What Is Justice in Relation to to Kill a Mockingbird

Sammy Penesa
Mrs. Peterson
English10, Per.6
1/14/13
TKAM Essay: What is Justice?
Justice is the most complex word to ever befall mankind. Some people define it as the act of fairness, others believe it to be truth, reason, and fact all wrapped up in one. In the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, justice proves why it is not so easily understood when a town unjustly convicts a man of a crime he did not commit. When personally deciding what justice means we can take three basic observational truths to narrow down our search. We must be able to decide what justice is to us, what the majority rules justice as, and take into account what the opposite of justice is, injustice.
Justice is not an avoidable principle in life. Sooner or later, we as human beings must decide for ourselves what the word and the actions that come with it means to us personally. A great quote to reinforce this principle of judgment is provided in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. Here, Atticus Finch explains to his son how people have a general understanding of Justice, but are more often then not swayed by their own opinions on the matter. ..."Well, most folks seem to think they're right and you're wrong..."
"They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... " From that small essence of truth, we can draw that Atticus is not easily influenced by majority thinking. Like Atticus, we as people with our own thoughts, and our own opinions should always decide on a matter unbiasedly, taking all points into account and weighing them with our own understanding of the situation. Justice, after it is all said and decided, is a choice that may decide the such pressing matter as even life and death.
When presented with the majority outlook on justice, we must check to see if that majority is credible. This is the case in the book To Kill a Mockingbird once again. "but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience." Atticus presents another valid point when talking about the case of Tom Robinson. The people of Maycomb County demanded that a wrong be righted when they heard of the mere accusation against Tom Robinson. The majority of people in town had already decided that Tom was guilty and the majority felt they deserved justice for such a despicable action. The conviction and eventual death that came to Tom was the Justice the town felt they deserved for the injustice presented to them. It is important to remember that the people who receive justice are only righteous in the eyes of man. People must always take into account their conscience and any ethics they hold themselves to.
There is always two sides to every coin, and unfortunately for some they receive the bad end of the flip. This is the case for Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird, “... As Judge Taylor banged his gavel, Mr. Ewell was sitting smugly in the witness chair, surveying his handiwork. With one phrase he had turned happy picknickers into a sulky, tense, murmuring crowd, being slowly hypnotized by gavel taps lessening in intensity until the only sound in the courtroom was a dim pink-pink-pink: the judge might have been rapping the bench with a pencil...” Bob Ewell, knew exactly what he had done, he had an innocent black man with no chance of receiving true justice sent to prison where he would be executed for a crime he did not commit. Unfortunately for Tom he had received the worst slice of the pie he had received injustice in the one of the clearest forms, yet no one saw any fault with it. No one ever wants to experience the pain and hypocrisy that comes with it. That is why it is with the utmost importance we take a page from this book and once again learn to see through all of the smoke and mirrors to format the truth to all.
Harper Lee's sewing of the threads of justice and injustice were the work of a master seamstress. Through out the book she sews a universal truth that she wishes to thread within each of our mind, how when in the wrong hands justice merely serves as a reparation to the majority who feel they deserve it. She wants us to see that justice is presented more often then not to the person who speaks to the majority and tends to their wants. She wanted to convey that we cannot as a people just go with what sounds legible and proper, but must have reason beyond a shadow of a doubt to present proper justice where it is due. Justice is never easily defined with a word it has to be lived and learned.