Preview

Racism In Ernest Hemingway's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
554 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Racism In Ernest Hemingway's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'
The trial was confusing to me, but Dad brought up evidence that was valid and thought provoking, yet no one seemed to acknowledge until he had to point it out and even talk the jury and court through the reasons why this evidence made sense. Why did they all choose to shake it off? Why do they see these solid facts and cover them up as if they did not exist? I found myself thinking how the court case would have ended if Tom was white. That’s it, ain’t it?
Don’t I think Bob knows Tom is innocent? Yes, I do think so, but would he be “shallow” enough to admit a black man is superior to him? No, he wouldn’t. Knowing Bob’s morals, he would have fought against Tom even if tom was a white. He’s just scum I think, and as scum, Bob wants people
…show more content…
Had he been a white man, maybe it would just be left at what if was, just a kiss. Bob would have been angry, yes, but could the Ewells have had the guts to take Tom to court over a kiss and anger? No, because they would have been smart enough to know they would find him innocent, a “white dove”.
They knew he was innocent, yet they saw him as an easy target because he was black. When would a black man be found innocent? In a case as strong and serious as rape, they could make all evidence be pointed towards him, before this evidence is carefully analyzed by my father.
My father looked at all the information carefully and brought up very true points! I know this, I do! He said we can’t give up even if we know we will lose, but would we have found ourselves in court in the first place trying to prove Tom’s innocence if he had been white? I don’t think it would have been necessary, but my father is a fighter and I know he had hope we would prove Tom’s side of the story to be true, but I think in the back of his head he knew people’s blindness to see a person for anything other than their skin would stop him from wining the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Tom Robinson Trial Report

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I stand before you as a person, defending a person. A person that I believe to be innocent. Tom Robinson would pass Mayella Ewells house on his way to the fields everyday, to help her out with things around the house. This dose not make him guilty. Tom is a good man. He would never hurt a fly. In fact his owner made a statement that "hes never caused a speck of trouble." My first point of evidence has to do with DNA and blood. Tom Robinson has type AB blood, which was not found at the scene. Mr. Ewell has type O blood, which was found on Maylella's dress. Mayella Has Type B blood, which was found on Mr. Ewells overalls. This indicates that Tom's blood was nowhere to be found at the scene. If he had raped her, there would be a struggle, in which case, Toms blood should be there.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Evidence In Tom's Case

    • 180 Words
    • 1 Page

    Would evidence have been used in Tom’s case? According to a case dealing with an African American, no it wouldn’t. No one seemed to take into consideration that the man “didn’t match the victim’s description of [her rapist],”(INNOCENT MAN’S EIGHT YEAR PRISON ORDEAL). But this evidence didn’t seem to matter, as they were convinced the man had committed the crime. Yet another case when the victim didn’t identify the man as the criminal. A man “Josh Ryen, attacked by three Caucasian or Latino man [had attacked and robbed him], not one African American [like the one that had been convicted of the crime]” (Wooten). The trail should have waited until Ryen's testimony could be heard. Even after Ryen's statement on who the real criminals were evidence…

    • 180 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Now some people might jump to conclusions and say “Tom is a black person and as we know, all black people are bad. Also, why was he on Bob’s property, and why did he run away?!” My response to that is, first of all tom is stuck in one position. If he runs he would look suspicious and then be killed. But if he tried to resist and fight back, he would be in an even worse predicament.…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atticus Finch Role Model

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages

    However, in Tom's case, the race card was dealt in a deadly game, with no chance of winning. Despite that, Atticus defends Tom, whom he knows to be innocent. "It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Biased testimony towards the defendant resulted in a prejudice jury. Very frequently, statements like ‘We heard the facts, didn’t we?’ or ‘Pay attention to the facts’ are expressed in the jury room. The 4th Juror cited that the murder weapon was a knife so unique that ‘the storekeeper who sold it to him identified the knife in court and said it was the only one of its kind he ever had in stock.’ The 8th Juror argues that ‘It’s possible that the boy lost the knife and that someone else stabbed his father with a similar knife.’ None of the Juror’s believes this possibility as they have already established their prejudices against the accused. The 10th Juror says ‘Let’s talk facts. These people are born to lie… They think different. They act different.’ These are not ‘facts’ but prejudice opinions made by the 10th Juror about the socio-economic status of the boy. It can assumed that the ‘facts’ presented in this case can be viewed as biased opinions and reports that impairs the true facts.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Boo Radley Rapism

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There wasn’t any tested proof of the rape, no evidence that he did in fact was a rapist. The trail knew it, they all did. They all knew the trail was unfair, they all knew that she was lying. Yet, they still went through with it, convicting Tom of raping her, and assaulting her. They still hanged him for a crime he didn’t commit. Atticus tried his best, but the townspeople didn’t like supporting African Americans, didn’t like them at all (proof :) Soon as the trail started people saw Tom Robinson guilty, not even hearing his side at 1st. Only 1st listening the ‘victims’ side, only to see the color of his skin to immediately think he was guilty of the crime. When Atticus finally served his side of the case and showing the jury Tom's side of the case, finally giving him the chance to tell the people what really happened. They still judge him as a guilty African American man with no conscious rather than an innocent man who was wrongfully…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emmett Till Comparison

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages

    He was accused of raping a young white girl named Mayella. Tom was nothing but innocent, he only went to Mayella’s house that day to help her. Mayella was the one that made a move by hugging Tom and trying to kiss him. Mayella’s dad saw them through the window and was furious. He went after Mayella and beat, he then came up with the story the Tom raped and hurt her. When it was time for Tom’s trial, his lawyer did a great job at proving his innocence the best he could. It looked like all the signs pointed to him being innocent, but because of his skin color Tom was deemed as guilty. Later Tom was shot many times while he supposedly tried to escape prison. The men probably just wanted an excuse to kill Tom, so they said that he attempted…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oj Simpson Trial

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages

    O.J. Simpson was convicted of murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. There are three crucial factors with the evidence against him. First, the L.A.P.D. has been proven corrupt and racially biased. Second, the evidence, including blood samples, and the glove from the scene of the crime. Third, the juries from during the trial were all mainly African American, so they began to have a race issue. Everyone has their own implication of how the verdict should continue if the evidence fits, he is guilty if the evidence does not fit he will be found not guilty!…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Thomas Robinson Trial

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The second reason why I believe Thomas is innocent is because his skin color clearly affected the jury’s decision. Atticus and his children had no trouble believing Thomas’s story…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This is just like prejudice, because you don’t think it’s anything special because you don’t take the time to realize that there’s another side to everything you see. Just like in To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson wasn’t guilty but because he was a colored person the jury didn’t take the time to actually hear what he had to say. They had just assumed that he was guilty because he was a dark colored man and Mayella Ewell was a white lady. Because of the false assumption that…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bob Ewell Essay

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Bob Ewell is thought of as the most despicable man in all of Maycomb, except for its black residents, who the racists of the town think are worse than anyone else. Bob Ewell is one of these racists, and throughout the novel he shows that he thinks himself better than any black man. He shows his racist attitude many times at his trial. For example Bob Ewell does not refer to Tom Robinson by his name, instead he states "I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella!". In addition to not calling him by name; he also uses language associated with animals, “ruttin” as well as later saying “I've asked this county for fifteen years to clean out that nest down yon- der, they're dangerous to live around 'sides devaluin' my property-". In the previous quote Bob Ewell also shows he believes in the stereotype that all black men are criminals, and states his belief that they are devaluing his property more than the nearby dump. Finally, he tells Atticus “ I'm real sorry they picked you to defend that nigger that raped my Mayella. I don't know why I didn't kill him myself instead of goin' to the sheriff. That would have saved you and the sheriff and the taxpayers lots of trouble.”. He shows his racism here in that he believes that the law would be on his side against a black man no matter what happend, even if he had killed Tom.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Before the trial has even started the juries have already stated that Tom Robinson is guilty. The juries aren't even Toms peers they're 12 racist white men. No matter what evidence is presented at the trial, the racist jury would never, under any circumstances, acquit a black man accused of raping a white woman.…

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Scottsboro Boys Trial

    • 1974 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Even when all evidence proves a black man's innocence his word seems to be false…

    • 1974 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    To kill a mockingbird

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The lack of witnesses also proves Tom Robinson is innocent because Bob Ewell was the only one who claimed to see Tom Robinson raping Mayella. "that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella!," But who are we to take Mr. Ewells word over Toms? Tom says Mayella kissed him and when Bob Ewell appeared at the window, he ran out the door…

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to the song, it had all been decided before hand. The District Attorney (D.A.) was “[practicing] all his lines in the mirror.” He knew what the outcome was going to be, and so did everybody else. They must’ve all “read the morning paper, The headline [read] “the man hangs” but the jury doesn’t.” The D.A. doesn’t have to say anything to convince the jury over- a hung jury is an undecided jury-they agree with what the newspaper says. The man is already hung. Just like in TKAM, Tom Robinson had no chance to win. But even if some of the jury isn’t convinced-Mr. Cunningham-the Prosecutor can just “pay to close it like a casket.” Even the witness is payed off he is, “Too well dressed for the witness stand” AKA he just got new clothes. Hmm, maybe a new paycheck?? The defendant has no chance, he either “[Hangs] on a rope, or bated breath.” The death penalty will be served, or the suspense will end him. Game over. To add to the injustice of this case “The press prays for whichever headline is worse.” The accused has nothing going for him. The jury, either they get payed to vote against him, or they agree with the Prosecutor. The witness already got payed off to say the ‘right’ thing; and the press just doesn’t care-unless it will help them sell papers. That dude couldn’t catch a break. The 5 minorities arrested had DNA proof-DNA that is I believe 100% accurate, they were innocent and no amount of arguing could prove it another way-yet they still were convicted. Tom Robinson had the 1930’s version of DNA proof, yet he stood no chance at being…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays