Tom Robinson Trial Essay

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Why was it that Tom Robinson had to die an innocent man? Why was he convicted of rape? Was there enough evidence to even convict him in the first place? Most importantly, whose fault was it that Tom Robinson, an innocent black man from Maycomb County, Alabama, was sentenced to death after his trial? Tom Robinson, a black man in a small town in Alabama, walks past the Ewell residence daily on his way to work. Mayella Ewell, a teenage girl who lived along his route, would ask him to help her with some of her chores. As this became more frequent, inevitably, the unthinkable happened. In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the situation of Tom Robinson results from the community’s action, as evidenced by Atticus’s statement on page 251, chapter …show more content…

He explains that the people who make up the jury are usually good, but something gets into them that causes terrible things. Atticus says, “Those are twelve reasonable men in everyday life, Tom’s jury, but you see something come between them and reason. You saw the same thing that night in front of the jail. When that crew left, they didn't go as reasonable men; they went because we were there. There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads-they couldn't be fair if they tried.” Atticus’ statement puts into words the way the community is guilty. If it wasn't for the jury being made up of racist white men, the outcome of the event could have been different. During the trial, as the audience files in, we are shown an example of how things were expected of the white people at this time. “Four Negroes rose and gave us their front-row seats. The colored balcony ran along three courtroom walls like a second-story veranda, and we could see everything from it.” This quote shows how the community treated the black population during this time. In the black section, the courtroom audience is farther away and higher up than the white section, and the black people give up their seats to the white people without being

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