If he had an impartial jury, he would have been a free man. However, none of the jurors believed that Tom was telling the truth. They were raised to hate all black people. White people have been hurting and killing black people for centuries because of hatred. Therefore, the black community in Maycomb was crippled with fear.
He is almost completely shunned from the town because he is trying to help a black man accused of rape. Mayella had told Tom, “I said come here, nigger, and bust up this chiffarobe for me, I gotta nickel for you.” (p.241) She had tricked him to coming over to her. Then that’s about the time when she accuses him of rape. He had felt sorry for her, which is why he was falsely accused in the first place. Courthouse segregation was one of the biggest bits of racism I found in this book.
Monday, June, 18, 2012 "To Kill A Mockingbird" The Injustices of Racism The novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" written by Harper Lee is about the life of a family living in a small town in Alabama. In the 1930s a person could be hated, outlawed and wanted dead because of the colour of their skin. The main topic is injustice. First Tom Robinson is wrongly accused and convicted because he is a black man, then Atticus, Scout and Jem are made fun of and gossiped about by the town. Next the mixed children are completely alone and ignored because of their background.
Similarly in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson is convicted and sentenced to death for the rape of a white woman without any substantial evidence. The only reason he is convicted is because he is a black man fighting against a white man in a court with a prejudiced jury. The theme of prejudice and discrimination is evident in both of these cases because the defendants were charged and convicted merely because they were deemed to be “different” by their close minded societies, questionable evidence from prejudiced sources was used during their trials and because the accusers knew that all those charged could easily be used as scapegoats. The defendants in both of the cases were chosen as suspects because they were deemed to be different by their close minded societies. In the case of the West Memphis Three, the prime suspect in the murder of the young boys, Damian Echols stated, “I wore black and was rumoured to worship Satan, and I was the perfect target when the police ran out of leads” (A Most Heinous Crime Fiona Steel.2003 <http://www.crimelibrary.com/notoriousmurders/famous/memphis/suspect_4.html>).
He explained that white men always win and cheat, so the white men are the victors but the white man is always a bad man. This shows that it can be prejudice because Tom`s story was not heard and he was accused of being guilty and so he was killed. In cases of Tom being wrongly accused, harassment by others, on Scout and Atticus defending the jail can have an opinion of people that is destructive. When the group of men came to kill Tom, it shows that if Scout and Jem did not have a father would be the same thing for Walter Cunningham.
Racism and prejudice inside and outside, same races, and schools still happen today. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird there was a lot of racism in and out of the schools. As we both know Tom Robinson was accused of rape from Mayella Ewell. But in the court room when the judge is speaking to Tom, we as an audience realize that he did not rape her. From her story to the scar nothing matches up to what she is saying, but because he had an all white jury, they found him guilty.
When the Hater Meets the Hated- Why is Tom Robinson Guilty? One may be punished for something he or she never did depending on the circumstances in their community. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows in Maycomb County, a society being controlled by racism, Tom Robinson is punished for assaulting Mayella Ewell even though he is the victim. If the majority of the inhabitants of a community are racist, the racist social values influence everything that takes place in the courts of the community. Thus the racist social values of Maycomb County are responsible for the failure of Atticus Finch’s defense for Tom Robinson.
In Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ the town of Maycomb has been shaken with scandal. Tom Robinson, a black man, has been trialed and wrongly found guilty of raping a white woman. The fact that Maycomb town jury had convicted Tom on such little evidence has left Jem dumbfounded and asking just one question; ‘how could they do it, how could they? The answer; because Tom Robinson is black, the jury had ‘done it before…and they’ll do it again’. Tom’s case was never going to be a hard one evidence wise, but Atticus sets out to prove something more to the town and Jem especially, that they are all equals, ‘in their courts all men are created equal’.
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird the rape trail of Tom Robinson vs Mayella Ewell, an African American man accused of raping a white teenage girl was held in a bias court room of Maycomb County. Tom Robinson was proven innocent but the end verdict did not match the proof, because no jury would chose to listen to a black man over a white girl due to the state of prejudice Maycomb was under. Racism this town got to the point where when Atticus Finch, a white lawyer chose to represent Tom in the case he was a disgrace and an outcast to the white community. Not only Atticus but his children all suffered from the judgement they were receiving from the whole community for Atticus representing an innocent man. Since children were exposed to this behavior the racism has been passed down to generation to generation.
Despite Atticus’s powerful arguments for Tom’s innocence, the all-white jury convicts the black man. The verdict adversely affects the Finches, especially Jem. When Tom is killed trying to escape from prison, Jem’s struggle with injustice comes to its culmination. Humiliated by the trial, Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father, continually threatens Atticus,