off of the color of their skin was wrong and she wanted her point across about her views and opinions with it, thus creating the book to kill A Mockingbird. Many people had their opinions of it, others being outraged because of their beliefs, but even so it became a very popular novel and received several awards, including the movie that came out a year after the release of the book in 1961 and became a huge hit, like the novel.
Unfortunately, injustice is dominant in the world. While people want to be treated fairly, greed and power get in the way of perfect justice and equality.
It forces everyone to think the same, behave the same, and expect the same. In the words of Igor Shafarevich, “They proclaim the greatest possible equality, the destruction of hierarchy in society and at the same time a strict regimentation of all of life, which would be impossible without absolute control and an all-powerful bureaucracy which would engender an incomparably greater inequality.” Justice on the other hand creates true fairness where equality does not. The difference between justice and equality is best summed up by the following
Tom Robinson, a middle aged black man, is accused of raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Mayella serves a mother figure to her younger siblings and is invloved in an incestuious realationship with her father, Bob Ewell. The Ewell family does not have money and lack education therefore representing that they are in the lower class. In the novel, it is quickly recognized that Tom Robinson is convicted based on the colour of his skin. In the trial, Bob Ewell’s reaction to Mayella kissing a black man horrifies him, showing the fear of miscegenation. After battling the trial from both sides, Atticus explains to Scout and Jem that in the court, when it is a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. After the judge left to determine the winner of the case, when the jury came back out it is stated that “ A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted” (282) and when they came out, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson. He was then found guilty after Atticus fought long and hard for him. It was that way because of the colour of Tom’s skin. The jury was actually considering the points made from Tom and Atticus but they had to go with the white man’s word against the black
To begin, justice in Maycomb is against other races. In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson is being accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell. Since Tom Robinson is a black man, he is firstly accused for wanting to rape Mayella, instead of Mayella wanting to have an affair
To Kill A Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, takes place in the 1930s during the Great Depression (a time of prejudice and discrimination), which opens up as an account of injustice to the most polite, yet unjustly blamed citizens of the town of Maycomb. The kind hearted, African-American Tom Robinson is unfairly put on trial for the alleged rape of young Mayella Ewell. Despite racial injustices, Boo Radley is mistreated by the community based on the town legends and stories the citizens of Maycomb have created about him, forcing him to live inside his house. Atticus Finch (a strong figure in Maycomb) is made fun of by its people for being a decent human being and sticking to his morals in defending an innocent coloured man. It also features
John Rawls’ Justice as fairness attempts to both define the principles typical of justice and describe what a just society would necessary entail by the conception presented. What is described is not a perfectly good society, as justice is but one virtue among many, but a just one. Specifically, Rawls’ conception is that justice and fairness are one in the same. Using this as a starting point, Rawls focuses foremostly on the practices in a society, rather than any individual action. In this way, he expounds on what is meant by the term fairness and what value that term has in explaining justice. In this paper of three parts, I will first describe Rawls position on justice, including this position’s main principles. Secondly, I will examine
These are the words uttered by Martin Luther King Jr. as he fought for racial equality in his cell at the Birmingham County Jail. This famous quote is a perfect example of the common belief that justice is always fairness. Even though the two terms are synonymous, fairness is subjective, especially in law. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Boo Radley’s life is exemplified by the statement that “extreme justice is often extreme injustice”.
Humans, by nature, are social creatures and because of this the concept of justice and an individual’s responsibility in society was formed. Throughout the centuries, numerous theories and meanings regarding the definition of justice have been created. Different conduits for the same basic concept have been argued, refuted, and elaborated on in order to effectively grasp the essence of what justice really is. However, most concepts deal with how the individual in a society practices justice. Whether it is Aquinas and his belief that justice is part of natural law, Hobbes and his view that justice is a social construct, Martin Luther King Jr. and his views on social justice, or Rawls with his views of justice and fairness, they all have implications
Can there be justice for all? To answer this question I must first define what justice is. Justice is ?the quality of being just, impartial or fair? in your dealings with others according to Merriam Webster?s Collegiate Dictionary. Keeping that definition in mind, I now must turn to the Voices of Wisdom in order to find an example of a situation in which all parties feel that they are being treated justly. After examining examples such as: Euthanasia, discrimination based on sexual orientation, and equal opportunity offered within the book, it becomes clear to me that there is in fact no possible way for there to be justice for all because everyone?s judgement is in some way or another clouded by their own self interests.