Tom Robinson Trial

1177 Words3 Pages

The climax of To Kill a Mockingbird is the court case of Tom Robinson. Tom is a disabled black man, who got his left hand stuck in a cotton gin in his youth, is accused and later convicted of raping a white girl named Mayella Ewell. Atticus defends Tom and the community does not like this. They call him nasty names and pick on his children. This opens Jem and Scout to a whole other world of people, and shows them how offensive people can be. However, the trial itself is a turning point for the children. They are exposed to racism first hand, and notice how derogatory and discriminatory people are. The missionary circle is also a turning point for Scout, but more for Aunt Alexandra. The missionary circle is traditionally composed of ladies from …show more content…

He is stunned by the inhumanity that the jury holds to convict an innocent man. After he heard that Tom was guilty Jem broke down in tears, complaining about the unfairness of it all. Atticus explains to him that the trial was an irremediable case. In court, a white man’s word is of almost always of higher value than a black man’s word. When the two are put against each other, the white man’s word is always the one the jury chooses to trust.Despite that, Jem says that that still “doesn't make it right...you just can't convict a man on evidence like that”(295). Everyone in that courthouse was aware of who committed the actual crime, and they were also very aware that it was not Tom Robinson. However, after thinking about this fact, a question strikes Jem -”why don’t people like us and Miss Maudie ever sit on juries?” (296). This is because that at the time, women were not allowed to sit on a jury. This fact is shocking to both Jem and Scout, as if it had never occurred to them that women may not have some of the same liberties as men, despite them both using the term “girl” as an insult in the past. This communicates Jem maturing and beginning to see women as more than just a derogatory term. He is turning into someone who sees women as capable human beings worth more than just frilly dresses and

Open Document