Examples Of Freedom In To Kill A Mockingbird

The whole town of Maycomb is racist, which makes Atticus’s job harder trying to defend Tom Robinson against the word of a white man.Tom Robinson’s case is unjust since he is black and the majority of Maycomb revert to the stereotype that all blacks are immoral and criminals. “Quote” shows that it is a situation where little is possible to do when defending a black man because the town of Maycomb is deeply affected by racism they tend to only make decisions based on the race and so immediately think Tom Robinson is guilty, that he did indeed raped Mayella when there was so much evidence to prove otherwise. This is challenging for Atticus, since he has to persuade everyone to pretend there is no stereotype about blacks and that they are human

“Free Black people still faced danger. Many appeared in court to ask for a Certificate of Freedom. The claimant had to prove that he/she was born free or had been previously freed. If the court was satisfied, it would

Part of this freedom was denied because Caucasians wouldn’t let African-Americans work with them. In Doc. C a young African-American quoted “Shall I be a mechanic? No one will employ me, white boys won't work with me” and in Doc. B Charles Mackay quoted “We shall not associate with him, he shall live to be free, and to thrive, if he can, and to pay taxes.” This was denying blacks economic freedoms because African-Americans were given the rights to work, because of Caucasians refusing to associate with blacks, blacks wouldn’t be able to work with them. Free Blacks were not totally free in the North if some of their freedoms were being denied because of their

“But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.” ( pg 261 # pgh 3 ). This quote comes from Dr. Martin Luther King jr. on I have a dream and is interesting because how they were supposed to be free when abraham lincoln along time ago but still aren't free . This person said this during the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was “The civil rights movement was a mass popular movement to secure for African Americans equal access to and opportunities for the basic privileges and rights of U.S.” citizenship. Being in the right position. This time in history was difficult for many people because there was a lot of fighting about the rights and how blacks and whites were treated very different. During this time people

Frederick Douglass once said, “No man can be truly free whose liberty is dependent upon the thought, feeling and action of others, and who has himself no means in his own hands for guarding, protecting, defending and maintaining that liberty.” Throughout the history of America his words have proven true seeing that those of African descent have been faced with a tremendous amount of prejudice. Whether that be in terms of the basic rights vital to African americans, or the freedom of expression that should be allotted to every human being. They were subjected to endless economic and social prejudice. While at the same time being refused the decencies all American citizen deserved. But most importantly, African Americans were denied the right to decide how their country was controlled and in turn their “liberty”. These atrocities prove that the reform introduced during the Reconstruction era did little to resolve the problems plaguing African Americans or improve their quality of life.

The citizens of Maycomb criticize him for defending Tom Robinson, an innocent black man, in court. Regardless that they disagree with Atticus, Maycomb respects him for helping Tom. They see that he is brave for defending Tom. Atticus knew that he

As it was mentioned earlier, Atticus has a very demanding career. Tom Robinson, the young man Atticus defends, pays for the ignorant and hurtful stereotypes that are made in Maycomb every day. There is the fear of black male sexuality, brought about by stories of white women being raped and beaten by black men. "As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it- whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash" (220). When the Ewell's charge Tom with rape, his decisions come not from facts of life, but the general classification and stereotypes of Maycomb. "The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box" (220). Others don't take the time to understand Tom, instead fearing and distrusting him. Tom isn't the only race in Maycomb that is victimized, however.

Scout said,"A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson. I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: “Guilty . . . guilty . . . guilty . . . guilty . . .”(Lee 282). The poem is also about justice and there wasn't any during the trial. The poem says that justice should be blind but it isn't. The jury looked at Tom Robinson differently because he was black.The only reason why Tom Robinson was guilty was because of his race. All of the evidence was against Bob Ewell but he was not guilty because he was white. The verdict doesn't represent the ideas of the Constitution. The jury was breaking the 14th amendment which states that people were/are guaranteed “equal protection” under the law. In To Kill a Mockingbird, black people weren't given the same rights as whites people were. Equal protection is all under the Bill of Rights so any person has the right to freedom of speech or religion,

One of the inequalities in Lee’s story is racism. Tom Robinson was a black man who was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white, nineteen year old girl. During his trial, his lawyer, Atticus Finch did his best showing the jury that he was an innocent man. The jury delibabrated for hours before they reached a verdict: “Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty” (Lee 282). Tom was an innocent man but because of the color of his skin, he walked into that courtroom already found guilty. Today, people of color are targeted in many different ways, especially in the legal system:“One out of every 13 African Americans have lost their right to vote due to felony disenfranchisement versus one in every 56 non-black voters” (Quigley). Another example is, federal prosecutors are almost twice as likely to file charges carrying mandatory minimum sentences for African Americans than whites accused of the same crimes, according to a study published by the University of Michigan Law School. Our Declaration of Independence

As Eric Foner said in his Give me Liberty! Whites considered freedom a birthright, so they have always been free. Ironically, however, blacks did not have that right, as they were mistreated and abused both physically and sexually. For that reason, blacks, in this case African-Americans, have always had to fight to get the same rights as white Americans, and as the excerpt says, it has not yet ended, since there is still racism and inequality among whites and blacks. Paradoxically, the United States of America is known for being the country of freedom, however, freedom is only for whites.

Scout recalls a conversation with Aunt Alexandra: “I could not possible hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn't supposed to be doing things that required pants” (108). This shows that Aunt Alexandra believes that Scout should not run or jump or play because that would not be “ladylike”. A time that Scout felt a feeling of rebellion towards her Aunt was when Scout overheard her talking about her: “I felt the starched walls of pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me, and for the second time in

One issue that shows that we are not free is that domestic racism still exist today. There are many people who are of African American descents. Black people are judged for who they are and what they do. In the Letter from Wendell Phillips he says, "In reading your life, no one can say that we have unfairly picked out some rare specimens of cruelty" (Douglass).

Certainly, freedom was supposed to be “freer”” for those slaves that had fought for their rights after years of submissionn, but, unfortunately, many white Southern people continued to ignore the law by not showing any respect for Africans-Americans. Because of the radical reconstruction in the south, the African-Americans were a step closer from the same political

Being a slave, being told what to do, being unequaled by others, and being lower than everyone else is what freedom is not. For instance, freedom is not being a slave. Slavery has been around for more than 246 years,

Liberty and justice isn't attainable for all. In To Kill a Mockingbird racism and discrimination seems to be everywhere in the Maycomb County. This didnt just happen in a story it has happened in many cases over history. There are many cases in the story when racism overruled justice. One of the many occasions was the trial of the Scottsboro boys that was unfair and unobtrusively thoughtless. Racism is considered a disease in Maycomb county.