This song closely represents the final moments of Tom Robinson’s life. He was just an average hard working man with a wife and three children who tried to help Mayella Ewell because he felt sorry for her. During the trial and in jail he no doubt wondered how all of this could happen to him. How he could be convicted for a crime he obviously never committed and how he was going to be executed just because Mayella Ewell was too afraid to admit that she had fallen in love with a colored man. How could a system that was meant to seek justice and base decisions on evidence be so biased against a man because of his skin color? He probably wondered what caused him to be so desperate that he attempted to escape from a prison with heavily armed guards. Slowly fading away and in intense pain far from his home and family, his final thoughts were probably “how could this happen to me?”
Author Archive for brianconway656
After reading this section it became clear to me that in the end, it was racism that ultimately was the cause of the unfortunate death of Tom Robinson. Any modern sane jury would have declared Tom innocent and Bob Ewell would have been put on trial for child abuse. The fact that the jury was full of racist men who were taught to believe a white man over a colored man no matter what gave Tom a very little chance of surviving. If you go back even further, no one would have made such a big deal about the whole situation if it wasn’t illegal for a white woman to love a colored man. Tom didn’t rape or hurt any of the Ewells, but since he wasn’t white he was easy to be blamed for the beating of Mayella. Tom lost the trial and when he went to jail he decided to run, likely because he realised that the society at the time was just too racist for him to stand a chance, even though he never committed any crimes. He decided to run, seeing that it was the only way he could get out of the jail and be free. The guards would not have shot him so much or at all if he was a white man, further cementing the fact that it wasn’t bullets, but it was racism that killed Tom Robinson (metaphorically speaking. It was actually, in fact, the bullets that killed him but I’m trying to make a point here).
Tom is innocent (17-20)
When reading through this part of the trial, I finally was sure that Tom Robinson was one hundred percent innocent and he hadn’t raped Mayella Ewell. Before the trial and the description of the events no one had denied or given any proof that he had actually raped the girl. When the trial came we finally got to hear both sides of the story and come to a conclusion on what likely happened that day. When the Ewells told their part of the story Atticus clearly showed how that story had holes in it and the witnesses were not very credible. When Atticus had Tom tell his side of the story, he left no room for suspicion and clearly explained what really happened. The reader is sure that Mayella tried to get into a relationship with Tom and he was refusing when Bob Ewell spotted them. Tom just ran away, fearing for his life, and Bob then beat Mayella for what he saw her doing. The Ewells then called Heck Tate and claimed Tom raped the girl and beat her, Mayella agreed with this story because if she didn’t her father would hurt her.
Song: Dare (17-20)
This song perfectly represents Tom’s trial and his fight for the truth to overcome racism and lead to his freedom. As the song states gleefully, he dare’s to believe he can survive although he knows how little his chances of surviving are. He is trying to just leave the past ideas of white>black behind and let courts be decided by the facts and evidence (or lack thereof). Atticus also plays a large part in this fight for freedom, being Tom’s defense attorney and representing him fairly, something not many white men would do for a colored man at the time.
Song: Freedom (13-16)
This song tremendously represents the struggle for freedom of many kinds in this chapter. Scout and Jem are always being criticized by Aunt Alexandra because they don’t act like “common” folk. They just want to be left alone and live their lives free of strange etiquette and racism. Tom Robinson was put in jail for a crime he probably didn’t do ( he was accused by a Ewell, they don’t have much credibility) and Atticus had to defend him against a lynch mob that would have probably killed him if Scout and the other children didn’t come along. Tom Robinson just wants to be treated fairly and be free from a racist society. Finally, the trial begins in this section and so does Tom’s fight for freedom, and if he fails he loses his life.
The lynch mob lead by Mr. Cunningham in chapter fifteen was something I really didn’t expect to happen. Sure Maycomb is just as racist as any other southern town but it didn’t seem to me like the town would get violent about it. If the children hadn’t shown up, I think the men might have hurt Atticus and probably done something worse to Tom Robinson after that. Also, Mr. Underwood might’ve killed a couple of the men during the fight, too. If Scout hadn’t talked about Walter Cunningham, I think the drunken men would have actually hurt the children after those fifteen seconds.
And now for something completely different, I think that there is more to the story of why Dill ran away and went to the Finch house. Dill claimed he ran away because his parents weren’t paying enough attention to him. The story of how he was chained in the basement and rarely fed by his new father is a more likely reason to run away. Dill traveled from Meridian to Maycomb and nearly starved to death, someone wouldn’t go through all of that trouble just because his parents slightly neglect him. I’m sure if his parents “got along well” without him like he said, then they would have no problem with just sending Dill to Maycomb.
Song: Stand (10-12)
This song by Rascal Flatts represents true inner courage in a hopeless time when all odds are against you. Mrs. Dubose was morbidly addicted to morphine and had been suffering from drug withdrawal for many years. The addiction turned her into a woman angry at everything, living her life in hate. Mrs. Dubose could’ve chosen to take the morphine for the rest of her life, but chose to try to live without the drug. However, she could no longer feel normal without the morphine the doctor gave her for whatever happened to her. She knew she had a microscopic chance of curing the addiction, but she tried to anyway. She was devoted to leaving the world cured of the addiction and did anything to distract her from it. Near the end of her life she even had Jem Finch read to her for hours and hours every day, trying not to focus on her addiction to morphine. When she died a little later, she had accomplished her goal of leaving the addiction behind. Atticus stated that she died “as free as the mountain air” and that she showed real courage, which was “when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see through it no matter what”.
Once Miss Maudie explained why it was a sin to kill a mockingbird, it became clear why the book had that name. One of the big themes in this book is the gradual loss of innocence during one’s life and the discovery of evil in the world or the destruction of their lives by the evil in the world. Many people in the novel are like a killed mockingbird, average citizens who were destroyed for no good reason. A huge example of a mockingbird in the novel is Boo Radley, who used to be a polite young man until his family isolated him from the world due to their religious beliefs, now perceived as an evil monster by the children of Maycomb. A small example of a mockingbird is Tim Johnson, the mad dog that Atticus shot in chapter ten. Tim Johnson was just a normal dog living his life when he turned ill and got rabies or something, making it necessary for him to be killed. Mrs. Dubose is another example, a woman who was put on morphine by the doctor and got hopelessly addicted to it. When she wasn’t given anymore of the drug, Mrs. Dubose spent the rest of her life suffering from severe effects of withdrawal and it prevented her from living a fulfilled life.
This song represents how much almost everyone in Maycomb is experiencing a change. First of all, the people of Maycomb were described as peaceful and mostly positive during the beginning of the novel. Now that Atticus is defending an African American man, the people of the town are being racist and hateful towards Atticus and his children. Even the other Finches say that Atticus is ruining the family’s reputation by defending Tom Robinson. While Scout has remained the same for most of the novel, Jem has been experiencing a lot of change. He has grown greatly and can tolerate a lot of things the town says about Atticus and has a more mature understanding of the world than Scout. Jem also understood that Boo was trying to be friends with Scout and him and also that Nathan Radley closed that hole because he wanted to end his attempts at friendship (Jem showed how crushed he was by weeping about it later).
The Truth Revealed (5-9)
I enjoyed reading this section because it shed some light on the mysterious story of Arthur “Boo” Radley. Anyone reading the story could guess that Boo likely left those presents in the knothole. This shows that Boo likely just wants to befriend Scout and Jem and isn’t really a bad person. Later in the section, Nathan Radley later filled the hole with cement, claiming that the tree was dying. I think that he found out that Boo was giving Scout and Jem things through that hole, so that’s why he closed it. I think Boo is just the victim of an oppressive and antisocial family.
I don’t think its Boo’s fault that he never leaves the house or plays with the other children. Miss Maudie explained to Scout that the Radleys are “foot washing” Baptists that think any good feelings are sins. Miss Maudie claimed that all of the rumors about Boo were false, and since she is practically the opposite of Stephanie Crawford, what she says is probably true. My theory is that during Boo’s childhood, he rebelled against his family’s ways and hung out with people, having a good time and enjoying himself. Once his family was aware of his shenanigans, they did all they could to oppress him and try to make him more like the rest of them by locking him up and keeping him by himself. I think that when Jem lost his pants that one summer night, Boo did his best to help him by sewing them up and putting them where Jem could find them.
Sweet Home Alabama is the perfect song to represent the setting of the first four chapters, Maycomb, Alabama. Lynyrd Skynyrd realistically depicts the rural southern state and its culture, similar to that of Maycomb. It gives you a very serene and peaceful feeling that makes you just want to sit back and relax, just like the people of Maycomb, they don’t really do many interesting things and prefer to live their lives as calm as possible. The song can also represent all of the adventures Scout, Jem, and Dill have in their small town during the summer acting and trying to investigate the strange life of the mysterious Boo Radley.
In Maycomb, it looked like the school system wasn’t very good at doing its job. From what I understood, each grade level was in one classroom and the school wasn’t very large, but that’s mainly because it’s a small town. Scout mentioned that most of the first grade had failed it last year, which surprised me because that meant that either the students weren’t very motivated or that the system just wasn’t working. The implementation of the “Dewey Decimal System” probably meant that the school was trying a new thing that had potential to increase literacy and grades, but it was too forced upon the students. For example, Scout was punished because she didn’t learn to read by the new system and they discouraged free reading and writing.
The attendance of school in Maycomb should have been enforced more. When I read that the students were only required to attend school on the first day, I didn’t think that made much sense. Going solely on the first day isn’t doing much for the students and this likely contributed to the high flunk rates at the school. The new system should have included stricter attendance policies, which would also improve the literacy rates and grades. I understand that some of the families were in poverty and needed the help of their children, but that’s why students had Summer Vacation, to do just that.
