In the movie To Kill a Mockingbird, we see that trial by jury is not always unbiased and fair. Although, prejudice and racism are not as prevalent as they were in the depression era, it is still a reality. We saw this same situation in the movie Twelve Angry Men. A jury of one's peers should, in theory, objectively decide guilt or innocence based on the facts presented to them in court. However, in reality what we see in both of these movies is a group of middle class white men who have decided whether the defendant is innocent or guilty before they even hear any testimony. In To Kill a Mockingbird, justice is not guaranteed when you are a black man in the south being accused of rape by a white woman from a prominent family.
In this movie,
In To Kill a Mockingbird, a black man named Tom Robinson was accused of raping a white woman. Although Atticus had helped Tom Robinson as his lawyer, Tom Robinson had not received a fair trial, because he had no witnesses to back him up. Since the jury was not impartial, it made the trial even harder on Tom’s part. When explaining the trial to Scout, Atticus tells her, “’ Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started.
During the the 1930s people didn’t favor blacks. They treated them like pests. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee there is a court case going down. Tom Robinson, a black man, is being accused that he raped Mayella Ewell, a white woman. Atticus Finch is trying to defend him and he is having trouble doing it.
In the book, Mockingbird, Caitlin and her brother Devon have a strong connection to the movie, To Kill a Mockingbird. This is evident because Devon likes to call Caitlin “Scout”, because she’s like the character Scout in the movie. Just like in the movie, where Scout and Jem live with their father, Atticus, Devon and Caitlin live alone with their dad. On page 78, it says, “It’s Devon’s name for me which is Scout. It’s from To Kill a Mockingbird because he loves that movie.
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Alabama, where racism is a very big problem. In to Kill a Mockingbird they talk about a case where Tom Robinson (A black man) supposedly “raped” a white woman. In the case, Atticus was defending Tom Robinson and made very strong points and proved the Ewells wrong but still ended up losing because the courtroom favorited the Ewells because they were white. Tom Robinson on his side of the story said that he did not rape her and that she actually tried to kiss him. All that the Ewells could say was Tom Robinson tried to rape her, but they had no evidence and were trying to avoid Atticus’s questions that proved Tom innocently.
He did not rape the young white girl, but who would believe a black man’s word over a white woman’s word? The small southern town engulfed by racial prejudice against blacks has “kill[ed] a mockingbird.” g. Looking back at his trial, the color of his skin was the most convincing evidence to convict him. With seventeen fatal bullets, the mockingbird is
Throughout the trial in the book, Atticus, the lawyer defending a black man named Tom Robinson, gives clear evidence to everyone in the courthouse that Tom Robinson is innocent of raping a white girl. Once it is time for the jury to share their verdict, Judge Taylor gives each jury member the time to share what they think. As he points to each member, all that the courtroom hears is, “Guilty…..guilty…...guilty…...guilty……” (Lee 214). While the evidence shows innocence, society pressures the jury members to give opinions to satisfy them. Society manipulates them in a way that if they disagree with their views, the jury members’ reputations will be hurt.
However, according to To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus explains, “Those are twelve reasonable men in everyday life, ... [but] There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn’t be fair even if they tried” (Lee 220). Atticus is referring to the whites’ hatred toward the blacks. The hatred clouds the white people’s judgement. Even though a jury is made up of peers to make the system more fair, nothing can prevent the jury from being biased too.
People tend to believe that trial by jury is the best way to keep the trial completely fair to both parties involved. In some cases, though, it is the opposite of that. One of these cases is in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In the trial, Tom Robinson, a black man, was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a white family. Tom’s attorney, Atticus, was able to prove that Tom was innocent, but the verdict was that Tom was guilty.
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the story is set in the 1900’s, Maycomb, Alabama. During this time there was racism in the south and segregation which separated the whites and blacks from everything. There was also the Great Depression, the whole country was poor and people living in the country had to trade and do other jobs for people to either pay them off or to buy something from them. The trial in this book is about Mayella and Bob Ewell, two white people, claiming and arguing that Tom Robinson, a black person, raped Mayella Ewell. This trial is really important because at that time in the south, white people took advantage of black people and their kindness and thought they would take that or shut up just because they were black.
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are many similarities between the narrator, Scout, and the author, Harper Lee. For instance, both grew up in the time of the great depression with little money to do extra things; therefore, they relied on their imaginations to entertain them for hours (Haggerty) . Comparatively, both were tomboys in their youths and grew up in small towns where girls were expected to wear dresses and act like a lady. Also, both Harper Lee and Scout both grew up with their fathers being lawyers for their town and would often hear of cases that they worked on (“Harper Lee”) . Similarly, when writing her book a “mad dog warning” was released, no doubt giving the idea for the episode of the mad dog Tim Robinson.
Both were similar in that they were dealing with racial segregation in what is termed the deep southern states. So their environments were similar. but different in perspectives. one being a child and the other a man. Scout was raised to be open minded in an environment that nurtured her in the belief that all people were equal regardless of race or class.
The judges were afraid the whites would riot against the court. Both the jury and the judges were peer pressured by the people. To Kill a Mockingbird and the beating, trial, and riots of Rodney King show that racism has always existed, and it’s the people that control the court. Evidence can be provided to prove the innocent and guilty, however the people can decide and fight for who “deserves justice.” We the people in which we can stand up and bring
Having a biased jury is just one way Twelve Angry Men shows the dangers of the jury system. Throughout the course of the play, many of the jurors assume, because
Twelve Angry Men is in many ways a love letter to the American legal justice system. We find here eleven men, swayed to conclusions by prejudices, past experience, and short-sightedness, challenged by one man who holds himself and his peers to a higher standard of justice, demanding that this marginalized member of society be given his due process. We see the jurors struggle between the two, seemingly conflicting, purposes of a jury, to punish the guilty and to protect the innocent. It proves, however, that the logic of the American trial-by-jury system does work.
To have the ability to acquire and address compassion to others, have the willingness to think outside the box, while having confidence in yourself while standing up for the right thing are some major points Kill a Mockingbird and 12 Angry Men show us as readers and viewers. To Kill a Mockingbird and 12 Angry Men, show men who were able to use their attribute to show compassion for others, their eagerness to think outside the box, while having self-assurance the entire time. To let the readers to pick up, they are willing to do whatever it takes to bring across the legitimate element of concern. Atticus and Juror 8 show compassion through the way they treat others with the respect they deserve.