Why Is Atticus Finch Unfair

The famous children's novel and winner of the Pulitzer Award, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a perfect example of how blacks were treated back in the 1930s, and really, during that entire era. This story is about injustice and racism towards the so called “negroes”. A white man named Atticus Finch is given the task to defend a black man accused of rape, and acts as his lawyer. This is not easy for Atticus or his family, as they are repeatedly taunted and made fun of for taking the side of the African-American, something that was considered absurd back in the day. This alone just makes you wonder how it would be to roam the streets in a different colored skin. In the Great Depression era, black men and women lived difficult lives because …show more content…
In To Kill A Mockingbird, it states “In our courts, when it was a white man's word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life” (Page 220). This quote shows that the black people were not given a fair trial and the jury had already reached a verdict before the trial even began. They did not look over all the evidence or hear what the witnesses had to say, they just had this mindset: black man=guilty. As Atticus states, it's ugly, but it was just the way it was. Another piece of evidence can be found on page 205, where Atticus Finch makes a powerful speech during the courtroom scene, and states, ¨Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal.¨ This quote had Atticus trying to convince the jury that they should not come to a decision based on the fact that Tom Robinson was black, but rather on the substantial evidence. He says this because he knows that the jury had a tendency to rule against the black man at all times because of his different color. They do not review every single piece of evidence, this causes Tom to be sentenced to prison without even committing a crime that …show more content…
On page 241, it states, ¨Typical of a (black man's) mentality to have no plan, no thought for the future, just run blind first chance he saw.¨ This quote shows that the black people were stereotyped and people had already assumed what kinds of things they did based on the color of their skin. If there was an unsolved crime going on in Maycomb, most would assume that it was a black man's doing. This was the sad truth. A character named Lula asserts, ¨You ain't got no business bringin´ white chillun here-they got there church, we got our´n (Page 119).¨ This quote shows that the black people had gotten the mentality that they did not have no business participating in any activities that also involved white people. Why do they feel this way? It is because of the fact that they were treated like trash and were scared for their lives. They tried to separate from the whites to get away from all of the