Essay On The Guilty In To Kill A Mockingbird

“Guilty.” This is what the judge and jury claimed Tom Robinson was, but why? We all know that Tom was innocent, but there must have been reasons for this verdict. This craziness wasn’t actually uncommon during this time in Alabama. Actually, in the time of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, almost all the black people going into court were proven guilty, no matter the situation. This is due to the severe amounts of racism in the state. There are many people during this time that didn’t care about what the black person had to say in court. This injustice in Tom Robinson’s case is occurring due to Bob Ewell, the racist jury, and society itself. Bob Ewell’s racist intentions were a huge part of Tom Robinson’s conviction. It is really bad being racist in the first place, but Bob Ewell took it to a whole other level by trying to falsely accuse Tom Robinson of a serious crime. It takes a really bad person to be able to do this to someone without any sense of regret, and that is exactly what Bob Ewell did. He was so confident in his vicious plan, that he “strutted up to the stand”, acting like he knew he would …show more content…
If you lived in Alabama during this time, it would be nearly impossible to avoid the racism spreading. Some people, like Bob Ewell and the people in the jury, have fallen into the trap that society has set for the people during this time. Only the strong individuals like Atticus are able to fight the urge to go with the flow of society. If this same case were to have taken place around forty years later, Tom Robinson would not have been convicted. This is due to the influences society has on one's behavior. It just so happened to be that Alabama was one of the most racist states during the 30’s, and that definitely showed in the court case. This is all proving that Tom Robinson was made guilty based on what society has done around to the people around