Martin Luther King Jr.
famously stated, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Injustice comes in many forms and ways, it’s not natural it’s something humans themselves cause. Maycomb County is a extremely racist and unjust community. To Kill A Mockingbird is a book written by Harper Lee revolving mainly around injustice and racism.
Some people that are victims of injustice in To Kill A Mockingbird are Tom Robinson, Arthur (Boo) Radley, and Atticus Finch. Tom Robinson is a victim of racism. Arthur Radley is a victim of the society’s thoughts.
Atticus Finch is a victim of the victim of people’s beliefs. Racism is something is learned its not automatic, the society teaches us this. It is harsh behaviour toward a person with different physical characteristics. Tom Robinson is a major victim of injustice and racism in To Kill A Mockingbird. One reason is he is announced guilty of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. The decision is majorly based on his race and skin colour. Later on, when Jem and Scout have a conversation with Atticus Finch about how it is unfair for Tom to be punished Atticus says “Tom Robinson’s a coloured man, Jem. No jury in this part of the world’s going to say ‘We think you’re guilty, but not very’ on a charge like that.
It was either a straight acquittal or .” (Lee) Atticus is trying to explain that the jury is made up of white men, so there was barely a chance for Tom Robinson to be free due to the racism. He also says that if the jury was made up of people that thought like Jem, Tom Robinson would be free at the moment. Mr.
Finch also says, “There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads –they couldn’t be fair if they tried.” In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life” (Lee).
Another reason to prove my point is the cruelty of the guards when Tom tried to escape. When Tom tried to escape the guards shot him several times causing him to die on the spot. When Aunt Alexandra says that it is the last straw, Atticus response is, “I told him what I thought, but I couldn’t in truth say that we had more than a good chance. I guess Tom was tired of white men’s chances and preferred to take his own.” (Lee). Tom had lost hope, he knows it is going to be hard to go through the court several times and have nobody believe him just because he was black, so he took his own chances to escape. These are two reasons that prove the injustice Tom Robinson had to go through.
You never understand why a someone acts a certain way or the way the way things are with them until you see things from their point of view. Arthur (Boo) Radley has had a fair share of injustice as Tom Robinson though for a different reason. The town residents made unpleasant and vicious rumors about him. One rumor that Walter Cunningham Jr. tells Jem and Scout is when he, “almost died first year I come to school and et them pecans—folks say he pizened ’em and put ’em over on the school side of the fence” (Lee). Walter’s comment proves that there are indeed negative rumors about Arthur Radley.
All the children fear him and believe that he is a malevolent being. Rumors like this unfairly condemn Arthur and negatively affect his exterior consciousness. Another rumor is about how he physically looks like. Jem describes him as “was bout six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained… There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face…” (Lee 16). Another rumor that people said was “he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows” (Lee 10). Secondly, is the affect his imprisonment has on his health. When he stepped out from the corner of Jem’s room, Scout saw that he was painfully thin: he had a “thin frame,” his “cheeks were thin to hollowness,” and his hair “was dead and thin, almost feathery on the top of his head.
” Scout describes him as “They were white hands, sickly white hands that has never seen the sun, so white they stood out garishly against the dull cream wall….his gray eyes were so colourless i thought he was blind” (Lee 362). It is also mentioned that he often coughed, his health is extremely important. This is because he probably might have an illness or his vitamin D might be low because he’s not out in the sun often. These are two reasons that prove the injustice Arthur Radley had to go through. Sometimes being the better person doesn’t always make you a happy person. Atticus Finch proves this throughout the story, he has had harsh words thrown at him and his family but he always walks away without picking a fight like someone else might have had. Atticus Finch is a victim of injustice is when he is attacked by Bob Ewell several times.
One time he spits in Atticus face, however, a major incident was when he attacked Atticus’s kids, Jem and Scout Finch. Bob Ewell had tried to kill Jem and Scout when they were walking back from school after an event. “He slowly squeezed the breath out of me. I could not move. Suddenly he was jerked backwards and flung on the ground, almost carrying me with him” (Lee chap 28). Secondly, when he is criticized and picked on because of the person he has to defend in court. Cecil Jacobs tells Scout at the family get together that “My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an’ that n****r oughta hang from the water tank” (Lee chap 9). Atticus’s own family talk bad about him behind his back.
If his own family does so there’s a high chance that society does so too. These are reasons why Atticus Finch is a victim of injustice in To Kill A Mockingbird. The most important theme in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is justice and racism. Tom Robinson is just one victim of racism in Maycomb, there are several others.
Some people that are victims of injustice in To Kill A Mockingbird are Tom Robinson, Arthur (Boo) Radley, and Atticus Finch. Tom Robinson is a victim of injustice due to racism. Arthur Radley is a victim of injustice due to the negative society. Finally, Atticus Finch is a victim of injustice due to people’s beliefs. To Kill A Mockingbird teaches us a valuable lesson that everyone is equal and nobody should be a victim of injustice.
