Preview

To kill a mocking bird

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
935 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
To kill a mocking bird
1. Write about the conflicts portrayed in the book as the trial unfolds and intensifies.
Ans: The conflict portrayed is that a white woman is accusing a black man of rape. The attorney of the black is proving the case to be bias and that the black man is innocent. The attorney is now face with protecting his client since he is been targeted to be killed. The case even intensifies when the court finds out that the accuser has no motion or power in the hand he was accused of using to be the victim. 2. The book is also a commentary on the American system of justice. Atticus’ summation states that "there is one institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal on an Einstein…That institution is…the court" (Lee, 1995, p. 173). Discuss the relevance of this statement today.
Ans: I love this quote, I believe when Atticus quoted this quotation he was about feed up. He believed that even if the outside world was not justice, the court was supposed to be able to be justice and protects its people regardless who you are. He was always trying to imply that the court was the only place that could believe in such a bias story the victim was claiming. All evident was over turned and the ladies word was taking for it. Comment on the different points of view of characters in the courtroom, including the following: Tom Robinson – An innocent black man that was trying to be nice and polite who was accused of rape, but I think at some point he should have said no to the invitation from Mayella. Mayella – The white lady who accused Mr. Robinson of rape. Seems like she didn’t have a life or much going on, she craved attention so badly that it ended up with trying to seduce Mr. .Robinson. Tom Ewell - the father of Mayella. He’s the only that started this whole mess. Even though evidents pointed out he was guilty, the point of time in which this novel was written didn’t allow the jury to convict him. He’s

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    “The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this room is” (Lee 271). Atticus, in his closing argument, attempts to convey that Tom Robinson is innocent, and the Ewell’s have done a wrong deed. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates the theme of treating and respecting everyone as an individual in Atticus’s closing argument by using rhetorical devices such as repetition, analogies, and allusions.…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A trail for a black man was set in the courthouse in Maycomb city. Tom Robinson, the defendant was accused of using violence to Mayella Ewell. It rare to set a trail for a black since most of them are getting lynched in this city. Therefore, a huge amount of people rushed to the courthouse and observed the trial including the whites and the blacks.…

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tom Robinson was a civilized man who was trying to get home from work one day,and Mayella Ewell ruined that for him. In the unfair case of Tom Robinson he was accused of raping a girl he never found interest in.The case had a ruling set before it even started,because he was a black man. There was so much evidence that Mayella wasn't raped by Tom Robinson,some of the evidence were Tom's physical handicap from a cotton gin as well as his left arm being twelve inches shorter than his right and was not able to use his left arm.His color works againt him,the jury decides to believe mayella instead of Tom. Therefore, he was convicted and sent to jail.…

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    White , black ,yellow brown all just colors but yet we let theses colors separate our society.When it comes to Mayella’s gender she uses that as a major advantage for power she's a white woman and she throws herself at an african american, she knew that if she did that then she would automatically win the trial because she was white and he was a african american, also the time the book was set in the time zone of the 1930’s it was very unheard of…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    To me this quote shows how even Atticus’s family is judgmental toward the court cases he is currently defending. It is…

    • 207 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom Robinson is an African American male who was wrongly accused of raping a poor, white woman, named Mayella Ewell. During the Great Depression, the Jim Crow laws (DBP Jim Crow laws 7) were put in place to segregate white people and people of color. The laws restricted intimacy and most everyday interactions between white women and black males. The laws were technically applied to everyone during the 1930’s, but males were especially protective of the women in the south. In a series of events, Mayella Ewell is able to gain power by using her race, gender, and class against Tom Robinson. Mayella is able to use people’s outlook on African Americans to her advantage in court and also the fact that she is a female. Although Mayella’s class isn’t her strongest suit, in the eye of the jury and everyone else in the South, no matter how poor you are as long as you are white you will have authority over African Americans. Knowing this, Mayella is able to find a solution to her father’s sexual abuse by gaining power through Tom Robinson.…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    During the trial of Tom Robinson, he encounters false accusations on behalf of the Ewell family. “Miss.Mayella...you’ve testified that the defendant hit you, grabbed you by the neck, and took advantage of you.” This quotations explains the false accusations Mayella Ewell made up to save her father Robert Ewell from the jury.Mayella Ewell obviously thought if she traps a black man, which is already disrespected by society instead of her father the jury will take her side either way.This act of pleading innocence was wrong of Mayella because she took advantage of an innocent man that has a family of his own to be there for. Mayella’s loneliness and isolation from the rest of Maycomb county lead her to take such actions. But she was smart enough…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch’s purpose at the current time was to persuade the jury that Tom Robinson was an innocent man, Tom was black field worker that had been accused of beating and raping a young girl, and at the time, 1930s, if a black man was accused of doing anything to white female, they were found guilty, plain and simple. But Atticus uses, pathos ethos and logos during his speech to the jury, which allows him to effectively demonstrate the real aspects of his personality and morals. Since Tom was black, many did not want to represent him in court, due to his race. But Atticus, saw the challenge did not back away from it. He wanted to prove to the jurors that Tom Robinson was an innocent man and that he should…

    • 283 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robinson. Accused of raping and brutally attacking Mayella Ewell, Tom is in a bad situation.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “To Kill a Mockingbird” a black hardworking man named Tom Robinson, is accused of raping a white women named Mayella Ewell. The truth of this matter is Tom Robinson, is Mayella threw herself at Tom. Mayella was a lonely women whose father abused her. She wanted to have intimacy with Tom Robinson, which “brings shame to her family”. When her father finds out Mayella tried to throw…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atticus's sense of integrity is constructed from his morals of truth and justice rather from prejudice and bigotry. Atticus, no matter what stands in his way, follows his individually moral sense of integrity. In Atticus's final argument, he said, "I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts, and in the jury system- that is no ideal to me, it is a living working reality..In the name of God, do your duty. " Atticus is saying that the justice of the court will only prevail if the jury member's individual sense of integrity is maintained; unbiased, and unprejudiced. He is attempting to make clear the great injustice prejudice is doing. Unfortunately, the jury's Christian need to justify their immoral sense of integrity is far stronger than justice is. Atticus's sense of integrity unites mankind. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus unites the black community with his…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mayella Ewell is the first minor character I shall discuss; a beacon of racial prejudice and the injustice of the courthouses. She is considered to be trash along with the rest of the Ewell's; despite the fact that she is one of the few Ewell's who can read and write. As well as being literate she tries her best to make that most of what she's got, "the quote about the flowers she keeps". Despite her decency compared to the others in her family Mayella still only cares for her own wellbeing.…

    • 903 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Among her other hardships, Mayella’s treatment at home is another instance where her misfortunes should invoke the reader’s sense of compassion, although her prominent influence in Tom Robinson’s death should not be vindicated. As a result of the trial, abuse in the Ewell household is revealed. Considering that she is being physically, and quite possibly sexually, abused by her father, Mayella is greatly deserving of solicitude from the reader. When recollecting the events after Mayella kissed him, Robinson’s testimony implies that she was sexually abused as he recalls that the young woman declares that she has never ‘been with’ a man before and, “... what her papa do to her don’t count,” (Lee 260). Solitary, this holds a considerable amount of evidence to indicate that Mayella was sexually abused by her father, and the occurrence of such a harrowing event in anyone’s life would be dreadful.…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mayella had been beaten mostly on the right side of her face, meaning she was attacked by a left-handed person. However, Robinson’s left arm was crippled by a cotton gin at a young age, making the idea that he could restrain, beat, and rape Mayella highly unlikely. As an alcoholic with a temper, Bert Ewell is now a prime suspect in both Atticus’ and the readers’ eyes. He was the only person present at the Ewell house capable of beating Mayella, both in terms of physical and emotional strength, and is a left-handed man. Mr. Ewell is further incriminated by Tom Robinson’s testimony, in which Robinson states that Mayella told him that “she [had] never kissed a grown man before… what her papa [does] to her [does not] count”(260). Albeit indirectly, Mayella accuses her father of sexually abusing her, and does so in a manner that suggests it is a common occurrence; this is evident by her casual tone and use of the present-habitual tense. Robinson also testifies that Bert Ewell called his daughter a “... god-damn whore”(260) and threatened to kill her. This eye-witness account, along with previous evidence, all but cements Bert Ewell as his daughter’s assailant and long-time…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mayella couldn’t stop there, she had to take Tom to court by accusing him of raping her. While in court Atticus Finch figured out that Mayella was beaten by someone who had a dominant left hand. Tom Robinson had little to no movement in his left arm considering it was severely injured however Bob Ewell was left handed. This helped confirm that Tom was innocent and never hurt Mayella, but it did leave Bob guilty of beating and sexually abusing his daughter. At this point everyone knew Bob Ewell was guilty and Tom was innocent but the jury still convicted Tom because of his race. Mayella Ewell was smart enough to plan out every detail and how it was going to happen. She used her gender as a way to convince everyone that Tom raped her. What white female would take the risk of kissing a black male in the late 1920’s, early 1930’s? The Jim Crow Laws stated “Any white woman who shall suffer or permit herself to be got with a child by a negro or mulatto…shall be sentenced to the penitentiary for not less than eighteen months.” They also stated that “no colored barber shall serve as a barber to white women or girls.” If Mayella was caught lying, she would have to go to the penitentiary for at least eighteen months but after those months Bob wouldn’t want anything to do with her. Mayella used her class to help out…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays