In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” , and the movie “A time to kill” by John Grisham , the main characters Atticus Finch and Jake Brigance both do their best to persuade their jurys to side with their arguments. Atticus Finch and Jake Brigance both use pathos in their closing arguments as their main source of persuasion and use pathos very effectively and in ways that really caused the jury to feel and think about the case differently. In Atticus's closing argument he utilizes pathos by using emotion to build pity for Mayella Ewell. “ She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance, but I cannot pity her: she is white” (Atticus). Atticus explains how yet he feels bad for Mayella and believes she is a victim of abuse; he still can't pity
You'll have to bear with me, Miss Mayela, I'm getting along and can't remember as well as I used to. I might ask you things you've already said before, but you'll give me an answer, won't you? Good.” I could see nothing in Mayella's expression to justify Atticus's assumption that he had secured her wholehearted cooperation. She was looking at him
Pathos is the use of emotions in order to pursue them towards the authors side of the argument. The first evidence the author used was when he was given the description of the crime committed. The crimes that Kinkel committed were so atrocious that as a human being it would be very hard and painful to nearly impossible to feel empathy towards the defendant. The judge also uses the parent’s quotes and remarks that was said in the court to expose and show more pathos, whether it was from the parents of the deceased or just injured. One of the parents stated “What we don't believe is that all those things will ever be available outside of a prison setting.
Attorney Atticus Finch relies on ethos persuasion in the closing argument containing the intention to connect with the jury by highlighting the code of society along with the trustworthiness of the courtroom. Recently, Mayella Ewell is on trial prosecuting Tom Robinson on charges of rape. Atticus Finch (Tom’s Lawyer) is currently summing up his cross examination of Mayella in his closing statement. “She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with… she tempted a Negro.” (272) Atticus Finch connects the Jury to the code of society, which is the long-lived and unbroken belief in which any white woman with a negro
In Harper Lee's classic “To Kill A MockingBird” A great scene is when Scout and Jem were in court when Atticus was defending Tom Robinson. Atticus demonstrates the use of setting diction (words) and pathos I think they learned that no matter how right you are, other people that don't like you well say that you're wrong. No matter how much evidence Atticus showed they weren't going to change the outcome of the trail.
Atticus then used the third proof, ‘pathos’. Pathos is the artistic proof that chases after the empathetic feeling of a person. Atticus used this when he vividly described Mayella brutally beaten and raped on the floor of her own house. He then also called for pity on Tom Robison in the courtroom since Atticus believed and preached that Tom was wrongfully accused on the account of
The author also developed pathos in her article by commenting that, “Jurors couldn 't held back tears as the judge announced the non-guilty verdict.” (Banks) It must have been something very unfair, to the extent of seeing people that carry the responsibility of justice agreeing that it was unfair! The audience may be able to analyze how Banks did an excellent job when it comes to pathos, as she included visualizations that might help the reader feel the same way towards the issue as Bank
Once Atticus fully understands what he has been told by Mayella about what happened the day of the crime, he does his job as a lawyer and strongly defends Tom Robinson. He accuses Mayella of lying, knowing that she was only doing it to get what she and Maycomb wanted. “‘Tom, stand up. Let Miss Mayella have a good long look at you. Is this the man, Miss Mayella?’...
By referring to Mayella as ‘she,’ Atticus disregards her poverty-stricken life and lack of education, insisting that being white is enough. Enough to make up such lies about an innocent and independent black man, knowing that her affection and feelings towards Tom will be sheltered by the cloak of her white skin. By applying language such as ‘she,’ Atticus refuses to give her the respect of being referred to by her name. Furthermore, in comparison to Mayella, Tom Robinson is no monster, but “... a human being.” Atticus comments that “She must put Tom Robinson away from her.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is a great man, father, husband and neighbor. He’s there for others and stands up for what’s right. He believes in equality and never gives up on hope for his children. He disciplines them like adults, rather than the typical way of disciplining children.
For example, Mr.Gilmer uses Pathos when making Mayella explain what happened on the supposed day Tom abused and took advantage of her, the reasoning is that in the book it says “Mayella stared at him and burst into tears. She cover her mouth with her hands and sobbed. ”lee241 When this scene happened Mr.Gilmer was questioning Mayella. This showed a negative holistically in the argument; Pathos was strengthened because of the reason it appealed the audience emotion making them feel bad for her, this helped the argument because the audience felt emotion when Mayella was crying this might cause an unbiased audience to feel and think that Tom could possibly be guilty. Also, Mr.Gilmer used Ethos appealing to the audiences good morals for this reason
Atticus's closing argument in To Kill a Mockingbird is a good display of several talking and writing styles such as ethos, pathos, and logos. His closing argument uses a tone that contributes to the persuasive effectiveness of his argument. Atticus Finch’s speech is an attempt to appeal to the jury to look beyond racial prejudice and to do what is right. I am going to attempt to analyze and show how Atticus uses these rhetorical strategies to contribute to the poignancy and effectiveness of his closing argument.
Brigance and Attiicus’s closing arguments both were fulfilled with many emotions. The emotional device used to reflect their arguments was mostly pathos. Pathos greatly influences people because it conveys emotion and invokes sympathetic stories. They reflected a similar tone of pathos, for example, Atticus and Brigance both use a guilting techniques to enforce the juries to feel a remorse, guilt. Atticus says to the jury, "[...] so a quiet, respectable, humble man who had the unmitigated temerity to 'feel sorry' for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people ''(Atticus).
Harper Lee once wrote, “You never really understand a person until you consider their things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” The novel To Kill A Mockingbird was placed during the culturally segregated U.S. from the 1950s through the 1970s. Atticus Finch a white lawyer defends Tom a black man who has been wrongly accused of raping his girlfriend, Mayella Ewell. Atticus Finch a fictional character uses ethos, pathos, and logos in his closing arguments in defense of Tom. To begin Atticus uses ethos to show that his argument is far more credible than the Platiff’s due to the lack of evidence on the opposing side.
Atticus uses pathos in his closing argument to appeal to the emotions of the jury. He does this by painting an image of the suffering and injustice that Tom Robinson, the defendant, would face if he were to be convicted. He evokes feelings of empathy by describing the difficult circumstances of Tom's life and the discrimination he has faced because of his race. For example he says "Tom Robinson's a human being, just like you and me" In which he is trying to make the jury see the
However, Tom is black and he cannot be innocent in the eyes of most people. Throught the closing argument Atticus Finch uses the rhetorical devices -- ethos, logos, and pathos -- to convince the jury of Tom’s innocence. Atticus used ethos to demonstrate his credibility and reveal his opinion about this case. Atticus does not concur with introducing this case to the court. “To begin