Noah Kettler
Mr. Buckles
English I
October 28, 2016
To Kill a Mockingbird Literary Analysis (Topic 5) The gavel hits the wood of the judge’s desk creating a loud slam. What speaks louder than the ring of the gavel however, is the silence that follows it. Not even a whisper can be heard amongst the crowd of 300. The judge diminishes the silence by beginning to count the jury. “Guilty…..Guilty….Guilty…”. Not even an objection amongst the jury, everyone in it seemed to be fixated on ending the case by convicting Tom Robinson, even if he was truly guilty or not. The crowd ignites at the sound of the Judge calling the convict guilty. Some are cheering the judge on with smiles and grins, others heartbroken at the absurdity of the jury’s decision, …show more content…
While most people in Maycomb are racist, being that it is a southern town, there are also people that don’t have racist views on things, making them mostly outsiders. One example is when Tom Robinson tries fleeing jail, he is shot on his way out. Not only is he shot though, Atticus states that there was “[s]seventeen bullet holes in him.” (Lee 315). What this shows is that the officers wanted no chance of survival. That however, is not the only time racism is expressed in this southern town. It is also shown that in the court case when the judge was touring the jury, they were racist as well. From the POV of scout, she experiences this saddened. “I closed my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury. “Guilty…Guilty…Guilty…Guilty…”” (Lee 282). This shows the division between the two ideals. Scout, obviously heartbroken with the rest of her family, feels the pain of racism while everyone else celebrates. This, later on in the story, plays a large role as it leads to Atticus and Mr. Ewell getting into an argument and Mr. Ewell spitting in his face. Mr. Ewell also goes beyond threats as well, literally attacking the Radley children because of the separate ideals. This however, is not the only thing that plays a huge …show more content…
People know exactly what other people think on certain issues. Because everything travels around the town so fast, it leads to problems among the community and leads to events happening in the story. People’s thoughts on certain topics don’t exactly click with one another, and in this story this problem is alarming at times, other times it can just be a nuisance for others though. An instance where the town causes a problem for Scout is when it is revealed to everyone in the town that Atticus is defending a black person in a court case, making everyone taunt his kids and him for being a “Nigger lover”. In chapter 9, Francis is especially aware of this and taunts Scout about this, making Scout infuriated at his racist and crude remarks. Francis starts taunting even more, saying “Nigger-Lover…” (Lee 112) and causes Scout to “[…] split [her] knuckle to the bone on his front teeth.” (Lee 112) out of sheer anger. In a more grim instance, even though Atticus lost the case and had to give up when Tom Robinson was dead, it was no secret that he still felt that the case was unjust for it to happen. It, while merely upsetting some, provoked some to their maximum. Mr. Ewell, being at the receiving end of all of the hate channeled by Atticus, decides to attack the family. Originally, he “told him he’d get him if it took the rest of his life[…]” (Lee 290), but instead of targeting
Mr. Buckles
English I
October 28, 2016
To Kill a Mockingbird Literary Analysis (Topic 5) The gavel hits the wood of the judge’s desk creating a loud slam. What speaks louder than the ring of the gavel however, is the silence that follows it. Not even a whisper can be heard amongst the crowd of 300. The judge diminishes the silence by beginning to count the jury. “Guilty…..Guilty….Guilty…”. Not even an objection amongst the jury, everyone in it seemed to be fixated on ending the case by convicting Tom Robinson, even if he was truly guilty or not. The crowd ignites at the sound of the Judge calling the convict guilty. Some are cheering the judge on with smiles and grins, others heartbroken at the absurdity of the jury’s decision, …show more content…
While most people in Maycomb are racist, being that it is a southern town, there are also people that don’t have racist views on things, making them mostly outsiders. One example is when Tom Robinson tries fleeing jail, he is shot on his way out. Not only is he shot though, Atticus states that there was “[s]seventeen bullet holes in him.” (Lee 315). What this shows is that the officers wanted no chance of survival. That however, is not the only time racism is expressed in this southern town. It is also shown that in the court case when the judge was touring the jury, they were racist as well. From the POV of scout, she experiences this saddened. “I closed my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury. “Guilty…Guilty…Guilty…Guilty…”” (Lee 282). This shows the division between the two ideals. Scout, obviously heartbroken with the rest of her family, feels the pain of racism while everyone else celebrates. This, later on in the story, plays a large role as it leads to Atticus and Mr. Ewell getting into an argument and Mr. Ewell spitting in his face. Mr. Ewell also goes beyond threats as well, literally attacking the Radley children because of the separate ideals. This however, is not the only thing that plays a huge …show more content…
People know exactly what other people think on certain issues. Because everything travels around the town so fast, it leads to problems among the community and leads to events happening in the story. People’s thoughts on certain topics don’t exactly click with one another, and in this story this problem is alarming at times, other times it can just be a nuisance for others though. An instance where the town causes a problem for Scout is when it is revealed to everyone in the town that Atticus is defending a black person in a court case, making everyone taunt his kids and him for being a “Nigger lover”. In chapter 9, Francis is especially aware of this and taunts Scout about this, making Scout infuriated at his racist and crude remarks. Francis starts taunting even more, saying “Nigger-Lover…” (Lee 112) and causes Scout to “[…] split [her] knuckle to the bone on his front teeth.” (Lee 112) out of sheer anger. In a more grim instance, even though Atticus lost the case and had to give up when Tom Robinson was dead, it was no secret that he still felt that the case was unjust for it to happen. It, while merely upsetting some, provoked some to their maximum. Mr. Ewell, being at the receiving end of all of the hate channeled by Atticus, decides to attack the family. Originally, he “told him he’d get him if it took the rest of his life[…]” (Lee 290), but instead of targeting