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.
Therefore, the black community in Maycomb was crippled with fear. A fear that they will get lynched for a crime they did not commit. Stereotyping is a human instinct. We will always stereotype people's race, class and families. When Aunt Alexandra lived with the Finches, she said this to Scout about the Cunninghams, "Because he is trash, that's why you cant play with him.
This story is about committing a sin against the Puritan culture that is all about holiness and living right before God. Their culture really took ‘living by the Bible” seriously and condemned those who didn’t obey God’s laws. It became a widely-known scandal all around the town and many people condemned and had hateful feeling for Hester. But the real effects of the hurtful sin actually affected the minister. The first character who
During the time of Puritan society, they believed that if a person broke a law or committed something out of the aspects of Puritan life, they would be shunned from society. Today, people in America still shun others out of society just like the Puritans did. Hester Prynne, from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Robert Downey Jr., a famous actor, were publicly ridiculed for their actions, had their talents shunned, and in the end, redeemed themselves. First off, Hester and Robert were both publicly ridiculed for their actions. Because Hester committed adultery, “on the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A” (Hawthorne 35).
Sermons were used as tools of religious influence. Condemned criminals were depicted in ways which made their deaths seem justifiable due to the fact that they had violated Puritan beliefs. Puritan society felt the need to inhibit its people with fear in order to keep a strict hold on them and promote a crime free civilization. The sermons demonstrate clearly that crime was not handled lightly in Puritan society. Severe punishments were distributed for minor offences such as drunkenness, fortune telling and gambling.
Despite Dimmesdale’s physical deterioration, Hawthorne develops Dimmesdale as morally strong to assert that atonement of one’s sin leads to morality. Arthur Dimmesdale is one of the three main characters involved in the central conflict of the novel. He performed the sin of adultery while Chillingworth was away, and Pearl is his true daughter. Yet, unlike his fellow adulterer Hester, the town does not know of his crime. Watching every day as the people say things to Hester like “At the very least they should put a hot iron on Hester’s head” and “[Hester] ought to die”(88) drives Dimmesdale mad.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, allows the reader to interpret the scarlet letter in his novel in many different ways. Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter was meant to be worn as a symbol of shame but as the novel progresses it is a powerful symbol of Hester’s identity, which is ultimately beautiful. Hester was punished by wearing the scarlet letter but even with removing the scarlet letter Hester would not be able to escape the shame. Hester was punished by wearing the scarlet letter but even with removing the scarlet letter she would not be able to escape the shame. The townspeople were very cruel and harsh to Hester for committing a sin.
However, if the entire community did not follow God’s laws then the entire community would be punished. This main tenet of their religion gave the Puritan leaders the justification for condemning all other religious beliefs. The leaders at the time of Anne’s trial were concerned that other members of the
Nathaniel Hawthorne goes into depth about sins that most people don’t want to hear about. During the time period of The Scarlet Letter, adultery was extremely frowned upon, and was punishable by death. Dimmesdale kept the guilt and the pain of what he had done bundled up inside; Hester`s sin was brought to light she stood on a scaffold alone as people watched; Chillingworth was letting his anger and hatred control his very being. Hester along with her baby had nothing else to do, but stand and watch as her lover stood by. As she was tried for the very thing he should be tried for.
The Bundrens have not form of civilized communication. They always end up disagreeing with each other. This has created intense barriers in their family life and has pushed away the possibility of being a normal family. In the novel, one realizes that Addie’s children resent each other and they are always competing for their mothers love. "If everybody wasn’t burning hell to get her there, with Cash all day long right under the window, hammering and sawing at that…" (6) Clearly from this statement, Jewel felt that his family was exaggerating the issue of Addie’s death.