Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird Essay
To Kill a Mockingbird and Injustice
In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee tells the story of Scout and her father
Atticus who is a lawyer. Atticus is a southern caucasian lawyer in the 1930s trying to represent a
wrongly accused African American Tom Robinson. While racism was quite common in the 30s,
Harper uses the trial of Tom Robinson to demonstrate the unjust treatment of African Americans
Atticus is a white lawyer who was assigned the case of an African American Tom
Robinson. Accused of raping and brutally attacking Mayella Ewell, Tom is in a bad situation.
Atticus said to Jack, “The only thing we’ve got is a black man’s word against the Ewell’s (Lee
88).” When Lee says that, she expresses that Tom has a very low chance …show more content…
against the jury of
Maycomb. With this in mind, it brings up a problem of racism. Tom being the only one near the
crime and being African American, it was easy for them to pin the crime on him.
In Tom Robinson’s trial, Sheriff Heck Tate was the first on the witness stand. Under
cross examination he says that a doctor was never called to the scene to examine the supposedly
brutalized Mayella Ewell. He says that if a doctor was never called, then how did they know that
a crime was even committed, let alone that Tom Robinson was the attacker (Lee 167). There
being no evidence and no stories from anyone except Mayella, it is very hard for Atticus to
protect a near defenseless Tom Robinson.
Second to take the stage was Bob Ewell. He agrees to all of Sheriff Tate’s testimony and
also says that Tom Robinson not only raped Mayella but also beat her. He says that he ran up to
the window and yelled, “I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella (Lee 173)!” The
crowd went into an uproar. When Bob told the judge about Mayella’s beating on the right side of
her face Atticus had a couple questions. Atticus asked Bob to write his name which then he
found out that Bob was left handed. Atticus then explained that with the bruises on the right side
of her face, it could only be done by someone that would be left handed. With that statement he
was proving that Bob Ewell could’ve raped and beaten his own daughter.
Throughout the novel Lee demonstrates the segregation between race and negative
association that involves racism. She also convinced her audience of the personal moral Atticus
and gives hope to a changing and ever evolving society where we become more accepting based
on their race. Lee made this renowned book that is well known across the
world.
In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee tells the story of Scout and her father
Atticus who is a lawyer. Atticus is a southern caucasian lawyer in the 1930s trying to represent a
wrongly accused African American Tom Robinson. While racism was quite common in the 30s,
Harper uses the trial of Tom Robinson to demonstrate the unjust treatment of African Americans
Atticus is a white lawyer who was assigned the case of an African American Tom
Robinson. Accused of raping and brutally attacking Mayella Ewell, Tom is in a bad situation.
Atticus said to Jack, “The only thing we’ve got is a black man’s word against the Ewell’s (Lee
88).” When Lee says that, she expresses that Tom has a very low chance …show more content…
against the jury of
Maycomb. With this in mind, it brings up a problem of racism. Tom being the only one near the
crime and being African American, it was easy for them to pin the crime on him.
In Tom Robinson’s trial, Sheriff Heck Tate was the first on the witness stand. Under
cross examination he says that a doctor was never called to the scene to examine the supposedly
brutalized Mayella Ewell. He says that if a doctor was never called, then how did they know that
a crime was even committed, let alone that Tom Robinson was the attacker (Lee 167). There
being no evidence and no stories from anyone except Mayella, it is very hard for Atticus to
protect a near defenseless Tom Robinson.
Second to take the stage was Bob Ewell. He agrees to all of Sheriff Tate’s testimony and
also says that Tom Robinson not only raped Mayella but also beat her. He says that he ran up to
the window and yelled, “I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella (Lee 173)!” The
crowd went into an uproar. When Bob told the judge about Mayella’s beating on the right side of
her face Atticus had a couple questions. Atticus asked Bob to write his name which then he
found out that Bob was left handed. Atticus then explained that with the bruises on the right side
of her face, it could only be done by someone that would be left handed. With that statement he
was proving that Bob Ewell could’ve raped and beaten his own daughter.
Throughout the novel Lee demonstrates the segregation between race and negative
association that involves racism. She also convinced her audience of the personal moral Atticus
and gives hope to a changing and ever evolving society where we become more accepting based
on their race. Lee made this renowned book that is well known across the
world.