In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, asking, who, single-handedly, was responsible for the injustices endured by Tom Robinson is as ill-defined as asking who created war. A question impossible to answer, not because its truth varies from person to person, but because it is still being asked today. Through time, it has changed forms, changed meanings, changed people, and changed lives. Tom Robinson hasn’t been the only one to battle prejudicial tyranny, so how could one person be culpable for all the oppression clawing at the masses? The truth lies in an ambiguous justification. The culprit wasn’t the Ewells or the Cunninghams, not directly anyway. In all honesty, ignorance was the most liable of them all, and the furthest from being prosecuted.
Undeniably, the Ewells created the most chaos for …show more content…
Ignorance passed down like hand-me-downs fixed with stitches, encouraged invalidating connotations of Atticus Finch and the black community. Black people were the floor that society walked on and those who stood with them as equals were also subjected to maltreatment. Throughout the novel, Atticus Finch was referred to as a “N***** lover” (distinctly by Cousin Francis and Cecil Jacobs) for his active role in the Tom Robinson case. When asked what it meant, he answered, “It's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It's slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody,” (Lee, 108). The term implied there was something wrong with people of color, that their status was somehow lesser. It pigeonholed black people into an unbreakable image of inferiority. An image that maimed Tom Robinson’s possibility to be acquitted. (Quote) During the trial, Tom’s maltreatment was justified because, “after all he’s just a Negro,” (Lee,
Undeniably, the Ewells created the most chaos for …show more content…
Ignorance passed down like hand-me-downs fixed with stitches, encouraged invalidating connotations of Atticus Finch and the black community. Black people were the floor that society walked on and those who stood with them as equals were also subjected to maltreatment. Throughout the novel, Atticus Finch was referred to as a “N***** lover” (distinctly by Cousin Francis and Cecil Jacobs) for his active role in the Tom Robinson case. When asked what it meant, he answered, “It's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It's slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody,” (Lee, 108). The term implied there was something wrong with people of color, that their status was somehow lesser. It pigeonholed black people into an unbreakable image of inferiority. An image that maimed Tom Robinson’s possibility to be acquitted. (Quote) During the trial, Tom’s maltreatment was justified because, “after all he’s just a Negro,” (Lee,