"Until my father explained it to me later, I did not understand the subtlety of Tom's predicament:he would not have dared strike a white woman under any circumstances and expect to live long, so he took the first opportunity to run--a sure sign of guilt." (Lee 260/261). This excerpt comes from the trail, and Scout is realizing that Tom Robinson's son's manners were as good as Atticus's. But part of the reason he was so nice to Mayella Ewell when she came unto him, despite being a good person, was that being black at this time in history, if you struck a woman, you would likely be found and killed by white men, while if a white man hit a white woman, there would be minimal consequence if any. Hitting women (and anybody) is wrong, we all know that, but the issue here is the difference between the consequences of the men who assumed that violence. It was not right that a black man would have been killed and a white man would be scots-free for the same action.
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While reading the book and these posts, I started to think about all of the cases in the news and on the internet of how black men are treated differently in contact with the police and in legal cases. I read that in cases where the defendant is black and the victim is nonblack, the death penalty is imposed more frequently. So it seems that not much has changed in the 50 years since this book was written. I think what has changed is that as students we discuss these issues and bring them out in the open to challenge our own prejudices.
ReplyDeleteTom was really in a bad predicament; he naturally wanted to be helpful and probably knew Mayella's intentions were not good. He was in danger whatever decision he made: if he refused to help her she would probably have lied and he might have been killed and he did help her and ended up dead anyway.
I agree with your point about the difference between white and black treatment. I think that today we have improved our actions towards equality, but we still have some things to work on. I wonder which is better: trying to think about the past in terms to solve our present problems or thinking of the future and creating new ones?
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Leslie. It's still a problem today that people have to go through. It's awful that police officers and judges still hold race above the truth. They look at a black person and automatically assume that they would be guilty. Even though there are tons of things white people do wrong, and have done wrong, and people still see African Americans as untruthful people.
ReplyDeleteTom didn't do anything to Mayella, and she knew she was in trouble with her father, so she accused Tom for doing nothing wrong to protect herself and her family. This was selfish and awful and people still do that today and get away with it. Race is not a right or wrong thing: it's just a thing. Apparently a big one, because people can't even begin to see past it after 50 years.
I totally agree with Leslie. It's still a problem today that people have to go through. It's awful that police officers and judges still hold race above the truth. They look at a black person and automatically assume that they would be guilty. Even though there are tons of things white people do wrong, and have done wrong, and people still see African Americans as untruthful people.
ReplyDeleteTom didn't do anything to Mayella, and she knew she was in trouble with her father, so she accused Tom for doing nothing wrong to protect herself and her family. This was selfish and awful and people still do that today and get away with it. Race is not a right or wrong thing: it's just a thing. Apparently a big one, because people can't even begin to see past it after 50 years.