Harley Steele
Period 7
3/2/11
To Kill a Mockingbird Essay (revised)
“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” How does this quote reflect
what we have just recently read? This quote sums up an insurmountable amount of our history as
humans; To Kill a Mockingbird was just one instance in which it applied. I believe the quote only half
relates with the story, and that even though there were good men fighting for right, they were
unsuccessful in their battles.
The most obvious way in which this quote relates to the story is the case of Tom Robinson. He
was convicted of being guilty for a crime that he did not commit. The men of the jury, which I’m sure
had their “good” qualities, and perhaps even saw that he was not guilty, convicted him because of
society’s demands. One quote from the book, “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever
seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…” (pg 208) is a comment that
Reverend Sykes made during the trial. It just furthers the belief that society’s suppression of ideas hurts
people. If just one of those men had changed their opinion to innocent, then Tom Robinson would have
gone free that day. Perhaps it would have changed the course of their history all together for future
court and crime battles.
When the court has finally come back from the juror’s recess to hear the outcome of the case,
they watch Judge Taylor tally up the guiltys and not guiltys. There is an odd behavioral attitude from
Judge Taylor. In Scouts words, “Judge Taylor was saying something. His gavel was in his fist, but he
wasn’t using it” (pg 211).What I believe happened during this quote is that the judge was against the
ruling of the jury, but he could not do anything about it without compromising his in the community.
This shows once again, that if a good man had just done what he knew he should, a life could have been
spared, and justice would have rung through Maycomb County.
A way in which I see the quote as only half true is in the account on page 84 where Scout
punches Francis when he calls her dad a “nigger lover. She is quickly apprehended into the custody of
Uncle Jack, and is reprimanded for her actions. When she comes home, she goes immediately to her
room. After a little while Uncle Jack tries to talk to her again, and when he does, he realizes that what
she did showed good intentions, although it was poorly executed. Uncle Jack decides to go and talk to
Francis about calling Atticus a nigger lover. The good doing of a man, or girl in this case, proved the
quote true. However, if it had been played out in adult reality, and not a child’s bickering, the chance of
a mutual party coming and taking your side for somebody calling you a nigger lover during this time is
extremely slim.
“This morning Mr. Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and
told him he’d get him if it took the rest of his life” (pg 217, Miss Stephanie). Atticus was a good man in
the case of Tom Robinson, but the quote is not “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for a
good man to do nothing”, but “good men”. Atticus was very courageous in his efforts to help Tom
Robinson, but unfortunately in this instance, he needed to have more than one person bring justice. The
quote from Miss Stephanie that I posted above is just another way of recognizing how Atticus is a good
man. He could have fought back against Mr. Ewell, but he chose otherwise… “That man had to have
some kind of comeback, his kind always does. So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved
Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take.” (pg 218)
“An’ they chased him ‘n’ never could catch him ‘cause they didn’t know what he looked like,
an’ Atticus, when they finally saw him, why he hadn’t done any of those things… Atticus, he was real
nice…”
“Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them…” (pg 281 Scout & Atticus). I believe that
this last line deepens the gravity of the quote. Not only do you have to be a good man, but in order to
save something bad from happening, you have to take a leap of faith for good. I believe that the quote
works well with the story To Kill a Mockingbird, and I think that it also can apply for many other
historical references. Overall, good men doing what they wanted to do could have saved a man’s life in
this story, and instead he was killed. Faith, and courage in what you believe, can save more than you
know.