Pre-AP English 10
October 12, 2013 Notions of Justice and Fairness in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a novel that was published in 1960, the times where our nation had segregation and injustice amongst the colored and the whites. Racism presents itself in many ways in the town of Maycomb. Some are blatant and open, but others are more insidious. The plot focuses on a lawyer, Atticus Finch, and how he defends a colored man, Tom Robinson, who is wrongly accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. When they go to trial Tom is automatically a victim of injustice when they find him guilty of rape just because he is black (Normney 5). om Robinson’s trial, and in fact his entire life, was badly affected by racism. It is truly a testament to the corruption of society when a person who has earned a bad reputation is held in higher esteem than a person who was born with it, as is the case with Bob Ewell and Tom Robinson. Even though Tom was obviously honest in his testament, the jury sided with Bob Ewell because he was white. They made this decision despite the fact that the Ewell family was widely known to be a worthless part of society. Jem, not being racially prejudiced, could not understand this mentality. As Atticus pointed out, “If you (Jem) had been on the jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man.” (Lee 7).
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