Examples Of Justice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Why do we need justice? Justice is the punishment of the bad and defending of the good. Without justice, there would be no end to stop the wrong actions from being done and nothing to punish individuals for the bad and protect innocent individuals. Yes, both plots include a trial, but almost for the opposite reason. Throughout the trials of both, Harper Lee's novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" and John Grisham's "A Time To Kill" there were similarities and differences between their notions justice and fairness. Tom Robinson, a black man, was accused of raping and beating a white nineteen-year-old woman named Mayella Ewell. While Carl Lee Hailey's daughter was raped by two white men. He decided to take the law into his own hands and shot the two …show more content…

Mr. Gilmer, the district attorney for Mayella Ewell, belittles Tom Robinson while he is cross-examining him. The district attorney constantly called Tom "...boy." (pg. 198) when he is a twenty-five-year-old man. Mr. Gilmer is making Tom feel unimportant because he is African-American and considered lower than the Ewells. Similarly, Rufus Buckley, the prosecutor in Carl Lees trial, was persecuting him and called him a name during the trial. While Dr. Wilbert Rodeheaver, the psychiatrist for the prosecution, was in the middle of his cross-examination by Jake Brigance, the defense attorney, Mr. Buckley glanced at Carl Lee and called him a "nutball." (Grisham) Also, Mr. Buckley tried to provoke Carl Lee by asking him several questions consecutively that may have resulted in him winning the case. Rufus Buckley was doing anything he could to help the trial come as his win. As you can see, both prosecutors in these plots were showing impoliteness and being unfair towards the men because of the colour of their …show more content…

It defines as acting accordingly to the ideal of fair actions in a society and treating people and their actions according to this ideal and the state laws. This helps ensure that wrongs will be ended and rights will be upheld which would lead to a safer community. Without this concept, people are labeled as equal or unequal and will be treated differently from each other creating unfairness. One of the most common issues of this problem being discrimination which both Tom Robinson and Carl Lee Hailey faced during the trials of both plots. Despite there being clear differences between the trials of Harper Lees novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" and John Grisham's "A Time To Kill" the similarities are also pronounced. Both stories included the same theme of inequality of the black people and presented it different ways. Tom and Carl Lee experienced racial prejudice for being African-American during the trial. Tom was pleaded guilty by the all-white jury over a white woman's word when no evidence was present at the trial. In contrast, Carl Lee was being voted on guilty by an all-white jury as well until Jake Brigance lifted the barrier of race from his closing argument. Resulting in Carl Lee being found innocent, despite him truly committing the crime of murder. Both men also underwent disrespect from their district attorneys. Towards the end of both plots, they show everyone is to be treated equal no matter what

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