Cousin Francis yelled, “He`s nothing` but a nigger-lover!” (Lee pg83). Just because Atticus was doing the right and noble thing, Cousin Francis thought that he loved black people but he did not know Tom. Although, Jem stated that, “Atticus says cheatin` a coloured man is ten times worse than cheatin` a white man.” (Lee pg201) It is worse because it is like killing a mockingbird, which is a sin, coloured men do not really bother anybody. And then Atticus explained that, “...You’ll see white men cheat black men everyday of your life, ...whenever a white man does that to a black man, ... that white man is trash.” (Lee pg220). 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.
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.
It is a sin to kill the innocent and helpful mockingbird. But around the time of the Great Depression, important morals like that one seem to have been tossed aside. At that time, when a black man went to court, it didn’t matter whether he was guilty or innocent. The fact that he was a colored man made him the target for unjustified accusation. Innocent human beings have been killed for nothing but the crime of being different.
To begin with, he is treated cruelly and is accused of a crime he did not commit - raping Mayella Ewell-from the white population because of the color of his skin. Mayella states that Tom “got [her] round the neck, cussin’ and saying dirt,” which is an event that never occurred. The only reason Mr. Robinson gets convicted guilty in the trial is because of the prejudice and discrimination he faces from the society in which he lives. The jury was not in his favor because his words were going against a white man’s words and because Mayella broke “a time honored code of society” by “tempting a Negro” (272, 272). Next, during the biased trial, Mr. Glimmer continuously addresses Tom rudely, calling him “boy”: “Had your eye on her a long time, hadn’t you boy?” and “…do all that chopping and hauling for her, boy” (263, 263).
The legal system fails the innocently accused back then and still today. In the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird, a black man is charged with rape of a white girl, with no medical evidence and no solid support except the religiously supported views of racism. “The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. The defendant is not guilty…”said Atticus, the lawyer. In this trial, an all white jury charges a crippled man with rape of a white girl just because he is black.
The court pleads the man guilty without any proof of rape. Had this been a white man instead the outcomes would have been different. When Tom Robinson was asked why he helped the “Victim” he answered “Looks like she didn't have nobody to help her. I felt sorry for her”(Lee chap 19-20). When Tom said those words the court couldn’t believe what they had heard.
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. “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day, but let me tell you something and don’t forget it-whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich of a family he comes from, or how fine of a family he comes from, that white man is trash.”(Lee 223) “Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand.”(Lee 100) In current events, Schools are tarnished by 5,000 racist incidents. “Experts say racism in schools reflects what children are hearing in their homes and communities.”(Pg. 1 Paragraph 3) These
I do not get why they have done this most people have said that it is because he is a black man and that in his testimony he said he felt sorry for her (Mayella.) I feel as though that what everybody is saying is true. But it shouldn’t be like that, if he isn’t guilty then he shouldn’t be convicted it is just wrong, very, very wrong. They need to sort something out now, because Tom Robinson is about to be executed for no reason, this is cruel and in humane. Can’t anybody do anything about it, we are talking about an innocent young man who is crippled about to be executed for nothing.
In contrast to Mayella, Tom Robinson was treated as if he were not worth anything, for example he was being called Boy, big buck, when he was being questioned. When Mr Gilmer asked for Tom’s reason for helping Mayella, Tom admitted he had felt sorry for her. “ ‘.. I felt sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em-‘ ..‘You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?’ Mr Gilmer seemed ready to rise to the ceiling”. (Page 217/218) No black man should feel sorry for a white person.
Tom Robinson had the most prejudice used against him in To Kill a Mockingbird. Tom was a black field hand that was accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell. Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father, said that Tom had raped his daughter. Tom however did not rape Mayella, she tried to seduce him. Bob