To Kill A Mockingbird

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enjoyed seeing a Black man’s freedom taken away from him. Tom Robinson was found guilty of raping Mayella Ewell, in the face of very strong evidence that his accusers were lying. One reason why he was convicted was because it was a white man’s word against a black man’s one. Tom, who is black, would be denied justice because of this. Atticus reinforces this idea when he tells Jem ‘in our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins.’ Generally this was the mentality of most Americans at the time. In Maycomb a white man’s word was always taken without any regard as to how trustworthy he was.

Another reason why he was convicted was because Tom Robinson went against the accepted position of a Negro by daring to feel sorry for a White person. All these prejudices are a result of people holding onto performed ideas of a certain set of people. It is not just racial prejudice, which is present in Maycomb but the narrow, rigid, intolerant codes ...

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– ‘Simply because we are licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us to try to win’. By saying this Atticus believes that even if this is the hardest case he will use his courage to try his best, since it is morally wrong not to take the case just because there is no chance of winning. Atticus chooses to defend Tom Robinson when no other lawyer would. He was one of the few respectable people not blinded by the racial injustice Tom Robinson faced. Not only did Atticus defend Tom in the courthouse, but he defended him at jail on one occasion too. Atticus’ beliefs are spoken in his speech on the code of the society. In this speech he spoke of the strict laws, old traditions ...

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