Ashan Perera Ms. Rish English 10 25 April 2012 In the majority of the world someone convicted of a crime is seen as an innocent person until proven guilty. There are also some places in the world where not only are you seen guilty until proven innocent, but also are judged base on race, sex, and religion. In the case of Absalom, the son of John Kumalo, not only was he looked down upon because he was black, he also had no chance because everyone in court proceedings was white. Absalom was also in a time period during the late 1940’s where there was apartheid and blacks were looked down upon. In his book Cry The Beloved Country Alan Paton displays how Absalom, the black man, is not only too harshly punished and given unfair trial due to his skin color, but also he is receiving this treatment because he is in a South African apartheid in the 1920’s.
Atticus Finch's actions in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee show that to truly know a person's convictions we must observe his or her actions. Atticus, a small-town lawyer in a racist, white, southern town was charged with defending Tom Robinson, a black man accused or raping a white woman. Before he took this talk Atticus spoke like a person who believed in fairness and equality. After taking on this task, despite ridicule from the people in his town, it was obvious he believed in the ideals of which he spoke. Another example, which further demonstrates that a person's true feelings can only be discerned by his or her actions, is Arthur Dimsdale's behavior in The Scarlet Letter.
Atticus was his lawyer and it was a completely scandal because he is a white man defending a black man, no one would do that because the black people did not had rights in that time. But we can see that there were descent people like Atticus, that have clear that everyone is equal and he had to make justice in Maycomb; He would fight until the end, and he did, he showed enough evidence to expose Ewell….”Did you Called a doctor, Sheriff? Did anybody call a doctor? Asked Atticus, No sir, repeated Mr. Tate, Why not? Asked Atticus, Well I can tell you why I didn’t.
This is shown in the characters of Dolphus Raymond, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley. Dolphus Raymond comes across as a no good drunk that hangs around with the Negroes, and spends all day sipping from a paper sack that could be covering who-knows-what. The town of Maycomb knows him as this and only this, but this persona is quickly broken by Scout Finch and Dill when they meet him outside of the courthouse the day of the Tom Robinson trial. They are cautious of him in the beginning, but then relax when Mr. Raymond breaks the silence and asks Dill if he wants a sip out of his bottle. They are confused at first, but then relax when he explains himself: “You little folks won’t tell on me now, will you?
There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes.” The way things are in Maycomb is the way things have always been. The way things have always been is racially segregated. Racism, as Atticus says after he loses the Tom Robinson case, is “just as much Maycomb county as missionary teas”, and it’s displayed even in the geography of the town. The African-Americans have their own settlement, their own church, and their own cemetery. At Tom’s trial, the colored people sit on one side of the town square, and the whites on the other.
Even the most respectable are charged which the reason for Maycomb being more and more white and, in the words of racists ‘pure’. Most of my race are leaving the south. We have just had enough with the white upper-class attitude. Calpurnia fumbles again… But no one can convince me to leave my home! Awkward silence, she is quiet… Not even when all my friends have abandoned the places they grew up in.
The people of Macomb’s jury during the trial choose to find Tom Robinson guilty even thought the evidence strongly suggests he is innocent. They do this because of their racist opinions and hatred towards the African American community. In contrast Atticus stands up to a mob for what he believes because he holds no prejudices. During the summer night when Jem, Scout, and Dill get shot at, Mr. Radley automatically assumes that it was a black man who was trying to steal from his garden. This shows that even thought Mr. Radley had no proof he assumed that it was an African American only because of his racist opinions towards blacks.
The whole trial is also pretty racist. Everyone on the jury knows that they have to say Tom is guilty because that is how it had to be during that time. They did not want to get caught saying that there was even a slight chance he was innocent. “I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: ‘Guilty… guilty… guilty…guilty…’” (282).
Dubose show symbolic themes Harper Lee, the author of “To Kill A Mockingbird”, emphasizes in his story. Jem was troubled by Mrs. Dubose’s insults towards his father, Atticus, who was representing a black man accused of rape. What white man would ever stand up for a black man? Standing up for a black man is considered blasphemy during this time period. Only Atticus would do this because he knows what is right and what is wrong.
They [the police] didn’t have to shoot him that much.’ ” (235). After Tom was convicted and sent to jail, Tom knew there was no chance of getting himself acquitted, so Tom attempted to flee the jail. The end result was Tom getting shot and killed. When Tom tried to escape the prison, he was warned by the officers but ultimately paid with his life. After Tom was dead, the cops continued to shoot Tom for their own gratification because he was simply a black man.