In the 1930s, if a black man was on trial there was a ample chance he would be convicted even if evidence proved he was innocent. Throughout history humans being prejudice and bias have affected the lives of thousands of people; some ending with favorable outcomes while others weren’t so fortunate. Within the book To Kill a Mockingbird the readers learn that prejudice and bias people outnumber the understanding and kind. One decision or in this case twelve decisions decide the fate for an unfortunate man. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee reveals that people often follow their biases and prejudices rather than the truth.
Through the lesson Atticus tries to teach Scout, she learns that people will follow biases and prejudices rather than the truth. Within the book To Kill a Mockingbird the main character, Scout, her father is defending a black man in court. During his time defending, he is called name foul names by people in the community. This is a quote from the
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The person speaking is Atticus because he is giving his final statement in his trial with Tom Robinson,”’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.’” (272) This was one of Atticus’s last lines from his statement and I think the deeper meaning is that people need to get over this “code” they have. The community needs to realize that even white people do discouraging things. Tom Robinson was just peacefully living his life until he was convicted of rape with no solid evidence, just people’s biases. Tom Robinson would have been a free man if people would have just opened their ears, listened to the evidence and forgotten he was a colored
The Prejudice of Maycomb Prejudice is an unreasonable opinion formed without enough prior knowledge to be fair and completely accurate. This happens in How To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and it takes place during the 1930´s in Maycomb, Alabama. Prejudice is shown by the jury when Atticus gives more than enough information for Tom Robinson to be proven innocent. But the jury shows prejudice when it comes to blacks. Gender prejudice is shown when they won´t let women be a part of the jury.
Atticus continues his statement of defending Tom Robinson with "... But this is a truth that applies to the human race and no particular race of men." However, that quote is only after saying, "... You gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption-the evil assumption-that all Negroes lie." Atticus finishes his statement by expressing, "There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man who has never looked upon a woman with desire.
The theme of prejudice is a main topic throughout the novel. The novel takes place before the civil rights movement in Maycomb County, Alabama. The story follows Atticus,Scout,Jem, and Dill as they journey through a world of prejudice towards black people. Atticus who is a lawyer is defending Tom Robinson who is accused of rape. The trial seems rigged as Tom is black and the accuser saw that as an opportunity.
Atticus is talking to the people in the jury and explaining what Mayella did to Tom and how bad it is. Atticus said “ 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.”
An old town, and a tired one at that, it’s a town where the respect of others is valued above the dollar, a place where your ancestors dictated who you were, a place embedded in the Southern way of living. The result of this mentality is racism, where Negroes wouldn't dare breathe the same air as a white person, but rising above the racism and societally enforced norms are Atticus Finch. Atticus takes no heed of colour so when Tom robinson’s (a coloured man had been accused of raping a white woman, Miss. Mayella Ewell) case came around he snapped at the opportunity to defend a man he believed innocent.
Towards the middle of the book, Atticus, as he is a lawyer, decides to defend an innocent black man, Tom Robinson in court. During Atticus’s speech to the jury, he says “You know the truth and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women- black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human and to no particular race of men” (Lee 273). Atticus argues that it would be unfair and unjust to convict a man just because he is black. Everyone is born equal; your skin colour does not define the way you act and behave.
A court is only as a sound as it jury, and a jury is only as a sound as the men who make it up….” (Lee 274). This quote explains a reason, Atticus did help a black man in front of many. If he did not want things to be equal, then why he would help him in the first place. Another example Atticus said, “A nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don 't mean anything—like
People in this town in this time period were extremely racist and prejudice, and it’s very clearly shown in this quote, at first the man says, you know the court chose him to defend this negro; meaning they didn’t think it was bad to be appointed, the townspeople thought it was a terrible idea and decision for Atticus to actually give this his all, this also shows how the town has very little respect for Atticus, as soon as he took the case people started turning on him for simply defending an innocent
23, P.295) In this quote, Atticus saying that there's just something about race that makes white people crazy. He also acknowledges, in case it wasn't already clear, that law is not pure realm free of the racial prejudices that plague everyday in life, it's subject to the same problems as society at large. Usually Atticus is a voice of hope for change the idea of racism, but here he flatly says that racism is a "fact of life," suggesting that losing Tom's case severely reduced his hopefulness concerning human nature, or else that, having sat through the
During the trial of Tom Robinson, for being accused of raping a white women. Some people in the town turned their backs on Atticus for taken the case. Atticus took the case and has proven that Tom is innocent but as Atticus knows since Tom is a “Black Male” that he would never be treated fairly. When the closing argument comes about, Atticus tells the people on the jury that they need to look past Tom being “Black Man” and see him and treat him just as a regular man. Atticus is trying to have them do the right thing instead of listening to the town and doing the wrong thing.
guilty. . .”(Lee 282). In this scene, prejudice can affect people's decisions is shown because when the jury convicted Tom of the crime and the evidence is in Toms favor of winning, but because he is a colored man the jury still convicted him of the crime. As we can see prejudice can have a big effect on people in a lot of different
have you ever thought that people should be treated differently because of their race or religion? In the novel " To Kill a Mockingbird " showed Jem, Scout and Atticus Finch tries to help a black man named Tom Robison, who was accused of raping a very poor white girl named Mayella Ewell. While doing this, they learn the moral nature of human beings- that is, whether people are essentially good or essentially evil. In the process, Harper Lee wanted to show these themes: courage, prejudice, justice.
Atticus explains this to Scout after she asks if he is a n***** lover. This quote is an example of how Atticus is amorous toward Tom Robinson even
In the novel, To Kill a MockingBird, Harper Lee illustrates the harsh treatment receive from the townspeople’s when he is order to defend Tom Robinson. When talking to his brother, Jack, Atticus explains that he hopes that his children will not catch Maycomb’s usual disease of racism and prejudice, he hopes his children will come to him. “I just hope that Jem and Scout come to me for their answers, instead of listening to the town.” When Scout asked Atticus if he was really a n***** lover, Atticus responded “I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody...
Atticus Finch was a lawyer that had to be exploitive if he wanted to win cases. When he gave a closing argument for the case of Tom Robinson, he had to find a way to persuade his audience. Instead of making his speech specifically about Tom Robinson, Atticus stated that some people of a race may lie, but that is true for all humans, no matter what the color of their skin is. Atticus said that, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,” (Lee, 30). He believed that you shouldn’t judge someone’s actions until