Compare and contrast the two trials of Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird and Twelve Angry Men. * Similarities: * In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus defends Tom Robinson even though there was little chance he could win the trial. He did all he could to help Tom, and put 100% effort into the trial. In Twelve Angry Men, juror number 8 defends the boy, even though everyone else believes he’s guilty. They both did not give up and in it till the end. * They are dealing with prejudice in both. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the prejudice is seen because Tom is a black man going against a white man’s word, and the jury is all white and prejudice. In Twelve Angry Men, prejudice is seen because the boy in trial is from the slums; he is criticized because of where he lives. * Juror # 8 and Atticus both use evidence and facts to prove their point. They use logos. * In both the book and the play, a life is at stake. The defendant would be put in the chair if proven guilty. * You never find out if the defendant is truly innocent or guilty. You only find out what the jury decides. * The words of witnesses are doubtful.
* Differences: * Atticus lost the trial, but juror # 8 convinced the rest of the jury to vote “not guilty”. * Atticus is a lawyer, so he was defending Tom in court. Juror # 8 was part of the jury and was defending the boy against the rest of the jury, trying to get them to vote “not guilty” * Tom is accused of rape; the boy is accused of murder. * In Twelve Angry Men, there is more physical evidence of the crime then in To Kill a Mockingbird. In To Kill a Mockingbird there is mostly just the word of witnesses for