Examples Of Atticus Trial In To Kill A Mockingbird

One thing that Atticus does not realize, however is that the defense Atticus made to the jury was enough to make the all-male, all-white jury stop and think about whether or not Tom was guilty (Michalos 20). In many of the cases against black men juries would immediately declare them guilty. In this case Atticus urged them to judge Tom on his character, rather than his skin color. Although the jurors’ prejudices were too strong to give Tom justice, Atticus did make them think before they proved him guilty. Tom Robinson was eventually killed and Atticus was furious. He had worked so hard to give him justice, and even though Tom was found guilty, and was sentenced to death, Atticus was trying to appeal this sentence and just get him jail time. While in jail Tom Robinson tried to escape, and was shot while going over the fence. Atticus shows his frustration when he says, “We had such a good chance…I told him what I thought, …show more content…
Growing up in the South the children were exposed to extreme racism. They were taught by their town from a young age that “once you have a drop of Negro blood, that makes you all black”(Lee 78). In Otts’ memoir he explains that he understands how wrong racism is, but growing up in the South that is all he knew, much like in To Kill A Mockingbird, in which many of the community members are teaching Scout and Jem to have racist tendencies (qtd. in Denton 375). Even though Atticus is teaching Scout and Jem to treat everyone equally, they have still grown up in a racist community. Even as children they are seen as being superior to African Americans. Scout uses numerous racial slurs, and racial stereotypes (Michalos 13). At one point Scout describes a black boy as “rich chocolate with flaring nostrils and beautiful teeth”(Lee 161). This racist caricature shows the extreme racism that Scout has been exposed to living in the