A trial is the examination before a court of the facts or laws in a case in order to determine that case. It is the act of testing or proving by experience or use. In the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” a black man, Tom Robinson, was accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell, and was brought to trial. There was three distinct views on Tom Robinson’s trial. In the novel, the townspeople of Maycomb believe in Tom’s guilt while Atticus and the children believe in Tom’s innocence.
Atticus couldn’t support the verdict because he was in a very prejudice court and no matter what the proof was, the outcome would be still be the same. Atticus knew that Tom Robinson would be found guilty. The victim, Mayella, had been beaten, but not by Tom according to the evidence “He blacked your left eye with his right fist? “. Tom Robinson would still get convicted because it was an all white jury. Tom didn’t help by saying “Yes suh. I felt sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ’em–“, because black people wern’t supposed to care about white people.
It would have been impossible to do to her what she said Tom did “Tom Robinson’s powerful shoulders rippled with his right hand on the back of his chair. He looked oddly off balance, but it was not from the way he as standing. His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side. It ended in a small shrivelled hand, and from as far away as the balcony I could see that is was no use to him. ” Tom Robinson couldn’t have done the crime with the evidence provided, but still racism decided the verdict. The children just as much as Atticus believed in Tom’s innocence.
Just by looking at Tom, they knew he couldn’t have done it “”Scout,” breathed Jem. “Scout, look! Reverend, he’s crippled! “. Jem and Scout had been brought up by Atticus to believe in fairness to people, regardless of heir race or colour “Do you defend niggers, Atticus? ” “Of course I do. don’t say nigger, Scout. That’s common. ” “‘s what everybody at school says. ” “From now on it’ll be everybody less one–” Scout and Jem were not prejudice, they were the only white people except for Dill to sit in the balcony with the black people.
Jem and Scout can’t believe the injustice in the courtroom, just because a man is black he will get the bad side of everything. The townspeople from day one knew what the verdict was going to be even though some of them knew deep down that Tom didn’t do it “The older itizens, the present generation of people who had lived side by side for years and years, were utterly predictable to one another: they took for granted attitudes, character shadings, even gestures, as having been repeated in each generation and refined by time. ” The townspeople didn’t like black people at all.
They were two different people according to them, and the fact a white man would stand up for a black man in that town got them very upset “Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it. ” The townspeople viewed this case as a circus “It was a gala occasion. There was no room at the public hitching trail for another animal, mules and wagons were parked under every available tree.
The courthouse square was covered with picnic parties sitting on newspapers, washing down biscuit and syrup with warm milk from fruit jars. This was more like entertainment for the townspeople. This was fun for them, talking with friends, having lunch, and joking. It was really sad the prejudice they had against blacks. If you look in every paragraph one word pop’s up more than any other and that word is prejudice. Tom Robinson is a black man who was found guilty of rape he didn’t commit. Atticus did all he could to defend Tom, even with the town on his case and the threats he received.
The children see injustice and are sad with the fact the humans will do that to other humans. The townspeople don’t really care about Tom because of his colour and don’t even give him a chance because he is black. Prejudice is a strong word; some people in this novel are prejudice without reason. They just think because he is black that he is the lower part of society and that is what they grew up with. Everyone in the book had some form of injustice; just that Tom Robinson was the one in the end that paid for the mistakes and lies of others.