|
|
|
 
To Kill A Mockingbird - Tom Robinson
A trial is the examination before a court of the facts or laws in a
case in order to determine that case. It is the act of testing or proving
by experience or use. In the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" a black man,
Tom Robinson, was accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell, and was
brought to trial. There was three distinct views on Tom Robinson's trial.
In the novel, the townspeople of Maycomb believe in Tom's guilt while
Atticus and the children believe in Tom's innocence.
Atticus couldn't support the verdict because he was in a very
prejudice court and no matter what the proof was, the outcome would be
still be the same. Atticus knew that Tom Robinson would be found guilty.
The victim, Mayella, had been beaten, but not by Tom according to the
evidence "He blacked your left eye with his right fist?". Tom Robinson
would still get convicted because it was an all white jury. Tom didn't
help by saying "Yes suh. I felt sorry for her, she seemed to try more'n the
rest of 'em--", because black people wern't supposed to care about white
people. It would have been impossible to do to her what she said Tom did
"Tom Robinson's powerful shoulders rippled with his right hand on the back
of his chair. He looked oddly off balance, but it was not from the way he
was standing. His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right,
and hung dead at his side. It ended in a small shrivelled hand, and from
as far away as the balcony I could see that is was no use to him." Tom
Robinson couldn't have done the crime with the evidence provided, but still
racism decided the verdict.
The children just as much as Atticus believed in Tom's innocence. Just
by looking at Tom, they knew he couldn't have done it ""Scout," breathed
Jem. "Scout, look! Reverend, he's crippled!". Jem and Scout had been
brought up by Atticus to believe in fairness to people, regardless of their
race or colour
"Do you defend niggers, Atticus?" "Of course I do. don't say nigger,
Scout. That's common." "'s what everybody at school says." "From now
on it'll be everybody less one--"
Scout and Jem were not prejudice, they were the only white people
except for Dill to sit in the balcony with the black people. Jem and Scout
can't believe the injustice in the courtroom, just because a man is black
he will get the bad side of everything.
The townspeople from day one knew what the verdict was going to be
even though some of them knew deep down that Tom didn't do it "The older
citizens, the present generation of people who had lived side by side for
years and years, were utterly predictable to one another: they took for
granted attitudes, character shadings, even gestures, as having been
repeated in each generation and refined by time." The townspeople didn't
like black people at all. They were two different people according to them,
and the fact a white man would stand up for a black man in that town got
them very upset "Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That's what I don't
like about it." The townspeople viewed this case as a circus "It was a
gala occasion. There was no room at the public hitching trail for another
animal, mules and wagons were parked under every available tree. The
courthouse square was covered with picnic parties sitting on newspapers,
washing down biscuit and syrup with warm milk from fruit jars." This was
more like entertainment for the townspeople. This was fun for them,
talking with friends, having lunch, and joking. It was really sad the
prejudice they had against blacks.
If you look in every paragraph one word pop's up more than any other
and that word is prejudice. Tom Robinson is a black man who was found
guilty of rape he didn't commit. Atticus did all he could to defend Tom,
even with the town on his case and the threats he received. The children
see injustice and are sad with the fact the humans will do that to other
humans. The townspeople don't really care about Tom because of his colour
and don't even give him a chance because he is black. Prejudice is a
strong word; some people in this novel are prejudice without reason. They
just think because he is black that he is the lower part of society and
that is what they grew up with. Everyone in the book had some form of
injustice; just that Tom Robinson was the one in the end that paid for the
mistakes and lies of others.
|
|
|
