Justice Is Not For All Essays - To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch

Justice Is Not For All Throughout the course of history, mankind has learned many things, and has continually strived in running the race towards the prize that has been set out for them. Its undeniable that at times we do a great job, lighting the future with hope. However, other times the path ahead of us seems only to be filled with darkness. This impression could be given through many of todays undisputable facts. Quite unfortunately, justice is not for all. Harper Lees novel, To Kill A Mocking Bird; the documentary, Eyes on the Prize: Education at Little Rock; Anthony Burns by Virginia Hamilton; and the certain poems all illustrate this fact. In the view of Harper Lee, justice is a simple concept. To recognize the difference between justice and injustice does not take any special degree of wisdom or sophistication, as shown by Scout, our narrator. In fact, the learned members of the community- such as the judge and prosecutor- and the proudly religious Baptists who are spectators at the trial are, willingly or not, allied with the machinery of injustice. The title this novel is a key to some themes. It is first explained in Chapter 10, at the time that Scout and Jem Finch have just received air rifles for Christmas. Atticus tells his children that it is a sin to shoot a mockingbird. Later Miss Maudie explains to the children what Atticus meant: Mockingbirds are harmless creatures that do nothing but sing for our enjoyment. Therefore, it is very wrong to harm them. It is easy to see that the mockingbird in this story is Tom Robinson- a harmless man who becomes a victim of racial prejudice and injustice. Like the mockingbird, Tom has never done wrong to anyone. Even the jurors who sentence him to death have nothing personal against him. They find him guilty mostly because they feel that to take the word of a black man over two whites would threaten the system they live under, the system of segregation. Tom himself is guilty of nothing but being in the wrong place at the wrong time. To Kill a Mockingbird contains criticism of the prejudice and moral laziness that allowed Southern society to have a double standard of justice. Boo Radley, the eccentric recluse in To Kill a Mocking Bird is another harmless creature who becomes a victim of cruelty. Here again, the author seems to be emphasizing the universality of human nature. Tom Robinson's problems may be bound up with the complex social problem of racial prejudice, but any neighborhood can have its Boo Radley, all but forgotten except as the subject of gossip and rumor. By the final chapters of the novel, we learn that good and justice do not necessarily triumph every time. Harmless individuals such as Tom Robinson and Boo Radley can become victims through no fault of their own. And sometimes the system can do nothing to defend them. Boo Radleys situation is similar to that of the man in the poem A Negro Labourer in Liverpool. I stared; Our eyes met But on his dark Negro face No sunny smile, No hope or a longing for a hope promised; Only the quick cowed dart of eyes Piercing through impassive crowds Searching longingly for a face That might flicker understanding Tragic, isnt it? A man comes from his motherland with new hope, only to be disappointed. No one cares, and his hope lies in the shovel. In Hamiltons novel, Anthony Burns, the same injustice is evident throughout. He cant get away, thought, yknow. He cant escape the fate hes born to, was the statement made regarding Anthony Burns, the fugitive slave, and the hero of the book. He, like his Negro slave family of 14 children, and like countless other Negroes in the 1800s were born into injustice and cruelty. He was whipped and half starved to death in the early parts of his life, and was unable to even enjoy some of lifes simplest things, which many of us take for granted. Did he do anything to deserve it? No. Later Burns escaped slavery by fleeing to the Boston, where slavery had already been abolished. However, his freedom is short-lived. He was soon re-captured by his master, who demanded his return. According to the