Kill a Mockingbird the Issue

Kill a Mockingbird

The Issue Of Justice In To Kill A Mockingbird

According to Michael Cooper, Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to Kill a Mockingbird, first published in 1960, centers on the prosecution of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman, and how the judicial system failed to provide Mr. Robinson with justice, due to the fact that he was innocent of the charges. As Cooper puts it, this "ignorance of justice can be blamed on... prejudicial views which (were) present... And instilled in the society" of the Deep South in 1960, a time when the Civil Rights Movement in the United States was at its height. Also, at the time of publication, Harper's novel highly reflected the problems in American society linked to injustice and unjust laws, particularly against black Americans who were viewed as second-class citizens and did not possess the same rights and privileges as white Americans. This situation instilled certain beliefs in white Americans which acted as "a veil and blinded people from justice" ("To Kill a Mockingbird," 2005, Internet) and after a close reading of to Kill a Mockingbird, it is quite obvious that Mr. Robinson and his defense attorney Atticus Finch were denied true justice as a result of widespread bigotry, prejudice and discrimination.

The best way to demonstrate the themes of justice and injustice is to listen to the words of Atticus Finch, the main protagonist in the novel who symbolizes "the hope that good people still exist, even in a society filled with hate," such as that in which Finch, his children and Mr. Robinson cling to the notion that there "is a chance for improvement in this unjust world" ("To Kill a Mockingbird," 2005, Internet).

In Chapter Twenty, at the height of the trial against Mr. Robinson, Finch addresses the court and the judge by pointing out that the case against Mr. Robinson "should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white" (Lee, 1988, 231), a reference to Mr. Robinson being black and the alleged victim of the rape being a white woman. Finch then states that "I have nothing but pity... For the chief witness whose evidence has been called into serious question... The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is" (Lee, 1988, 231). What Finch is attempting to say is that the true guilt lies on the white woman who has accused Mr. Robinson of raping her, an accusation that is false. However, Finch then relates that "She has committed no crime" (Lee, 1988, 231), due to the fact that the statements of a white woman against those of a black man are always taken as truth by white southern society.