Cedric Victor
College English 10
To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Final Draft
Ms. Park
April 30, 2014
A Dead Mockingbird
Attention Grabber: In To Kill a Mockingbird the author Harper Lee describes how an
African American man called Tom Robinson is accused of raping a Caucasian women and also
how Tom Robinson is a Mockingbird. In TKM the setting is in a fictional place called Maycomb,
Alabama which the author Harper Lee, describes as a highly segregated place where the African
American community gets discriminated often and everything they do goes unnoticed.
Throughout this novel the author makes it clear that Tom Robinson is a mockingbird meaning he
only tries to make people happy and will never harm anyone. Tom Robinson is an innocent man
who is persecuted because of racism.
Throughout this novel, the author Harper Lee describes Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is
very respectable and helpful he puts others before him and his good to his family and provides
for them with all he has. First of all Tom Robinson is an African American man with a wife and
three children. He exemplifies a family man because he is a good husband to his wife and a good
father to his kids. Tom Robinson is a hard working African American man who does the best he
can with what he has to provide for his family. Tom Robinson work’s hard to create future for
his kids and give his wife a better life. Lastly Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mayella Ewell
because he is more vulnerable of raping Mayella Ewell because of his skin color. Overall Tom
Robinson is good man and a family man who only tries to be nice to everyone without exception.
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird the author Harper Lee explains why Tom Robinson
is a mockingbird. During this point of the book the author explains how innocent Tom Robinson
is and Mayella shot Tom Robinson. First of all Tom Robinson is a mockingbird because he is
innocent. Through the trial scout observed that Tom Robinson’s left arm is crippled and this is
significant because Atticus clearly proves that whoever attacked Mayella Ewell uses their left
hand and Tom Robinson is not physically capable of hurting Mayella Ewell with his left arm.
Tom Robinson is unable to lift his left hand and Scout realizes that “His left arm was fully
twelve inches shorter than his right and hung dead at his side” (Lee 211). Secondly, Tom
Robinson is mockingbird because he is falsely accused of a crime that he did not commit. This is
significant because the defendant is accused of a crime committed by the accuser. During the
process of the case Atticus proves that Tom Robinson did not rape or hurt Mayella Ewell in fact
it is her father Bob Ewell who abuses her, Atticus is able to prove that Mayella also commits a
crime by breaking social boundaries with an African American man which is not acceptable
during that time. Tom describes how Mayella tries to kiss him “She says what her papa do to her
don’t count/she says, kiss me back, nigger” (Lee 221). Lastly Tom Robinson is a mockingbird
because his been nothing but nice to Mayella Ewell while nobody else would acknowledge her,
but still that did not stop her turn around and shoot Tom Robinson. This is significant because
Mayella Ewell shoots Tom Robinson the moment she opened her mouth and say that Tom takes
advantage of her. Mayella accuses Tom “That nigger yonder took advantage of me…” (Lee 212).
Overall Tom Robinson is a mockingbird because his been nothing but nice to Mayella and that
did not stop her from accusing Tom of raping her and whoever hurt Mayella is left handed and
Tom is not physically capable of hurting Mayella because he can barely lift up his left arm.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird the author explains why and how Tom Robinson is
being persecuted. Maycomb County, Alabama is very racist place and Tom Robinson is being
persecute there, meaning he has no chance of winning that case to begin with. To begin with
Tom Robinson is being persecuted because of his skin color and racism. At the time that Tom
Robinson is accused of raping Mayella Ewell segregation is very active and the people of
Maycom County, Alabama are even more racist. During that time there’s never been a situation
where an African American would win a case against a Caucasian person in court. When Atticus
finishes with his case on Tom and he throws out everything out on a table and also proved that
Bob Ewell is the one guilty of hurting Mayella Ewell he raises his case so high that the board of
justice spends a lot of time before coming to a decision. This is significant because in most cases
of where an African American is defending against a Caucasian person, it doesn’t take that long
for them to come to a conclusion and the African American person always loose the cases, but it
was very different in Tom’s case. “A deserted, waiting, empty street and the court room was
packed with people” (lee 240). Secondly Tom Robinson has pleaded guilty and now his going to
prison. The decision of sending Tom Robinson to prison wasn’t easy for the court justice system
but he was still put into prison. Even when Tom Robinson goes to prison Atticus still feels like
the court’s decision is not fair and he decides to appeal the court’s decision. “The foreman
handed a piece of paper to Mr. Tate who handed it to the clerk who handed it to the
judge…|Judge Taylor was poling the jury: guilty..Guilty…guilty…guilty” (Lee 240). Lastly Tom
Robinson being persecuted leads to a lot of things but nothing more significant than the fact that
Tom Robinson has lost his life due to the fact that he is being persecuted. He lost his life due to
the process of the persecution. When Tom Robinson lost the case he goes to jail but during that
time Atticus tries to appeal the court’s decision and during that time something was happening to
Tom Robinson, his starting to grow tired of other people controlling his life and his fate. All of
this causes Tom Robinson to give up hope by trying to escape knowing that he will be shot if he
tries to. “I guess Tom was tired of white men’s chances and preferred to take his own” (Lee 269).
a.Clincher Statement: Overall Tom Robinson is being persecuted because of racism and
according to that he lost his life and gives up hope on any chance of getting out of jail.
In conclusion in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird the author Harper Lee describes Tom
Robinson, she also give us examples of why Tom is a mockingbird, and base on who we learned
from the novel, why is Tom Robinson being persecuted. Throughout the novel the author
describes Tom Robinson as man who cares for people and is really good to his family, and Tom
is a mockingbird, and his accused of raping Caucasian women. Tom Robinson is an innocent
African American man accused of raping a Caucasian women and his being persecuted because
of racism. Put yourself in Mayella’s shoes would you rather put testify against your father or put
the life of an innocent bystander in danger.