In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee addresses racial discrimination and injustice through its characters, their internal and external conflicts, events, and symbolism. For instance, after being sent to prison Tom Robinson was shot seventeen times when trying to escape, “To Maycomb, Tom’s death was typical. Typical of a nigger to cut and run. Typical of a nigger’s mentality to have no plan, no thought for the future, just run blind first chance he saw,” (Lee 322). In other words, the town treated Tom’s death as something they could have bet big on when tried. Everyone knew that Tom had no chance. If it were really no surprise to a young girl that a black man who was pronounced guilty in a court against a white woman was killed, then to the
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Underwood’s article and deduced, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed,” (Lee 323) which was true! As I stated before, it was no surprise to the town that Tom was pronounced guilty. The town knew that this respectful, black man with a dysfunctional left arm could not have raped or hit this poor, lonely white woman. When Atticus was making his speech in court, he gave it to them straight, “She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards. Her father saw it… What did her father do? We don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left,” (Lee 272). Furthermore in Scout’s thoughts, “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case,” (Lee 223). This I believe summarizes the case as whole other than, “This case is as simple as black and white,” (Lee 271). Racism clearly led the case because everything I just listed in court today could have made Tom a free …show more content…
You never see anybody from Maycomb on a jury—they all come from out in the woods,” (Lee 296). Women were not allowed to sit in juries until 1973. Atticus explained that it is to protect the women from the more gruesome cases. He said that also because he did not think they would ever get done with a case since they would be asking too many questions. I would like to address this form of discrimination further in a future paper though, but this is an example of the various occasions of discrimination presented in To Kill A
Underwood’s article and deduced, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed,” (Lee 323) which was true! As I stated before, it was no surprise to the town that Tom was pronounced guilty. The town knew that this respectful, black man with a dysfunctional left arm could not have raped or hit this poor, lonely white woman. When Atticus was making his speech in court, he gave it to them straight, “She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards. Her father saw it… What did her father do? We don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left,” (Lee 272). Furthermore in Scout’s thoughts, “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case,” (Lee 223). This I believe summarizes the case as whole other than, “This case is as simple as black and white,” (Lee 271). Racism clearly led the case because everything I just listed in court today could have made Tom a free …show more content…
You never see anybody from Maycomb on a jury—they all come from out in the woods,” (Lee 296). Women were not allowed to sit in juries until 1973. Atticus explained that it is to protect the women from the more gruesome cases. He said that also because he did not think they would ever get done with a case since they would be asking too many questions. I would like to address this form of discrimination further in a future paper though, but this is an example of the various occasions of discrimination presented in To Kill A